in DarjeelingSunrise on Tiger Hill
Private journeys · Darjeeling · Sikkim · Bhutan · Nepal
The Himalaya, arranged around you
Tea estates, monasteries, Bhutan's dzongs and Kathmandu's old courtyards, planned by a small team in Darjeeling district and quoted line by line. Two to fourteen nights, and a week in the hills from ₹1.4 lakh per person, twin share.
In the Darjeeling hills since 2017 Support 24×7 while you travel No deposit to begin
- Bagdogra 126 m
- Kurseong 1,483 m
- Ghum 2,258 m
- Darjeeling 2,045 m
- Tiger Hill 2,590 m
- Kalimpong 1,247 m
- Gangtok 1,650 m
- Pelling 2,150 m
- Tsomgo Lake 3,780 m
- Sandakphu 3,636 m
- Thimphu 2,320 m
- Kanchenjunga 8,586 m
IThe road up
It begins at 126 metres in the heat of the plains and by tea-time you are at 2,045
Bagdogra to Darjeeling is about 70 km, three hours and two climates. Your driver waits at the arrivals exit, and the road crosses the flat tea of the Terai before it turns up Rohini Road, through sal forest and into cloud. Below Kurseong the tea begins, and by Kurseong itself, among Makaibari, Castleton and Ambootia, the driver switches off the air-conditioning because nobody needs it any more. Most journeys begin on a road like this one and end with the same view of it going down.
Bagdogra Tiger Hill
2,464 mof climb in a day and a dawn
IIWhere we take you
Six places, one airport
From Bagdogra (IXB), Darjeeling and Kalimpong are about three hours up the hill road, Gangtok four and a half, Pelling five to six, the Bhutan gate at Phuentsholing 162 km through the Dooars, and Kathmandu 43 km to Bhadrapur through the Kakarbhitta border, then a 45-minute flight. Each valley changes the language, the food and the light.
Darjeeling
A ridge of tea, steam and prayer flags, facing the third-highest mountain on earth.
Explore Darjeeling
Kalimpong
The warmer ridge across the Teesta: Lepcha by name, Bhutanese until 1865, and the end of Tibet's wool road until 1962.
Explore Kalimpong
Gangtok & East Sikkim
A kingdom's old capital on a ridge, the Karmapa's monastery across the valley, a lake frozen at 3,753 m.
Explore Gangtok & East Sikkim
Pelling & West Sikkim
Where the kingdom of Sikkim began, on a ridge facing Kanchenjunga.
Explore Pelling & West Sikkim
Bhutan
Fortress monasteries still in use, a temple on a cliff, and the highest unclimbed mountain on earth.
Explore Bhutan
Nepal
Three royal cities in one valley, fire on the Bagmati at dusk, and Everest outside your window at dawn.
Explore NepalIIISignature journeys
Start with one of ours and finish with yours
Each of these routes comes with its day-by-day plan, the houses we would book and a from-price. Take one as it stands or tell us what to change: every journey is private and quoted for your own dates.
Signature journey
The Planter's Week
Two nights inside Makaibari at Kurseong, two in a planters' bungalow at Glenburn above the Rangeet, two at Windamere in Darjeeling. Fields at plucking time, factories at work, the dawn train to Ghum, and long dinners with your hosts.
Signature journey
Kanchenjunga at First Light
Seven nights, three ridges, one mountain. Tiger Hill and the steam line at Darjeeling, Kanchenjunga at its closest from Pelling, then Kalimpong's quiet gardens across the Teesta. Short drives, rooms that face the range, and a spare dawn at every stop.
Signature journey
Monasteries of the East
Seven nights from the Karmapa's seat at Rumtek to Dubdi, the oldest monastery still standing in Sikkim. Morning prayers, a Bon house, Tashiding's chortens, and three nights at a king's retreat facing Pemayangtse.
Honeymoon or anniversary
A Himalayan Honeymoon
Seven nights for two across three houses: a planter's bungalow on a working tea estate, the old Himalayan Hotel in Kalimpong with a fire in your room, and a Taj spa resort in the forest above Gangtok. Short drives, late breakfasts.
