Darjeeling and Sikkim Trip

Kids had Summer holidays and wanted to go on a vacation. Since it was summer, the options were mostly in North/Northeast India. So finalized Darjeeling and Sikkim Trip. Booked the flight tickets to Bagdogra which is the closest airport to both Darjeeling and Gangtok. Booked hotels also for 2 nights in Darjeeling, 1 night at Kalimpong and 3 nights at Gangtok.

Day 1(May 10th): Started our trip from Hyderabad and took the 6.55 am flight to Kolkata. Reached Kolkata around 9.10 am. There was a layover of around 3 hours 45 mins at Kolkata and spent the time roaming around at the Kolkata airport. Then took the Bagdogra flight which was at 12.55 pm reached Bagdogra around 2.10 pm. Booked a cab at the airport and headed to Darjeeling. It was around 4 hours drive from Bagdogra airport to Darjeeling and reached around 6.30 pm. It was a very scenic drive. Checked in to the Hotel Raphkhang and went for a small walk around the hotel. There was mall and had dinner there. Came back to hotel room and slept for the night.

Day 2(May 11th): Booked a cab for local tour of Darjeeling and started our trip around 9 am in the morning after breakfast at the hotel. Went to Ghoom monastery around 9.45 am and from there went to Tiger Hill Sunrise observatory around 11 am. Sun does not rise at 11 am but it was very cloudy and thought there was no point in going to see sun rise so early in the morning :-). From there, went to Batista Eco garden through which passes, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which is UNESCO World heritage site. Thought of taking the toy train ride but tickets were not available. So just saw from the side took some photos and had lunch at Santa Banta Dhaba nearby.

From there, went to Padmaja Naidu Himalayan zoo and Himalayan mountaineering institute which had the memorial of Tenzing Norgay. Here there is a point where you get China mobile signal and it says international roaming rates are applicable. From there went to the Tenzing rock and tea gardens. As we do not drink tea, just went around the tea plantation and took photos with their local costumes. From there went to Japanese temple and Peace Pagoda. Headed back to the hotel and had dinner there.

Day 3(May 12th): Engaged the cab to go to Mirik lake which is around 60 kms from Darjeeling and on the way had a halt at Jorephokari reservoir which had a very beautiful garden. The drive was amazing with breathtaking views of the villages and valleys in the hill area. The Mirik lake was very good and had a garden there. Took lots of photos and headed back to Darjeeling. On the way, had a halt at Nepal border where we can enter into Nepal and do some shopping. After that came back to the hotel room around 7pm, had dinner and slept for the night.

Day 4(May 13th): Time to bid goodbye to Darjeeling. Went to the Sri Mahakal temple which was close to the hotel and started our journey to Kalimpong. On the way had a stop at the Lamahatta eco tourism park which was very beautiful with lots of tall trees and small trek to the top which had a lake. From there halted at Lover’s meet view point and reached Kalimpong around 2 pm. Checked into the hotel and went for site seeing in Kalimpong to Delo park, Mangal Dham temple, Dr.Graham’s home, Watershed view point, Morgan house and returned back to the hotel room.

Day 5(May 14th): Started our journey to Gangtok and on the way visited the Cactus nursery which had different variety of cacti. The road to Gangtok was mostly along the river Teesta and was very scenic. Reached Gangtok around 12 noon and checked into Hotel The Junction. Had lunch at a nearby restaurant which had a very good view of a football stadium. From there went to MG road which is free of vehicle traffic and full of shops. Also, went on the ropeway nearby. Discussed with the driver to get pass to go to Nathu la Pass(China border also considered to be the silk route) and Tsongo lake. He was able to get it and asked us to be ready by 8 am in the morning to visit Nathula Pass.

Day 6(May 15th): Started from hotel around 8 am and got the formalities done. On the way to Nathula and Tsomgo lake, rented warm clothes as it was expected to snow. Reached Baba Harbhajan Singh mandir around 11.30 am. It was very cold out there. From there, reached Nathula Pass by shifting into another vehicle which was waiting there. As soon as we reached there, it was snowing and it was the first snow for the kids. They enjoyed in the beginning but later started getting cold as we reached to the top they had breathing problem which is quite common there. So took some pictures and came back to the base. One the way back visited Tsomgo lake, took photos and headed back. The road was very narrow and there was a lot of traffic as one vehicle broke down. Reached hotel and kids started feeling better. This was the day when my 150 day streak of minimum 8000 steps every day broke.

Day 7(May 16th): Next day, engaged a cab to cover the local site seeing places in Gangtok. Started around 9.30 and went to Bhanjhakri waterfalls first which had a park. The water falls was a small one though. From there, went to Lingdum Monastery, Rumtek Monastery, Karma shri Nalanda institute, Namgyal institute of Tibetology, Do Drul Chorten, Flower exhibition center, Hanuman Tok temple which had a view point of Kanchenjunga, Ganesh Tok temple. Came back to MG Marg and had dinner there. Booked a cab to go to Namchi in South Sikkim.

Day 8(May 17th): Started from the hotel around 9 am to Namchi and the road was full of ghats. Both kids had vomiting on the way. Reached Namchi around 12 noon. Went in the Namchi ropeway which was quite long distance and took us to the big statue of Samdruptse. Came down and went to Sai Mandir which was quite big. From there went to Siddheswara Dham which had a huge 26 m Shiva statue and replicas of all 4 Char Dham temples and 12 Jyotirlingas. Very well built in the yea 2011 to promote religious tourism in Sikkim. Returned back to Gangtok around 6.30 pm.

Day 9(May 18th): After a wonderful trip of 8 days time has come to head back home to Hyderabad. Started around 10 am after breakfast and reached the airport around 3.30 pm. Took the flight from Bagdogra at 6.25 pm and reached Delihi at 8.40 pm. Had a layover of around 2 hrs but that was just enough to change the terminal by bus from 2 to 1 for Hyderabad flight. The flight was at 10.35 pm and reached Hyderabad around midnight at 12.45 am. All in all a great trip with lots of sweet memories for the life time.

Checkout my other trips here.