Trip members: Karthik and family
Trip date: 28 Feb 2023 - 7 Mar 2023
Trip Plan : Chennai - Bagdogra - Gangtok - Nathu La - Gangtok - Namchi - Geyzing - Pelling - Yuksom - Darjeeling - Bagdogra - Chennai
This is a 8-day trip with a plan of 3 nights in Gangtok, 2 nights in Pelling and 2 nights in Darjeeling. The first and last day were to just reach airport and complete the day by evening. Sikkim is abundantly served with great nature all around, with curvy roads, roads taking one from a hill to another, ups and downs! It is best to plan in non-monsoon time for Sikkim as landslides are very common during rain and they end blocking traffic hours to days some times.
Cab costs in Sikkim are daily packages. Cab on km basis is a rarity and there are fixed route costs per day - a number for local sightseeing, a number for inter-city/town travel and so on. Negotiation space is considerably less as they run flat rates across and especially, when it is a busy time, negotiation is truly ruled out.
Alternatively, if you want to explore better, there are local shared cabs that you can use with per person cost. This shall help for being economical if travelling alone or two.
Sikkim hosts landscapes of hills, rivers, valleys, tea estates, high altitude snowy areas. Perfect place to enjoy nature.
Day-1 Trip Start
The trip started with a morning flight from Chennai to Bagdogra, reaching Bagdogra by 1 PM. We had booked cab for 8 days - a Dzire. We stopped for lunch at the ever popular restaurant - Ladoo Gopal at Siliguri. Post lunch, we started on the scenic drive by Teesta river towards Gangtok. The roads were quite heavy on traffic; lot of road, tunnel, railway line and dam construction activities were ongoing all the way till Rangpo - entering Sikkim.
We had booked Hotel Montis Soyang Heritage - just on the Mall road. We reached the hotel around 6 PM. The Soyang Hotel is a heritage hotel with big and comfortable rooms, running hot water, parking area and a restaurant. The hotel is located on a steep hillock - 100m from the mall road, but cars can reach all the way to the hotel entrance. We checked in, refreshed and started to spend the chill evening by the Mall road.
Meanwhile, we also processed our permit entry request online through our drive for Nathu La for the next day. Whether the route would be permitted or not, would be known only by 7:30 AM. We processed it immediately to have a better probability in 2 days to visit Nathu La.
Mall road is full of road side eateries to restaurants to shops to buy souvenirs, winter clothings and what not. It is the happening place in Gangtok and every tourist would hang around here in the evenings. We had hot piping momos and some fries. Pure Veg options are available in mall road. We had dinner at Hotel Food court, soups, rotis, sabji and jeera rice.
Day-2 Tsomgo Lake, Baba Mandir, Nathu La
We were getting ready for Gangtok local sightseeing or Nathu La visit. Veg chowmein and mix veg uthappam were available for breakfast in the buffet and we enjoyed the food. Our driver called and confirmed our permits approved and road open for Nathu La. The earlier 2 days were not operational because of fresh snow, which meant we are going to see some great white mountains!
Thrilled start!
We wrapped ourselves in 5-6 layers of clothing, woolen cover from head and too and were thrilled for the day. The whole route was so cold, beautiful and enjoyable.
Once we crossed Kyongnosla, around 8 kms before Tsomgo lake, we started seeing some ice and snow. We stopped enroute to enjoy the weather - bright, sunny and cold and some great views! It was also an attempt to acclimatize before acquiring more elevation. Wow effect started right here!
We reached Tsomgo lake and planned to stop by on the return journey. Since we had a sedan car hired, and only SUVs are allowed to Nathu La, we had switch vehicles closer to the entry area for Nathu La - 6 kms to go! We reached early to this point before rest of the members to share our SUV arrived and our driver decided to take us to Baba Mandir.
We stopped at Kyongnosla for some tea and snacks, and also rented snow boots for my wife and daughter. Jerkins and gloves are available for rentals too. The shop said they can prepare food if we pre-order and we did place order for veg thali.
Baba Harbhajan Singh Temple
Baba Harbhajan Singh Temple is a memorial and a temple honouring and remembering an Indian soldier for his supernatural alerts and support to the army. The temple is around 20 mins drive from the diversion of Nathu La and the route is super scenic! We had some absolutely stunning scenes enroute the mandir. We spent around 20 mins at the mandir, had some snacks at the army canteen.
