Tea gardens stepping away under morning cloud

PKG-07 · G3>D2

6 Days Gangtok & Darjeeling

5 nights / 6 days

Bagdogra / NJPGangtok, 3 nightsDarjeeling, 2 nightsBagdogra / NJP

Enquire on WhatsApp

The journey

Day by day

The five-day route with a day put back where it is missed most — a full day for Gangtok instead of a rushed morning.

The Tista, on the road up

We meet you at Bagdogra Airport or New Jalpaiguri station and head north. The road follows the Tista almost the whole way — river on one side, terraced hillside on the other — and climbs steadily out of the plains into Sikkim.

You'll reach Gangtok in the late afternoon. After check-in the evening is yours; M.G. Marg is pedestrianised, lined with cafés, and a ten-minute walk from most hotels in town.

124 KM · 4 HRS · GANGTOK 1,650 M
A hillside temple in Gangtok

A full day around the town and the ridge above it: Banjhakri Falls and Bakthang Waterfall, Tashi View Point for the range on a clear morning, Gonjang Monastery, and the two hilltop shrines at Ganesh Tok and Hanuman Tok.

The afternoon covers the Flower Exhibition Centre, the Ropeway across the valley, the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology — one of the best collections of Tibetan manuscripts and thangkas anywhere — and Do Drul Chorten, ringed by its prayer wheels.

FULL DAY · 10 STOPS · IN AND AROUND TOWN
Tsomgo Lake · 3,753 m

An early start east towards the Nathu La road. Tsomgo sits at 3,753 m, an oval glacial lake about a kilometre long that freezes over in winter and changes colour with the season. We continue to Baba Mandir, then turn back down the same road.

This is the highest you'll go on most of our routes, and it is felt — take it slowly for the first hour up there and drink more water than you think you need. Nathu La can be added if permits are available; ask us at least two days ahead.

55 KM EACH WAY · 3,753 M · PERMIT REQUIRED
The Tista, on the road west

West out of Sikkim, back down to the Tista, across at Melli and up the other side into West Bengal. The road changes character completely on the far bank — from river gorge to tea garden within an hour.

You'll be in Darjeeling by mid-afternoon with time to settle in before an early night, because tomorrow starts at four.

100 KM · 4 HRS · DARJEELING 2,042 M
Khangchendzonga at dawn, from Tiger Hill

We leave at four. Tiger Hill is 2,590 m and about forty minutes out, and on a clear morning Khangchendzonga catches the light a good while before the valley does — first pink, then white. On the clearest days you can pick out Everest to the west.

Coming back we stop at Ghoom Monastery and at Batasia Loop, where the toy train turns a full circle around the Gorkha war memorial. After breakfast: the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, the Padmaja Naidu zoological park next door, the Ropeway, Tenzing Rock, a working tea garden, and the Japanese Peace Pagoda to close the day.

DEPART 4:00 AM · TIGER HILL 2,590 M
The ridge above the tea slopes

Down through Kurseong and the tea gardens to Bagdogra or NJP. Give us your flight or train time the night before and we will set the departure with real margin — the descent is quicker than the climb, but not by as much as people expect.

70 KM · 3 HRS · ALLOW MARGIN