Darjeeling Travel Guide: Places to Visit, the Toy Train and Planning

Darjeeling sits on a ridge in the Lesser Himalayas, and its sights fall into three groups: viewpoints around the town, the railway and the villages along it, and the tea estates and monasteries below the ridge. The Darjeeling district administration lists the town at 2,042 metres.

Tiger Hill

Tiger Hill, 13 km from the town and 2,590 metres high, is the sunrise viewpoint. West Bengal Tourism says the sun rises behind Kangchenjunga and the Eastern Himalaya, and that on a clear day Mount Everest is also visible. The district adds that Everest is only just visible, while Kangchenjunga looks higher because it stands much closer. Start before dawn, wear warm layers, and expect cloud on many mornings outside the clear months.

Batasia Loop

On the toy train line, about 5 km from Darjeeling, Batasia Loop is where the track circles a hill to lower the slope, and West Bengal Tourism describes it as a work of art by the engineers. The district says the line almost imperceptibly circles and descends 1,000 feet. In the middle stands the Gorkha War Memorial, in memory of Gorkha soldiers, set in a garden with views of Kangchenjunga and other peaks. Sellers offer handicrafts and woollens around it.

The Mall and Observatory Hill

The Chowrasta, or Mall, is the heart of the town and a no-vehicle zone, which livens up in the evening, when locals and visitors stroll, shop at roadside stalls and eat street food. Pony rides run around it. Above it, Observatory Hill carries the Mahakal temple and gives views of Kangchenjunga; the district says the view is clear in October and November, and at other times cloud sometimes covers it.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

UNESCO inscribed the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in 1999, and now lists it with two other lines as the Mountain Railways of India; it calls the railway the first, and still the most outstanding, hill passenger railway. Its 88.48 km of 2-foot gauge track joins New Jalpaiguri with Darjeeling, passing Ghoom at 2,258 metres, with six zigzag reverses and three loops. The line opened in 1881. Indian Railways runs a joy ride from Darjeeling to Ghum and back, with a 10-minute stop at Batasia Loop and 30 minutes at Ghum for the Rail Museum.

Ghoom

About 6 km from Darjeeling, Ghoom (also spelt Ghum) is known for its Buddhist monasteries among the hills. It is the summit of the railway, and the station has a museum beside it that railway enthusiasts will want to see. The joy ride stops here for half an hour. West Bengal Tourism and Indian Railways both call it the highest railway station in India; UNESCO gives its altitude as 2,258 metres, and Indian Railways calls it the line's summit.

Peace Pagoda

The Peace Pagoda stands on the slopes of Jalapahar, a few kilometres from the town. It was built under the guidance of Nichidatsu Fujii, the Japanese Buddhist monk who founded the Nipponzan-Myohoji order, and is 28.5 metres high and 23 metres across. It houses four avatars of the Buddha, including Maitreya. The foundation stone was laid in 1972, and it was inaugurated in 1992.

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the zoo

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru founded the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute on 4 November 1954 to mark the first ascent of Mount Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, set up in 1958 in the Birch Hill area, keeps Himalayan species such as snow leopards, gorals and Siberian tigers. Tenzing Rock and Gombu Rock, on Lebong Cart Road, are named after Tenzing Norgay and his nephew Nawang Gombu.

Happy Valley Tea Estate

Established in 1854, Happy Valley is Darjeeling's second-oldest tea estate and the closest to town, 3 km to the north. The district says it covers 177 hectares at about 2,100 metres and is open Tuesday to Saturday, 8 am to 4.30 pm, with March to May the busiest months, when plucking and processing are in progress. The Tea Board says 87 estates hold Darjeeling Tea status under its geographical indication.

Monasteries and the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre

Bhutia Busty monastery, which belongs to the Red Sect (Nyingma) and was first on Observatory Hill, keeps old Buddhist scripts, with one of the original pieces of the Book of the Dead as its prized possession. At Lebong, the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre, locally called the Hermitage, began in 1959 to relieve refugees arriving from Tibet, and its main activity today is the making of handicrafts. Other monasteries stand at Ghoom.

Lloyd Botanical Garden and Senchal

Lloyd Botanical Garden was established in 1878 on 40 acres. Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary, 10 to 15 km from the town, is one of the oldest sanctuaries in India, covering 38.6 sq km between 1,500 and 2,600 metres, with barking deer, wild boar, Himalayan black bears, leopards and many birds. The two Senchal lakes supply Darjeeling's drinking water. Tiger Hill is close to the sanctuary.

The driest, clearest months are October to December, with March also clear. IMD's observatory at Darjeeling records clear skies at 8.30 am on 10 days in October, 13 in November, 14 in December and 15 in March, against 2 in July. Rain follows the same pattern: 14 mm in November and 3 mm in December, against 785 mm in July, with annual rainfall of 2,662 mm on about 117 rainy days. The district says the view from Observatory Hill is clear in October and November.

• October to December: the driest weeks and the best chance of mountain views. The cold sets in; IMD gives January a mean daily maximum of 9.9°C and a minimum of 1.2°C, with frost fairly common in the cold season.
• January to March: cold, with more cloud than December: IMD counts only 8 clear mornings in January and 7 in February, and notes that winter mornings in the hills are often obscured by lifted fog. March clears.
• April and May: Happy Valley's busy season runs from March to May, but cloud and rain increase, and IMD counts 9 clear mornings in April and 4 in May.
• June to September: the monsoon, when IMD records heavy cloud and 413 to 785 mm of rain a month. Our toy train page warns that monsoon rain can affect hill roads and occasionally the line.

The Darjeeling district administration gives these ways in. By air: Bagdogra, 90 km away by NH 110, has flights from Kolkata, Delhi and Guwahati. By rail: the nearest main stations are New Jalpaiguri and Siliguri, with direct trains to Kolkata, Delhi and Guwahati; the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway line joins New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling over 88 km. By road: the main way up is through Siliguri, 77 km by NH 55, with four routes from there (Tindharia and Kurseong, Dudhiya and Mirik, Rohini, and Pankhabari). Buses leave from the Tenzing Norgay Bus Stand in Siliguri, shared vehicles can be hired from the airport and station, and prepaid taxi stands operate at New Jalpaiguri and Bagdogra.

If you start in Kolkata, read our Kolkata travel guide; see also our guides to domestic flights and trains for visitors. For the rest of the state, read our West Bengal travel guide.