Victoria Memorial standing grandly against a cloudy Kolkata sky

West Bengal · 8 Days

West Bengal Classic — Hills & Kolkata

The classic state route — three nights in Darjeeling, a Kalimpong night, and three in Kolkata.

Day by Day

8 Days, In Full

The standard first trip through West Bengal, hills to city. Three nights in Darjeeling for Tiger Hill, a tea estate and the toy train. A night in Kalimpong on the way down. A short flight from Bagdogra to Kolkata for three nights: the Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge, the Indian Museum, North Kolkata's old mansions and a street-food walk. It covers the state's two headline halves without the extra days a Sundarbans add-on needs.

Darjeeling

Arrive in Darjeeling

The gateway is Bagdogra airport, near Siliguri, about three hours by road up into the hills, or the New Jalpaiguri rail junction a similar distance away. The drive climbs steadily through tea gardens and forest, with the views opening out in the last stretch before town. You settle in by the afternoon. The evening is for the Mall and Chowrasta, Darjeeling's pedestrian square, and a first look at the hills as the light drops.

Tea plantation in the mountains under a clear sky, morning light on the rows

Darjeeling

Darjeeling — Tiger Hill Sunrise and a Tea Garden

A pre-dawn drive to Tiger Hill for sunrise over Kanchenjunga, with the convoy of jeeps that makes the same trip every clear morning. The return stops at Ghum monastery and the Batasia Loop war memorial. Back in town for a late breakfast, the rest of the morning is Happy Valley Tea Estate, a short walk from the Chowk Bazaar, for the factory tour and a tasting. The afternoon is free for the Mall.

Darjeeling

Darjeeling — the Toy Train and the Town

A ride on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the UNESCO-listed toy train, usually the joy-ride up to Ghum and back with a stop at the Batasia Loop. The rest of the day covers the town itself: the Peace Pagoda on Jalapahar Hill, the Himalayan zoo and mountaineering institute below Observatory Hill, and Chowrasta for the evening. A cable-car ride, when the Darjeeling ropeway is running, adds a different angle over the tea gardens on the slopes below.

A river running through a green Himalayan valley

Darjeeling → Kalimpong

Darjeeling to Kalimpong

A short drive of about two hours, dropping down toward the Teesta river before climbing again to Kalimpong's ridge. The road passes tea gardens and, in season, the Teesta itself running high and green below the highway. You reach Kalimpong by early afternoon, with time for a first walk around the small Mall and the old market before dinner.

An airport runway with mountains in the background

Kalimpong → Kolkata

Kalimpong to Kolkata — via Bagdogra

The hills and the delta halves of West Bengal are not linked by a practical road route, so the transfer is by air. A drive of about an hour and a half down to Bagdogra airport near Siliguri, then a flight of roughly ninety minutes to Kolkata. You land in the afternoon, and the sudden change from hill air to the heat and density of the city is immediate. The evening is free, or an early look at Park Street.

Kolkata

Kolkata — Howrah Bridge and the Indian Museum

A morning at the Indian Museum, the country's oldest, for its Egyptian, Mauryan and Buddhist collections, best seen before the midday heat. The afternoon is Howrah Bridge and the Hooghly riverfront, including the Mullick Ghat flower market beneath the bridge's Kolkata end, one of the largest in Asia. A short boat ride on the river at dusk gives the classic view of the bridge lit against the sky.

A bustling Indian street food stall with vendor and customers

Kolkata

Kolkata — Street Food and North Kolkata

A morning walk through North Kolkata, the city's old zamindar quarter: faded courtyard mansions, the Tagore family's ancestral home at Jorasanko, and the College Street book market. The evening is a guided street-food tour: puchka, kathi rolls, jhalmuri and Mughlai paratha, worked through a handful of long-running stalls. It is a full, mostly on-foot day, best broken up with a rest in the afternoon.

Kolkata

Kolkata — Departure

A free morning, for New Market or a last Park Street breakfast. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport has wide domestic and international connections, and Howrah and Sealdah stations run rail links across eastern India. It suits a trip that does not continue on to the Sundarbans.

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luxury · 7 Nights