Signature expedition
Two Kingdoms: Sikkim to Bhutan by Road
Eleven nights from Gangtok to Paro by road: Rumtek and the high lake at Tsomgo, the Phuentsholing gate, Thimphu and Punakha, then the Tiger's Nest as your last climb before the flight home from Paro.
Signature journey
The First Time: Darjeeling and Sikkim
Eight nights for a first visit to the hills. Gangtok and Tsomgo Lake while you are fresh, two dawns facing Kanchenjunga at Pelling, then Darjeeling's tea, Tiger Hill and steam, with the shortest drive saved for the flight home.
Or describe the trip you picture and we will draw it from scratch
Where you sleep
Six houses we send guests to
Each appears on the journeys that pass its way, with the room to ask for.
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MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa ResortKalimpongThe snows at first light from Kalimpong, the range the house looks to. -
The Elgin Nor-KhillGangtokGangtok from above, the town the Nor-Khill sits in the middle of. -
The Elgin Mount PandimPellingThe lawn at Mount Pandim, looking into the cloud on the Pelling ridge. -
MAYFAIR Hill ResortDarjeelingThe MAYFAIR at Darjeeling, above its garden opposite Raj Bhawan. -
Glenburn Tea EstateGlenburn Tea Estate, Glenburn Tea Estate (Darjeeling district)The Burra Bungalow at Glenburn, with the lawn laid for tea. -
The Dwarika's HotelKathmanduA rescued Newar door at the Dwarika's, carved lattice, iron bolt and wooden lock.
IVHow it works
Three steps between an idea and the road
No call centre, and no form to fill in twice. Before you arrive, every house, kitchen, driver and guide on the route is briefed in writing, down to the no-chilli plate, the birthday cake and the flight you land on.
Tell us the picture
Who is travelling, the month, the pace you like, and the one thing you would regret missing. Ideas are welcome; certainty is not required.
We draw the route
A day-by-day sketch with the exact houses, drives and views, and one honest price. We revise until it is right; there is no charge for the drawing.
One team, one number
Your driver meets you at Bagdogra, and local cars and guides join where Sikkim and Bhutan rules require them. Our office answers 24x7 while you travel.
VWhy travel with us
Planned at the foot of the hills, driven by people from them
Our office is at Salbari in Darjeeling district, near Siliguri, where the roads to Darjeeling, Sikkim, the Bhutan gate and the Nepal border all begin. Close enough to know which house has the room worth asking for, and to have the day's road report before you have had breakfast.
Read our storyDrivers who know the diversions
Your driver is from these hills and checks the next day's road with the police, the district notices and the drivers coming the other way, the evening before and again at dawn. When a slide shuts NH10, the longer way round through Gorubathan and Lava is a road he has already driven.
Every change of car named in advance
Sikkim keeps its sightseeing, Tsomgo and the north for Sikkim-registered cars, Pelling for the local syndicate, and Bhutan requires a Bhutanese car and licensed guide from the gate or Paro. Your quote names each one, the day it takes over, and the hotel door or border gate where it happens.
A quote you can check line by line
Every house, drive, guide and permit sits on its own line, with the date each rate was checked and the date the quote stands until. Festive supplements, and the few old hill houses that charge for a lit fire or a room heater, are named before you pay anything.
Asked for in good time
Indian Railways opens steam seats 60 days out and we book the morning they open. Sikkim's online permit for foreign and OCI guests goes in about 30 days ahead, Bhutan's festival rooms nine to twelve months, and Glenburn will embroider your initials on the pillowcases given three months.
Your chief explorer
Meet Manish Dai, a hill boy who never came down
Born in Assam's only hill station, schooled in its tea city, and now the guy who draws most of the routes on this site. If a view is worth a 4 am alarm, it's probably in his plan.
Haflong gave him the hills. Dibrugarh gave him the tea. Siliguri, parked right at the foot of the Darjeeling road, gave him the itch to see what was up there. Somewhere along the way he picked up an MCA and a nickname that stuck: Manish Dai, dai being Nepali for elder brother.
