Darjeeling And Sikkim Tour (5N/6D)

Welcome to Darjeeling and Sikkim. Until 1975, Sikkim was its own mountain kingdom and still maintains a very special identity. Tibetan Buddhism’s meditative, mural-filled traditional monasteries coexist with the ever-growing Nepali community’s Hindu shrines, with both sects building some impressive latter-day mega-sculptures to adorn the skyline.

It is a state that is all too easy to fall in love with, hassle-free and warm-hearted, maybe explaining why permit laws prohibit foreigners from staying too long or traveling too far. Since 2016, Sikkim has been tidy, green, and ‘all organic’ and is largely a labyrinth of plunging, super-steep valleys dense with lush subtropical forests and rhododendron groves, rising to the stunning white-top peaks of the eastern Himalaya in the north. An ever-thrilling experience from many a ridge-top perch is spotting the third-highest peak in the world, Khangchendzonga (8598 m), on the northwestern dawn horizon when clouds clear.

Darjeeling is the definitive Indian hill station and, for many, the prime destination of West Bengal, stretched in ribbons over a steep mountain ridge, flanked by emerald-green tea plantations and towered over by majestic Khangchendzonga. You will enjoy colonial-era architecture, tour Buddhist monasteries, and take a trip on the 140-year-old steam-billowing Darjeeling Himalayan Railway while you are not looking open-mouthed at Khangchendzonga (Great Five-Peaked Sbow Fortress at 8598 m is the third-highest mountain in the world). You should plan a trek to Singalila Ridge or ride a mountain bike across the hills for the adventurous. Meanwhile, with an abundance of Himalayan items and faces from across Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet, the steep and twisting bazaars at the foot of the city bustle. And a fine, steaming Darjeeling brew is never far away when the energies begin to flag.