Nathu La
We came back to the common point to get into SUV towards Nathu La. Nathu La is a high mountain pass connecting India with Tibet (China). The pass is at an elevation of 14140 feet and is around 55 kms from Gangtok a - 150 min journey. People who plan to visit Nathu La needs to be well prepared for the cold weather, often sub zero and acclimatize for the elevation.
We reached Nathu La around noon time. The temperature was around -6 degrees, windy and cold. We got down from the vehicle and took some time to get used to the elevation. The place was fully white - soft fresh snow!
I walked up the pass to the Indian border. What a sight; so much of cold and bad weather and Indian Army protects us at such harsh and merciless weather! Many tourists upon reaching there sung Vande Mataram and shouting slogans of patriotism! What else other then joining the crowd and cheering for the country!
We spent around 30 mins to enjoy the place and click photos and started the journey back towards Tsomgo.
Tsomgo lake
At Tsomgo lake, there are lot of shops and photo opportunities with decorated Yaks. We got down and spent around 10 mins and mild rain/snow started. With the crowd and parking full, guess we cant wait for more snow to come down and make it difficult for the driver to drive us back to Gangtok.
We left shortly, reached the shop where we ordered veg thali at Kyongnosla. We returned the rented boots, took time to relax, had some hot team, sat by the stoves to heat back our body and had the simple good lunch - rice, dall, potato and spinach. The food was quite good and got our energy back!
Reached back Gangtok room, relaxed for some time, and spent the evening at the Mall road - again, momos at different places, dosa as dinner at the Agarwals and a relaxed night with the satisfaction of having a great trip to Nathu La!
Day-3 Gangtok Sightseeing
Day-3 started pleasantly to see around Gangtok. We had rava upma, puri chole in our breakfast and started sight seeing by 9:30 AM.
Normally, in the local sightseeing within Gangtok, one can see few monasteries, view points and water falls. We preferred to visit Rumtek monastery too, the biggest monastery in Sikkim.
Rumtek Monastery
This is one of the largest and most famous monasteries in Sikkim, located about 23 km from Gangtok, takes 1 hour to reach. It is the seat of the Karmapa, the head of the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. This monastery holds multiple golden idols of Buddha inside the monastery and has a golden stupa. A very beautiful and one of the best artistic monasteries.
Ranka Monastery
Also known as Lingdum Monastery, this is a relatively new monastery located about 20 km from Gangtok. It is known for its peaceful and serene surroundings, as well as its beautiful architecture. The stupas and the massive structure of the monastery in such a location is a blessing to visit, by itself!
Ban Jhakri Falls
Next, head to the Ban Jhakri Falls, which is a beautiful waterfall surrounded by lush green forests. The falls are located about 7 km from the city center and are a great place to relax and unwind. There are eateries outside the place.
Wai-wai is a local noodles like maggi, thinner. It also tastes quite good and tempting to have more.
The place is excellent to spend time and witness the beautiful waterfalls.
Our driver was kind enough to get us some good food, and took to a small house cooked food eatery, run by his own sister. The food was quite simple and nice. We had rice, dhall, aloo-gobi, papad and one of the best curd!
Tashi View point
Day 4 - Namchi and Pelling
The plan was to go to Pelling via Namchi on Day-4. Previous night, our driver Sukhbir called and informed that we need to start early because of a political rally on the route. We started to Namchi around 6:30 AM skipping the hotel breakfast. By the time we started towards Ranipool, the rally crowd was already crowding the route and our driver smartly navigated through the traffic to take us as much far as possible.
We reached Singtam and took diversion, because of the gathering crowd for the rally, to left instead of going all the way to Rangpo and taking the Namchi highway.
We stopped at a very small local shop for breakfast and the shopkeeper made maida pooris and aloo sabji for us - they were very average, but that was the only option we had after crossing Singtam. The roads were pretty bad for few kms because of a dam construction site. Post this, the tea gardens of Dumthang and quick elevations have amazing views and the route became interesting.
We stopped by Temi Tea Estate and clicking few photographs and relaxed for few minutes before proceeding towards Namchi.
Samdruptse
The driver took us to Samdruptse Hill, 9 kms before Namchi. Samdruptse hill hosts a massive status of Guru Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche. Guru's statue sits on a lotus pedestal and has his eyes gazing, symbolizing highest form of awareness. The place is well known as wish-fulfilling hill.
We spent around 20-25 minutes walking around and clicking photos. There is a "I love Namchi" boarding as well overlooking the town of Namchi.