He writes our field notes, so the tips you read before you decide come from roads he knows. Between sunrises he builds tech companies too: Vayunex and AI Agents Nepal.
Small town. Big work. Honest growth.
Manish Dai
- Hill boy from Haflong, Assam
- Tea-city years in Dibrugarh
- Draws most of our routes
- Writes the field notes
VIGuest words
Said on the way back down, in their own words
Quoted from Trustpilot under each guest's own name, a few shortened, none reworded. The ones below were written in 2022, before the 2026 relaunch as a private journey house, so they speak for the planning and the driving rather than for the houses on these pages.
Had an amazing trip to Gangtok and Darjeeling last week. Thanks to Darjeeling Trips for their service and for accommodating some last-minute changes too, driven by the unforeseen closure due to elections.
We had so much back and forth in customising our itinerary and they did it so professionally every time. They took care of everything that we needed to make it a complete trip. It was a very comfortable trip where we didn't really have to bother much since the team had taken care of everything.
Thank you Darjeeling Trips for making our trip so smooth and hassle free. We were overwhelmed by your hospitality. Wish we stayed for a little longer.
VIIOne day, Darjeeling
A day in Darjeeling, late October
A Tuesday with the mountain out, in the last weeks before Happy Valley's factory stops for the winter. The early start is yours to refuse, and if the 03:30 sky check shows cloud the car does not come and you sleep.
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Prakrit Ghosh / Unsplash First light on Kanchenjunga
The vehicle token was collected yesterday afternoon, so the car goes up at 04:00 and a guide keeps your place at the rail. The summits turn rose, then gold, while the valleys underneath stay black.
Tiger Hill, 2,590 m -
Ankan Sarkar / Pexels The monastery at Ghum on the way down
Yiga Choeling, begun in 1850, is dark inside but for rows of butter lamps before a Maitreya 15 feet high. Juniper, wax, and the prayer wheels turned clockwise on the way out.
Yiga Choeling, Ghum, 2,225 m -
Trishik Bose / Pexels Steam up to Ghum and back
Breakfast in town, then the station. The steam joy ride climbs to Ghum and back in about two hours, ten minutes of it at Batasia Loop, where the line spirals over itself. We ring the station the evening before.
Darjeeling to Ghum, by rail -
Quang Nguyen Vinh / Pexels The day's leaf in at the factory
Three km below Chowk Bazaar, a garden planted in 1854 is still working this year's autumn leaf. The factory runs Tuesday to Saturday and rests from November, which is why today is a Tuesday in October.
Happy Valley Tea Estate -
Mahakal, then the lamps on Chowrasta
Ninety metres of steep lane climb from the Mall to Mahakal on Observatory Hill, where a Hindu priest and a Buddhist monk keep their rituals side by side under the prayer flags. Then down for the town's evening walk.
Observatory Hill and Chowrasta, 2,134 m -
VipinVihari Murari Das / Pexels Supper by the fire
A Nepali supper in a family house we know: gundruk soup from last year's jar, while this autumn's leaves are still being pressed for the next one. Or the long table at your hotel. Tomorrow starts at a kinder hour.
Darjeeling
VIIILeaving the hills better
Luxury here is light on the land
We are a small company in a fragile place and we have no certificate to show you. What we have is a short list of habits kept on every journey. Two of them are here; the other four, and why we keep them, are on Leaving the hills better.
Bhutan charges every visitor a Sustainable Development Fee that funds its forests and schools. How the fee works.
Two or three nights in most places
We plan two or three nights a house as a rule, and break it only for a border or a trail night. Fewer changes burn less fuel, and they leave you a morning that is not about packing.
Estates and gompas paid their own rate
Tastings, factory mornings, time in a monastery and lunch in a family kitchen are paid to the estate, the gompa or the family at the rate they set, never slipped to a gatekeeper as a tip.
IXField notes
Read before you decide
Straight answers on seasons, permits, tea estates and the difference between a good hotel and the right one. Updated when the roads or the rules change.
