
Darjeeling
Darjeeling, West Bengal, India
Kanchenjunga fills the horizon above tea gardens rolling like green surf — ride the UNESCO toy train's loops, watch dawn ignite the world's third-highest peak from Tiger Hill, and sip first-flush in the planters' town that named a tea.
Why visit: Toy train + Tiger Hill sunrise + the champagne of teas — the Himalayan classic.
History: Leased from Sikkim's Chogyal in 1835 as a sanatorium town; the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (1881) and its Batasia Loop became a world-heritage marvel of engineering.
- ›Sunrise over Kanchenjunga from Tiger Hill
- ›Ride the DHR steam toy train around Batasia Loop
- ›Tour Happy Valley tea estate with tastings
- ›Meet red pandas at the Padmaja Naidu zoo & HMI
- ›Momos and pastries along Chowrasta Mall
No reviews yet. Be the first to review!
Best time
Mar–May
Entry fee
Toy train joyride ₹1000–1600
Hours
Year-round; clearest Oct–Dec
Est. budget
₹1500–4000/day
Duration
2–3 days
Nearby attractions
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
Darjeeling, West Bengal
The UNESCO-listed 'toy train' of 1881, whose steam engines still zigzag 2-ft-gauge tracks from the plains to Ghoom at 7,407 ft.

Japanese Peace Pagoda Darjeeling
Darjeeling, West Bengal
A gleaming white stupa on Jalapahar hill built by the Nipponzan Myohoji order, with gilded Buddha reliefs and mountain silence.

Happy Valley Tea Estate
Darjeeling, West Bengal
Darjeeling's second-oldest garden (1854), tumbling down slopes below town, with factory tours ending in a proper first-flush tasting.

Rock Garden Darjeeling
Darjeeling, West Bengal
Terraced gardens built around the Chunnu Summer Falls, 3 km down a ravine from town, with flower beds stepping up the cascade.
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park
Darjeeling, West Bengal
India's premier high-altitude zoo, world-renowned for breeding snow leopards and red pandas amid Himalayan oak forest.
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
Darjeeling, West Bengal
The legendary climbing school founded after the 1953 Everest ascent, with Tenzing Norgay's memorial and a superb mountaineering museum.

Batasia Loop
Darjeeling, West Bengal
The famous spiral where the toy train loops through manicured gardens around a Gorkha war memorial, with Kanchenjunga behind.

Ghoom Monastery
Darjeeling, West Bengal
Yiga Choeling (1850), the area's oldest Tibetan Buddhist monastery, guarding a serene 15-ft Maitreya Buddha near India's highest railway station.
Tiger Hill
Darjeeling, West Bengal
The 8,482-ft summit above Ghoom where dawn ignites Kanchenjunga — and on clear days, a distant Everest — in molten gold.

Lepchajagat
Darjeeling, West Bengal
A forest hamlet at 6,956 ft wrapped in oak and rhododendron, famous for dawn Kanchenjunga views floating over cloud seas.

Lamahatta Eco Village
Darjeeling, West Bengal
A prayer-flag-lined eco hamlet on the Ghoom–Kalimpong road, with a dhupi-pine garden and a hidden sacred lake uphill.

Tinchuley
Darjeeling, West Bengal
An orange-and-cardamom village on a ridge of 'three ovens' (tin chulha), overlooking the Teesta–Rangeet confluence far below.