An aerial sweep over the forested ridges and scattered settlements around Pelling, West Sikkim, with cloud below the peaks.

Sikkim · 6 Days

Sikkim — Gangtok & Pelling

Three nights in Gangtok with a Tsomgo Lake day, then Ravangla and Pelling — the classic east-and-west Sikkim circuit without the far north.

Day by Day

6 Days, In Full

The standard Sikkim trip for a first visit. Three nights in Gangtok: the monasteries and the market, and a permit day out to Tsomgo Lake at three thousand seven hundred metres, with Nathu La for Indian travellers. A night in Ravangla for Buddha Park and the Temi tea garden, taking in the Namchi statues on the way. Two nights in Pelling for Pemayangtse, the Rabdentse ruins, Khecheopalri Lake and the sunrise on Kanchenjunga. It covers both halves of the state at a steady pace.

Gangtok

Arrive in Gangtok

The drive up from Bagdogra airport or the New Jalpaiguri railhead takes about four to five hours, climbing out of the Bengal tea plains and up the Teesta gorge into Sikkim. Foreign visitors have their Sikkim permit checked at Rangpo on the way in. You reach Gangtok in the afternoon. The evening is for MG Marg, the traffic-free central avenue, where the town comes out to walk and the cafes fill up.

Gangtok

Gangtok — the Monasteries, the Ropeway and MG Marg

A full day around the capital. Rumtek first, the largest monastery in Sikkim and the Karmapa's seat, on a hill facing the town. Then the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, with one of the best collections of Tibetan texts and art outside Tibet, and the nearby Do-drul chorten. The afternoon takes in the Enchey monastery above the town, the ropeway across the ridge, and time on MG Marg and in the Lal Bazar market.

A snow-lined mountain road climbing toward a high-altitude lake in North Sikkim.

Gangtok

Day Trip to Tsomgo Lake and the Border Road

An early start east on the old Silk Road, with the permit arranged the day before. Tsomgo Lake sits at three thousand seven hundred and eighty metres, a glacial lake ringed by bare mountains, with decorated yaks on the shore. Nearby is the Baba Mandir, a shrine the army keeps for a soldier said to still watch the border. Indian nationals can continue to the Nathu La pass itself. The day is at altitude and the weather turns fast, so it goes early and stays flexible.

The gold and crimson Guru Padmasambhava statue on Samdruptse Hill near Namchi, South Sikkim.

Gangtok → Ravangla

Gangtok to Ravangla, via the Namchi Statues

A drive south and west of about four hours, crossing the Teesta and climbing into South Sikkim. The stop on the way is Namchi: the forty-five-metre statue of Guru Padmasambhava on Samdruptse hill, and the Char Dham complex at Solophok, where the four corner temples of India are rebuilt at full size around a statue of Shiva. Both sit on hilltops with wide views. You reach Ravangla, on its ridge facing Kanchenjunga, by evening.

A hillside village scattered through dense forest on a ridge near Pelling, West Sikkim.

Ravangla → Pelling

Ravangla to Pelling

A drive of about three hours west along the ridges, through forest and small villages, with Kanchenjunga ahead most of the way on a clear day. There is time to stop at a viewpoint or a roadside monastery. You reach Pelling, in the far west of the state, by early afternoon, and check in with the mountains filling the windows. If the sky is clear, the sunset light on the snow from the hotel lawn is worth waiting for.

Workers carry baskets up a rain-soaked green tea hillside at Temi Tea Garden, Sikkim.

Pelling

Pelling Down to Bagdogra

The road down from Pelling to Bagdogra airport takes about five hours, losing height steadily through forest, then tea gardens, then the heat of the plains. There is a last long view back at the mountains from the higher bends. For a train instead, New Jalpaiguri is a little further. The drive is timed to the flight, so an afternoon or evening departure works best from the west of the state.

Book This Itinerary

Priced Packages On This Route

This route is already built into these packages — real inclusions and pricing on each one's own page.

luxury · 5 Nights