Namchi
We reached Namchi around 10:45 AM and went to Siddheswar dham. Siddheswar dham is a locally very popular place and being promoted for tourists to visit too. Siddheswar dham hosts a big Lord Shiva statue surrounded by 12 Jyotirlingas, Char Dham temples (Badri, Puri, Dwaraka and Rameswaram). It took almost 50-60 minutes to see all sanctums in the temple. The temple has clean toilets, cafe and restaurant.
Sukbir ji took us to a local small place for lunch near a Saibaba temple; pure veg for lunch. The thali had rice, aloo sabji, gobi sabji, mooli aachar, papad, yellow dhall and excellent curd. The food was very homely and soothing We loved the lunch.
Post lunch, the plan was to reach Pelling via Legship, Geyzing. The road we took to climb down from Namchi was quite bad, but we reached the highway pretty quickly and the climb was again interesting by the river banks of river Rangeet. The elevation starts from Legship and it was only 3 PM by the time we crossed Geyzing market place.
Sukbir ji recommended to see 2-3 places between Geyzing and Pelling, so the next day had spare hours. We obliged and started with Sidkeong Bird Park.
The entry hosts 2 places - Sidkeong Bird Park and Rabdentse ruins.
Sidkeong Bird Park
Sidkeong Bird Park is a preserved forest area and variety of birds in a netted place, where visitors can walk around and interact with birds closely. There are also enclosed spaces for different kind of exotic birds. Entrance tickets are priced at Rs.100 per person including visit to the bird park as well as Rabdentse Ruins.
One can spend 30-45 minutes in the Sidkeong Bird Park and the walkway for Rabdentse ruins is beyond the bird park.
Rabdentse Ruins
Rabdentse Ruins is a 20 min walk from the bird park through well laid path - elders and people with walking difficulty would find it hard to reach the place, however, others can walk at leisure through the dense forests and reach the ASI site. Rabdentse was one of the ancient capitals of Sikkim. Yuksom was the first capital of Sikkim ruled by Phuntshog Namgyal while his son Tensung Namgyal shifted the capital from Yuksom to Ranbdentse. We visited Yuksom as well, so keep reading to know more history about Sikkim.
The ruins host the palace complex, a religious complex and few common areas of use by the royals as well as public. The complexes are also overlooking the Pemayangtse monastery. The views from the complexes are quite good and a nice location to spend time.
Pemayangtse monastery
Pemayangtse Buddhist monastery is enroute to Pelling from the Rabdentse ruins. This monastery is one of the oldest and important monasteries of Sikkim. The Pemayangtse monastery is located on a hill top, possibly the highest in the locality. One can see the Rabdentse ruins clearly from the monastery and enjoy the views around, Pelling on the other side.
We spent around 20 minutes here going in and around the monastery.
Reaching Pelling
Post visiting the places between Geyzing and Pelling, we reached Pelling town around 5 PM. We had booked rooms at Hotel Golden Sunrise & Spa. We got fantastic rooms with a view of Kanchenjunga and valley overlooking Yuksom. The rooms were very clean, spacious and absolutely comfortable.
We refreshed and walked around for a round of momos, had dinner at the pure veg restaurant at the hotel. The food was quite good and service was fantastic.
Day-5 - Yuksom
Having seen half of the places of Pelling enroute from Geyzing, we had only few places to see in Pelling like Rimbi falls and Rimbi orange garden, and the very popular Pelling skywalk. We spoke with our driver and decided to do the extra mile of visiting Yuksom.
The sunrise was a beauty out there! We were waiting to see Kanchenjunga and got a glimpse of it for few minutes from our rooms!
Why Yuksom
Yuksom is around 33 kms from Pelling, quite bad roads and would take around 90 minutes for travel. We want to visit Yuksom for few reasons - it is one of the end points of India in the region, first capital of Sikkim, hosts the first monastery of Sikkim and the Kanchenjunga hike trails start from Yuksom. Are not these enough reasons for visiting Yuksom?
We started around 10 AM very relaxed.
Rimbi
The Rimbi water falls was the first point and as expected there was almost no water in it. We just passed through. The Rimbi Orange garden is next point, it is place where we need to walk down to the banks of the river, and we decided to come to the garden as the final point while returning.
Kanchenjunga Waterfalls
Kanchenjunga Waterfalls is the next point and this is one of the very popular points for tourists coming to Pelling. This waterfalls in 24 kms from Pelling and 10 kms before Yuksom, it takes 1 hour to reach from Pelling. This is a perennial waterfalls and believed to be sourced from the glaciers of Kanchenjunga. The water gushes from around 90-100 feet high and makes it a great experience to see.
