Nowadays, immemorial the powerful town of Darjeeling, tucked in the Lesser Himalaya, has always attracted the mind of travelers from all over the world. The town hosts the archetypal Gorkha culture and is well known for its picturesque colonial ambiance. Furthermore, this hill station in India is the doorway to one of the admired treks in the Indian Himalayan area, the Sandakphu-Phalut Trek and is also one of the two places in India where from one can imprison the entire scene of the Eastern Himalayan ranges, from the Everest to Kanchenjunga. More, the refreshing environment covered with more than a few tea estates and evergreen forests basically, offers a retreat and is superlative for leisure capers. Here are some of the most excellent places to stopover in Darjeeling that will surely satisfy your Darjeeling trip palette.
A well-stocked museum that displays quite a few mountaineering mechanisms and journey artifacts, the Himalayan hiking Institute is a must visit place in Darjeeling particularly for the mountain lovers. It was built in the recall of Tenzing Norgay who, all along with Sir Edmund Hillary, climbed the Everest in 1953.
One of the most important sightseer attractions in Darjeeling is the Tiger Hill, which is the uppermost point in the region. It stands at an altitude of 2,590 meters overlooking the encourage of the snow-capped mountain ranges of the Eastern Himalaya. The Tiger Hill is one of the two points in India from where you can detain the entire view between Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga along with other peaks like the Kabru, Rathong, and Kokhtang on a luminous morning.
A joy for nature lovers, the Batasia Loop is exclusively known for its spiral of a narrow weigh railway way on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway where the Toy Train makes an entire loop around a fantastic circular garden.
Kalimpong’s main monastery, formally recognized as Zangtok Pelri Phodang, sits atop panoramic Durpin Hill (1372m) and was sanctified by the Dalai Lama in 1976. There are imposing murals in the main prayer room below, presided over by Padmasambhava, i.e., the Indian sage accredited with spreading Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century, attractive 3D mandalas which are image meditational aids on the 2nd floor, and eye-catching Kanchenjunga views from the terrace.
On a clear day, the cock-crow views of Kanchenjunga from this hilltop park, about 500m higher than the urban centre, are simply outstanding.
A charming missionary church built in 1929 by Swiss Jesuits, St Teresa's was constructed to slot in designs from a Bhutanese gompa. The 12 wooden apostles are evocative of Buddhist monks, and carvings on the doors look like the Tashi Tagye, eight positive secret code of Himalayan Buddhism. It's about 2km west of the city centre.
Built from 1912 to 1922, the foremost temple of this Gelugpa-school Tibetan monastery of 50 monks has statues of past, there and future Buddhas. Don't fail to spot the fascinating museum just above the core monastery, whose exhibits contain a model of the temple completed from 28,300 match sticks. The monastery is about 1.5km northeast from the municipality centre: get the right fork about 800m up the road long-ago Deki Lodge, and you'll discover it on your right after 100m.
This birding refuge lies east of Lava, a town 30km east of Kalimpong, and its abundant forests are home to a few red pandas and leopard cats and innumerable species of woodpeckers, owls, pigeons, eagles, warblers, and finches. Birding, jeep tours, and walking are the most important tricks here. Admission permits are issued at the woodland office in Lava, from which it's about a 10km, one-hour drive to the park entry at Kolakham.
No Review