Kupup Elephant Lake
Gangtok, Sikkim, India
Nearby attractions
Baba Harbhajan Singh Mandir
Gangtok, Sikkim
The shrine of the 'Hero of Nathula' — a soldier believed to guard the border beyond death, his boots polished and bed made daily by the army.
Nathula Pass
Sikkim
The historic Silk Route gate to Tibet at 4,310 m — Indian and Chinese posts face each other across a saddle of snow and wind, reached past Tsomgo Lake and Baba Mandir on one of the world's highest motorable border roads.
Nathang Valley
Gnathang, Sikkim
The 'Ladakh of the East' — a 13,500-ft treeless bowl of yak pastures on the Silk Route, golden in autumn, white for five months.
Tsomgo Lake
Sikkim
A sacred glacial bowl at 3,753 m on the old Nathula road — mirror-still between snow slopes, ringed by prayer flags and yak bells, frozen solid in winter and rimmed with primulas in June. Sikkim's beloved high-altitude day trip from Gangtok.
Thambi View Point
Zuluk, Sikkim
The 11,200-ft balcony above Zuluk's loops — sunrise firing the whole eastern face of Kanchenjunga down the Silk Route valleys.
Zuluk Old Silk Route
Zuluk, Sikkim
The hamlet on the historic Lhasa trade road whose 32 hairpin loops stack up a bare mountainside — India's most photographed zigzag.
Ranka Lingdum Monastery
Gangtok, Sikkim
A vast, cinematic Zurmang Kagyud monastery in forested Ranka — sweeping courtyards and gilded halls familiar from many film shoots.
Hanuman Tok
Gangtok, Sikkim
An army-maintained Hanuman temple at 7,200 ft where the monkey god rested carrying Sanjeevani — the finest Kanchenjunga view near Gangtok.
Himalayan Zoological Park
Gangtok, Sikkim
India's highest zoo (7,200 ft) at Bulbulay — red pandas, snow leopards and Himalayan bears in forest enclosures so large you must hike between them.
Ganesh Tok
Gangtok, Sikkim
A tiny Ganesha shrine on a 6,500-ft spur — its balcony wraps around Gangtok's amphitheatre with Kanchenjunga floating beyond.
Enchey Monastery
Gangtok, Sikkim
The 'solitary temple' of 1909 above Gangtok, blessed by flying tantric Lama Druptob Karpo — pines, prayer flags and Kanchenjunga glimpses.
Tsuklakhang Palace Monastery
Gangtok, Sikkim
The Chogyal kings' royal chapel on the palace ridge — coronations, royal weddings and the Kagyed dances still happen beneath its murals.