There is an entry fee of Rs.20 per person and one can spend quite a bit of time here as per the will as it is very beautiful. There are lot of small shops selling snacks and local produces.
Yuksom - To see
At Yuksom, one can see Dubdi Monastery, Coronation throne, Karthok Lake and Khecheopalri Lake. There is also a Kanchenjunga National Park Information Center at the far end of the road, after which one gets to take the forest route to Dubdi monastery.
Dubdi Monastery
Dubdi Monastery is the oldest monastery of Sikkim established in 1701. After reaching Yuksom, we need to go by a forest route bad roads for a km before reaching a small board directing to walk to Dubdi monastery. People have to walk 300-400m on a steep and slightly slippery way to reach the monastery at the hilltop. The 2 storeyed monastery is very peaceful and at a very remote location - with almost no people. We spent around 20 minutes in the monastery and returned back.
Karthok Lake
Karthok Lake and the Coronation throne are nearby and on the way to Dubdi monastery in the main road in Yuksom. Karthok lake is a very small lake but believed to be religious. We just visited it for few minutes and started walking towards the Coronation throne.
Coronation throne
Coronation throne is the place where the most historical event of coronation of the first king of Sikkim happened - Phuntshog Namgyal. The place as four seats - the bigger one for the Lama, right side for the king and two for the ministers. The seats are below an ancient alpine tree which was an evidence of the event and still standing tall. There is also a foot print of one of the Lamas.
By the time we started from Yuksom, the clouds started gathering and there was mild drizzle. We stopped inbetween near Kanchenjunga waterfalls for food and had Maggi, momos and Wai wai. Enroute back, rain started heavily and we could not stop at Rimbi orange garden and reached back the hotel by evening around 5 PM. We ordered some tea and snacks and enjoyed the evening in the room. We also had dinner at the hotel restaurant - again, food and service were great!
Day-6 - Pelling to Darjeeling
Good morning and no Kanchenjunga view today, full of morning Haze!
The plan was to see one remaining place - Pelling Skywalk and then start the journey towards Darjeeling. We understood, one day was enough to see places in Darjeeling and were excited to spend time in the mall road in the evening and stay relaxed.
Pelling Skywalk
We checked out around 9 AM post breakfast and went to Pelling Skywalk - Chenrezig statue and Monastery. This is the prime place for tourists in Pelling. Chenrezig (Avalokitesvara) statue is a massive statue - 137 feet tall and can be reached with around 150 steps - east to climb.
The entrance fee is Rs.100 per tourist and Rs.50 for locals.
The skywalk is an additional attraction, a walkway circular bridge with glasses laid and one can see through. One can enjoy the experience of a see through bridge, hills surrounded and the massive statue. People can spend upto one hour easily here clicking photographs and walking all the way to the top.
Bye Bye Sikkim
Bye bye to Pelling (Sikkim) and started to Darjeeling (West Bengal) around 10:30 AM. Pelling to Darjeeling is a 3 hour drive for 75 kms. This route does not involve the popular Darjeeling road trip where the train route runs on the road, but this a route that takes you to Darjeeling from behind via Naya Bazar, Jorethang and then, through steep climb via tea gardens.
We would cross the border from Sikkim to West Bengal through a narrow hanging bridge (quite interesting) after Jorethang. We stopped near the border and had some momos and juices.
Reaching Darjeeling
We reached Darjeeling around 3 PM and checked in to hotel Mount Conifer suites. Mount Conifer suites is at a distance of 10 mins walk from the Mall road. The rooms were quite big, spacious, tidy and very clean. There is inhouse restaurant as well as, several other restaurants in the vicinity. We did not have lunch on our way and post check-in, had some chat at a nearby shop. Then, we walked to Mall road.
We also saw the DHR - Darjeeling Hill Railway station, tracks and train.
Mall Road, Darjeeling
Mall road and the walkway leading to the Mall road are the buzzling areas of Darjeeling in the evening. Lots of street food, winter shopping, restaurants, Darjeeling tea are the top picks, apart from the crowd. The Mall road also has view decks of Himalayas, a Mahakal Temple apart from shopping and food.
The evening was spent walking around and tasting road side snacks. We had dinner at a local restaurant.
