Travel style · Darjeeling & Kalimpong
Family holidays in Darjeeling & Kalimpong
Short drives, low altitudes, room to run
Family trips that keep drives short and sleeping altitudes sensible: Kumaon lakes, Shimla and the toy train, Darjeeling, Gangtok, Paro and Thimphu. With notes on what children and grandparents can manage.
Photo: Arne Hückelheim 2010-09-21 12:41:53 This is a … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsWith children and grandparents, altitude and drive time matter most. We keep most nights below 2,500 m, drives under five hours, and add at least one day without a car.
Darjeeling and Kalimpong are the West Bengal hills between Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, 1,200 to 3,636 m high. Go March to May or October to November for clear views of Kangchenjunga. Plan 5 to 7 nights: Darjeeling for tea and the toy train, Kalimpong for nurseries and monasteries, Sandakphu for the high ridge.
Trips
Family holidays trips in Darjeeling & Kalimpong
No published family holidays trip in Darjeeling & Kalimpong yet
We plan them on request. Tell us your month and budget and a planner sends a route and an itemised price within one working day.
Plan a family holidays trip3 places
Where to go
Photo: Arne Hückelheim 2010-09-21 12:41:53 This is a … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Darjeeling
The thunderbolt ridge, its tea and its two-foot railway
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Kalimpong
Old wool-trade town of nurseries, monasteries and schools
Photo: Benoy · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Mirik
A lake town among tea gardens on the Nepal border
Experiences
Days that fit the style
Photo: Souviksen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Toy train joy ride to Ghum and Batasia Loop
A 2-hour round trip on the 2 ft gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, climbing from Darjeeling to Ghum station at about 2…
Photo: Shahnoor Habib Munmun · CC BY 3.0 · Commons
Sunrise on Kangchenjunga from Tiger Hill
Drive before dawn to Tiger Hill, 2,590 m and about 11 km from Darjeeling, to watch first light hit Kangchenjunga. On cl…
Photo: Matt Stabile · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Happy Valley tea garden walk and tasting
Walk down to Happy Valley Tea Estate, 3 km from Chowrasta, the closest garden to Darjeeling town. Founded in 1854, it i…
Photo: Sumit Surai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Kalimpong cactus and orchid nursery visit
Tour two or three of Kalimpong's family-run nurseries, which grow cacti, succulents, orchids, gladioli and bulbs for bu…
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Durpin Monastery and Deolo Hill viewpoints
Visit Zang Dhok Palri Phodang, the Nyingma monastery on Durpin Hill consecrated by the Dalai Lama in 1976, then cross t…
Photo: Subhrajyoti07 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Dr Graham's Homes and old Kalimpong walk
Trace Kalimpong's mission and trading history: the campus of Dr Graham's Homes, founded in 1900 below Deolo, the Kather…
Photo: Benoy · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Morning walk around Sumendu Lake
Walk the 3.5 km road around Mirik's Sumendu Lake at first light, through pine woods and past the Savitri Pushpaudyan ga…
Photo: PrashansaGurung · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Climb to Bokar Monastery above the lake
Walk up from Sumendu Lake to Bokar Monastery, a Kagyu monastery at about 1,768 m, the highest point of Mirik. Sit in on…
Where to sleep
Stays in these places
Photo: Subhrajyoti07 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Budget
Meghbalika Tourism Property (WBTDC)
The West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation's lodge in Darjeeling town, formerly the Darjeeling Tourist Lodge.…
Photo: Subhrajyoti07 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Mid
Morgan House, Kalimpong (WBTDC)
A 1930s stone mansion built by the jute businessman George Morgan on Durpin Hill, now a WBTDC heritage lodge with …
Photo: Arne Hückelheim 2010-09-21 12:41:53 This is a … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Mid
Dekeling Hotel
A long-running family hotel run by a Tibetan family on Gandhi Road, a few minutes below Chowrasta, with simple, wa…
Photo: Arne Hückelheim 2010-09-21 12:41:53 This is a … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Luxury
Windamere Hotel
A colonial hotel on Observatory Hill above Chowrasta, built in 1841 as Ada Villa, later a boarding house for tea p…
Photo: A. J. T. Johnsingh, WWF-India and NCF · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Luxury
Glenburn Tea Estate & Boutique Hotel
Planter's bungalows inside a working tea estate founded in 1859, on slopes above the Rangeet river about 1.5 hours…
Family holidays elsewhere