6 Days Gangtok & Darjeeling Tour Package

Overview

The 6 Days Gangtok & Darjeeling Tour Package covers two of the prominent hill stations in the Eastern Himalayas with a good mix of cultural exploration, natural and mountain landscapes. This itinerary includes three nights in Gangtok and two nights in Darjeeling, which gives enough time to explore both places without rushing through the must-see attractions.

Gangtok, located at 1,650 meters, is the capital of Sikkim anda perfect mix of traditional Tibetan Buddhist culture and modern hill town development. The tour dedicates three full days to exploring this city and its surroundings. MG Road comprises the commercial and social heart of Gangtok with vehicular traffic is restricted and pedestrians are free to walk amongst shops, cafes and local establishments.

The excursion to Tsomgo Lake brings you up to an elevation of 12,400 feet at around 40 kilometers from Gangtok. This glacial lake has an oval shape, it is about a kilometer long, and is 50 feet deep. During the winter months, the entire lake surface is frozen while the summer season brings migratory birds, Brahmini ducks. The way to the lake goes through several elevation zones, in which you can see different vegetation patterns. Near Tsomgo lake Baba Mandir is dedicated to Harbhajan Singh, a soldier of the Indian Army whose memorial has become a place of reverence for military personnel and civilians.

Gangtok has some important sites for local sightseeing. The Research Institute of Tibetology contains one of the largest collections of Tibetan Buddhist texts and artifacts in the world.  Do Drul Chorten is a stupa built in 1945; it contains full sets of Dorjee Phurba, Kangyur relics, and other sacred objects. Enchey Monastery was founded in 1909 and is a part of the Nyingma order of Tibetan Buddhism and hosts the Chaam dance during annual festivals. The Directorate of Handicrafts & Handloom exhibits traditional Sikkimese crafts such as carpet weaving, thangka painting and woodcarving. The Gangtok Ropeway offers aerial views of the valley and the mountains.

The route from Gangtok to Darjeeling is a total of about 110 kilometers, through maze of mountain roads and different towns and tea estates. Darjeeling is located at an elevation of 2,050 meters and was prominent during the British colonial rule because of its tea production and comfortable climate. The town has retained Victorian era architecture in several buildings and the famous narrow gauge railway.

The pre-dawn journey to Tiger Hill is rewarded with views of the sunrise lighting up the peaks of Kanchenjunga, though the weather conditions dictate visibility entirely. At 8,400 feet, Tiger Hill offers a viewpoint to see multiple Himalayan peaks. The return journey passes Ghoom Monastery, one of the oldest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the region, and Batasia Loop, where the toy train makes a full circle of a landscaped garden and war memorial.

Darjeeling’s major attractions are Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, which has conservation programs for snow leopards, red pandas and Himalayan wolves. The adjacent Himalayan Mountaineering Institute features mountaineering gear, photos from old mountaineering expeditions and training equipment. The Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre was established in the 1960s to support Tibetan refugees through the production of crafts, such as traditional carpets, wood carvings, and leather goods. The Darjeeling ropeway is on top of tea gardens and valleys and provides views of the cultivation terraces below.

The tour starts and ends at New Jalpaiguri Railway Station or Bagdogra Airport, which are situated in the plains of West Bengal at a distance of 120 kilometers from Gangtok.