Day-7 Darjeeling Local Sightseeing
The most visited local sightseeing spot of the morning sunrise at Tiger Hill. The tourists start around 4 AM and reach the view tower to get the right spot for the sunrise and view of Kanchenjunga. Its definitely a big crowd and one has to wait patiently.
Ultimately, weather decides the fate of the view and we did not have a great start for the day. With heavy haze and clouds, Kanchenjunga view cheated on us and were disappointed. Though the driver said, it would be rare to see the view in the months of Feb and March, it was just a chance people want to take, which we too did.
Enroute from Tiger hill to the town, there are two spots which are covered as part of the circuit - Batasia Loop and Ghoom Monastery.
Ghoom Monastery
This monastery has a decorated status of Maitreya Buddha and is 7 km before the Darjeeling town. The famous Ghum railway station of DHR is also located nearby.
Batasia Loop
Batasia Loop is more of a railway track used for managing a higher gradient on its way to Darjeeling; and the place is converted into a tourist spot and photographic destination with gardens, war memorial and eateries. The entry per person is Rs.15 per person. We spent quite a bit of time here, enjoying the cold breeze, views and the fun around.
Post these spots, we were dropped back at the Hotel for refreshing and having breakfast. The plan was to continue the sight seeing after couple of hours. Our breakfast was included in our room costs and we enjoyed the buffet breakfast at Hotel Mount Conifers.
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park is located within the town of Darjeeling - one of the highest located zoo in India. The zoo hosts a wide variety of species including the endangered species of Red Panda, Snow Leopards and Himalayan wolfs and interesting Himalayan species like Markhor (national animal of Pakistan), Blue sheep, Mishmi Takin, Black Panther, Royal Bengal Tiger and more. Tickets are priced at Rs.110 per person and camera for Rs.10. The zoo is closed on Thursdays.
Tenzing rock
The Tenzing rock is a gigantic rock that is used for practicing rock climbing. It is said that Tenzing himself used to practice here. At Rs.100 per person, one can try rock climbing. We skipped this place and went to Tea Garden.
Tea Garden
Further down the Lebong Cart road, the famous spot for tourists to buy, taste and click photos in Tea garden - Darjeeling Tea Garden is situated.
We felt the tea garden was not that scenic as much as Ooty or Munnar. We spent few minutes out there, had a very good tea and bought few tea packs as well.
Japanese Peace Pagoda
The Japanese Peace Pagoda is located within the Darjeeling town - built by a Buddhist monk. One can walk up the steps and have a good view of Darjeeling too, if the clouds are clear. There is a temple and prayer hall at the ground level and the peace pagoda at the top. The peace pagoda has different postures of Buddha and is quite artistic. We spent few minutes up there before the clouds started to rain.
One can also visit Himalayan Tibet Museum based on interest. After we visited the Japanese Peace Pagoda, it was almost mid-day and were quite hungry. We asked the driver to drop us back at the hotel and we were by ourselves from lunch onwards - there isn't more to see in Darjeeling, apart from the ropeway, if one wants to visit.
We located a pure veg - local food restaurant on the way to Mall road - Lazeez Affaire. We had some really very good food at Lazeez Affaire. This is a pure veg restaurant serving Indian, Chinese and Tibetian food. We had Veg Tukpa, Lefoo rice and Veg lollipop in dragon red sauce. Every item was just fantastic. This place is recommended for veg food.
Post lunch, spent some time taking rest in the room, and visited the mall road in the evening - just walk around and kill time. We had dinner at a local restaurant.
Day-8 - Wrap! Return to Chennai
We had our flights at mid day and planned to start at 8 AM post breakfast. Though the distance is only 70 kms, it might take 3+ hours given the fact that the road is narrow, tracks by the road side ensures the vehicles have to slow down frequently when uphill vehicles come.
Kurseong, 28 kms from Darjeeling, is a nice location - beautiful tea gardens enroute. Do plan to stop by if you have time. Though we started well in advance, it felt we were always rushing to catch our flight, the route was so unpredictable. The driver took us on a different route from Kurseong to avoid upcoming traffic through Panighatta Tea garden.
We reached airport on time to board the flight despite starting early - be mindful about traffic and road limitations and weather impact on the roads when you plan so.
Overall, a great trip of Sikkim + Darjeeling. Pelling was a standout experience for the peaceful and crowd-free locations, Nathu La was the Himalayan Grandeur and Gangtok for the hospitality. And our driver Sukbir's support - you can reach him at 89182 90244.
