Gangtok, Pelling & Darjeeling — West Sikkim Added

North along the Teesta into Sikkim, around four and a half hours with the valley tightening as the road climbs. Gangtok is strung along a single ridge at about 1,650 m. The first afternoon is left free after the drive; MG Marg at the top of the ridge is pedestrianised, lined with cafés and is where the town spends its evening, which is as good an introduction to Sikkim as any scheduled sight.

The old Silk Route road east toward the Tibetan border, climbing to Tsomgo at about 3,780 m — frozen from December into spring, prayer flags along the shore, and yaks worked for photographs at the roadside. Baba Mandir a little further on is a shrine to Harbhajan Singh, killed near the Nathu La in 1968. The permit for this stretch is arranged in advance and Nathu La beyond it is a separate one, closed to foreign nationals and to everyone on Mondays and Tuesdays.

West across Sikkim, around 115 km and five hours on winding roads through the Rangeet valley. Pelling sits at about 2,100 m directly beneath the Kangchenjunga massif, and on a clear afternoon the mountain occupies most of the northern sky from the town itself — which is the whole reason for coming here rather than a viewpoint you have to drive to. Nothing else is scheduled after the drive.

Pemayangtse first, founded in 1705 and one of the oldest and most important monasteries of the Nyingma order in Sikkim, with a seven-tiered wooden model of the heavenly palace on its top floor built single-handed over five years. A short walk through forest below it reaches Rabdentse, the kingdom's second capital from 1670 until it was sacked, now roofless walls on a spur with the mountain behind. The afternoon takes Khecheopalri, a lake sacred to Buddhists and Lepchas alike where leaves are said never to settle on the water, and the Rimbi and Kanchenjunga falls on the way back.

Down out of west Sikkim and along the Rangeet before climbing the Darjeeling ridge — around five hours, and one of the better drives in the region as the river valley opens below and tea gardens take over the slopes. Into Darjeeling at about 2,050 m in the afternoon. The town is older and denser than anything in Sikkim, laid out by the British from the 1830s, and the Chowrasta at the top is where it still gathers.

Tiger Hill before first light, for the sun coming up on Kangchenjunga — most reliable in October and November and in spring, and never certain. Ghoom Monastery and the Batasia Loop on the way back, the railway spiralling through a Gorkha war memorial. Then the Padmaja Naidu zoological park, which runs the snow leopard and red panda breeding programmes, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute alongside it, and a tea garden in the valley for the afternoon.

Around three hours and two thousand metres down through the estates to the plain, with the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway alongside the road in places. Bagdogra sits at the bottom. As with every descent from these hills, an afternoon flight rather than a morning one is the sensible choice — the road is reliable but it is not fast, and there is no second option if it is blocked.