Darjeeling and Kalimpong — the West Bengal Hills in Three Nights

Your driver meets you at Bagdogra airport or New Jalpaiguri station and starts the climb. The district puts Darjeeling about 90 km from the airport and 88 km from the station; we allow three to four hours, because the hill road is narrow and winding and the route taken depends on its condition that day. Check in and rest. If there is light left, walk to Chowrasta, the square on the ridge, and round to Observatory Hill. Nothing else is planned, and tomorrow starts early.

If the forecast is fair, leave before dawn for Tiger Hill, about 11 km away, to watch the light reach Kanchenjunga. This is an attempt, not a promise: it depends on the weather and on whatever vehicle limits are in force. On the way back, stop at Batasia Loop and the Gorkha War Memorial. After breakfast the car takes you to Birch Hill for the zoo and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, then on to the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre at Lebong. The joy train to Ghum fits in the afternoon if seats can be had.

A short stop at the Peace Pagoda and the Japanese Temple on the Jalapahar slope, then the road east to Kalimpong — about 55 km, for which we allow about two and a half hours. After check-in the afternoon goes to the two hills at either end of the town: Durpin first, for the Zang Dhok Palri monastery and the view down to the Teesta, then Deolo Hill for the late light. A flower nursery is added on the way if one is receiving visitors that day.

If your departure time allows, the morning takes in Tharpa Choling monastery and MacFarlane Church before the drive down. Kalimpong is about 80 km from Bagdogra airport and about 75 km from New Jalpaiguri station, and we allow about three hours for either. Please book a flight or train from mid-afternoon onward and send us the ticket before you pay for it; we set the morning against it, and drop the sightseeing first if time is tight.