My Memorable Experience in Darjeeling

Who says you can’t travel Darjeeling during monsoon? Here, I am sharing with you my experience in Darjeeling in this monsoon with Interlaken Holidays. It was a 4-day tour of Darjeeling and Mirik. This is my pleasure to say you about these amazing guys(Interlaken Holidays). Interlaken Holidays and Events is an amazing team of professionals, who provides exceptional travel services to the clients. This well known Kolkata based travel company started their business operation since 2016 under the leadership of Mr. Sumit Das, owner, and founder of this beautiful company. I am glad enough to say that they have achieved a lot since they have walked into the business. As I have experienced a memorable trip with Interlaken Holidays, I would love to tell you that you can also plan your trips to Sikkim, Andaman, Himachal Pradesh, and Pan India with Interlaken Holidays and also you can plan a few International trips to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Dubai, Maldives, Bhutan and of course Europe with them.

We start from Siliguri by car, which had been arranged by Interlaken Holidays. We had been driven to Darjeeling through the lush green Himalayan range and the drama of those beautiful monsoon clouds. As we started our journey in the morning, we reached Darjeeling by noon. It takes almost 4 hours to reach the Himalayan city.

Once we reached Darjeeling we decided to have our lunch form a Tibetan restaurant near the bus stop. After completing our lunch we walked towards the Mall.

Our resort was pretty near to the Mall. We were lucky enough to get a beautiful room overlooking the magnificent Himalayan range.

Day 1:

On day 1 we decided to visit the Japanese Temple, Peace Pagoda, Lalkuthi and the Himalayan Tibet Museum. We booked a car to Peace Pagoda, which is in West Point Darjeeling. The Peace Pagoda is an amazing white pagoda with its beautiful wall art speaking the life and teachings of Lord Buddha. The entire area is so peaceful and so green.

The Japanese temple is also in the same place. This temple is so unique and you will get an idea of how Japanese pray to God once you enter the temple. We did some prayer inside the temple and spent some peaceful time in that place and then started towards the Lalkuthi.

I know, most of you have heard about this place. You can say, this place has experienced enough the socioeconomic changes in this hill town. Lalkuthi is now the office of the Chief Executive and Secretary of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. To visit Lalkuthi you have to buy tickets from the counter which will cost you INR 30 per person and once you will complete a visit at this historic place you will get a cup of Darjeeling tea as complimentary. The people there at Lalkuthi are very happy and charming they told me many stories related to Lalkuthi and its history.

On the way back to Gandhi Road we got to see the Bose Institute, which was set up by the famous scientist Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose in 1920. This is to mention that this institute had been designed with advice from personalities like Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and famous painter Nandalal Bose.

At Gandhi Road, you have the Himalayan Tibet Museum. A nice place to visit indeed, especially for history lovers and people who love to know different cultures. This museum tells about the rich Tibetan culture and Buddhism, especially the teachings of Buddha. I personally liked the place as I get to know many interesting things about Buddhism and ancient India.

After visiting the Himalayan Tibet Museum, we drove back to Gandhi Road, where we had some local food like Thikpa and Chicken Shafale. This is to mention that Darjeeling has many food options, you just have to be careful about the rates. Same food different stall will charge you differently, for that you just have to be extra careful.

Same with the clothes and other things too. There are some small and big markets surrounding the Mall. Those markets are pretty colourful and full of interesting items like nice woolen clothes, amazing Tibetan home decor items, bags, locally made pieces of jewelry and clothes.

Day 2:

Though we visited Darjeeling during monsoon, we decided to visit Tiger Hill to see the golden Sunrise in Kanchenjunga. The best time to see the sunrise in Darjeeling is from October to February as these months the sky is cloud-free and you will be able to see the amazing Sunrise.

We also visited Batasia Loop and Ghoom Monastery on the way back to Darjeeling Mall. In between, we finished our breakfast and lunch and then we started towards the Shrubbery Nightingale Park and Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological.

Shrubbery Nightingale Park is a nice and peaceful place. You will get to see some unique plants and flowers here. There is a small nursery inside the park and there you will get to see a nice collection of cactus and flora.

The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological park is not that far from the Shrubbery Nightingale Park. This Zoological Park is all about the animal species of Darjeeling Himalayan range. We had an amazing experience in this place as we got to see Himalayan Black Bear, Clouded Leopard, Snow Leopard, Himalayan reptiles, Barking deer, Samber Deer, Red Panda different kind of birds, wild cats, civets and so many things of the Darjeeling Himalayan Range.

In the same area, you also have the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and The Bengal Nature Museum. These two places will give you the rich history of Mountaineering in India and will introduce you with many unique species of the Himalayan range.

We also visited the Observatory Viewpoint and Mahakal Temple on the same day.

The Observatory View Point is a pretty nice place from where you will get the mind-blowing view of the Himalayas and its lush green alpine forest. This place is not that far from the mall and you can surely spend some quality time here by watching those mountains.

Mahakal Temple is also a place very close to the Mall. You have to take a walk to reach the temple and in that hilly road that’s not so easy. Once we reached the temple we felt it is a combination of Hinduism and Buddhism. There is a cave temple in that compound. This is a very spiritual place and every day a lot of devotees come to the temple from different places to get the blessing from gods like Lord Shiva, Goddess Durga, Goddess Kali, Lord Ganesha, and Lord Hanuman.

Day 3

On day 3 we left Darjeeling and reached Mirik, a beautiful lake town. The natural beauty of this place is amazing. With the Mirik Lake, you also have Bokar Ngedon Chokhor Ling Monastery and the view from Tingling Viewpoint. There is an amazing orchid farm in Mirik, which ranks 2nd in India. Those beautiful colours of Himalayan Cymbidium orchid will definitely make you happy.  

Day 4

This is a day to say goodbye to this beautiful place. In our entire journey, we had gained a lot of knowledge about people, culture, food and yes The Darjeeling Himalayan Range.

Thanks to Interlaken Holidays for arranging this amazing trip. It was surely a journey to remember and take some precious memory back home.