Lepcha, Bhutia, Limbu, Gorkha and Tibetan: who lives in these hills
Five communities, one common language and four new years. Who was here first, who came over the passes, who came for the tea and who came in 1959, and where each life shows itself on a journey through Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sikkim.
Red pandas near Darjeeling: where you might see one wild, and where you certainly will
Two national parks near Darjeeling hold the animal the hills call habre, and the forest department counted 75 of them in July 2026. Where they live, when they move, what you are scanning for, and why the zoo still earns a morning.
Mirik, Sittong, Lepchajagat and Tinchuley: the quieter places near Darjeeling, and whether they suit a luxury trip
Search for offbeat places near Darjeeling and you get budget listings. Here is the grading we give on the telephone: which of the four is worth a night, which is a morning, what the beds are really like, and when to go.
XPlan my journey
A few lines from you, a reply within 24 hours
Tell us the month, who is coming and what the trip is for. A designer writes back with the few questions that shape your route, and the day-by-day draft follows, usually within a few days.
Before you ask
Who plans it, what if the road closes, and when you pay
Who will design our journey, and who looks after us on the road?
Most of our journeys are designed by Manish Giri, who also writes the field notes. Gourav Giri runs the drivers, houses and permits day to day, and Purusottam Upadhaya the monasteries, tea gardens and the walks between villages. On the road your driver and every local guide work from the same written plan, and our team answers 24x7 by phone or WhatsApp while you travel. The five of us are named on Our story.
When is the best time to visit Darjeeling and Sikkim?
October to mid-December is the clearest season, with Kanchenjunga out on most mornings. March to May brings rhododendrons on the ridges and the first-flush tea harvest, with hazier views. December to February is cold and often very clear. June to September is monsoon: rain most days and slow roads. When to go has a month-by-month table for every destination.
How do we get to Darjeeling?
Fly to Bagdogra (IXB), which has direct flights from Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and other Indian cities. Your driver meets you at arrivals, and Darjeeling is about 70 km and three hours up the hill road; Gangtok is four and a half to five. Travelling from abroad, you land first in Delhi or Kolkata; our guides by country set out the visa, flights and time difference.
How many nights do we need?
Three or four nights for Darjeeling alone, which gives the mountain more than one dawn to show itself. Seven or eight lets in Gangtok and Pelling, as on The First Time. Ten or more adds Bhutan or Nepal without rushing: Two Kingdoms crosses from Sikkim into Bhutan in eleven nights. The first day of any trip goes on the drive up from Bagdogra.
Do we need permits for Sikkim, Bhutan or Nepal?
Darjeeling needs none. Indian citizens need only photo ID for Gangtok and Pelling, plus a protected-area permit for Tsomgo Lake and North Sikkim. Foreign nationals and OCI cardholders need an Indian visa and, since January 2026, Sikkim's online Restricted Area Permit. Bhutan asks for an entry permit or visa and a nightly fee; Nepal needs no visa for Indians. We prepare or file each one with you.
What does a private journey cost?
A week in the hills starts from about ₹1.4 lakh per person, twin share, and each journey page shows its own from-price. Your quote lists every house, car, guide, permit and fee on its own line, for your dates and party. Bhutan costs more because of its nightly Sustainable Development Fee. Drafts and changes are free, and nothing is booked until you say yes.
Is Darjeeling suitable for children and older parents?
Yes, with the right pace. Darjeeling sits at about 2,045 metres, where most guests notice little beyond steep lanes. We keep drives short, choose houses without long stairs where needed, and plan rest afternoons. Children of five and under cannot go up to Tsomgo Lake or North Sikkim, so one adult stays in Gangtok with them. Our family and Three Generations journeys are built for this.
If a landslide shuts the road or the mountain stays in cloud, what changes?
Every day of the plan carries a written alternative, and every drive day carries the road report our drivers call in at dawn. A morning lost to cloud becomes a tasting, a kitchen or a monastery at prayer, and a blocked highway becomes the long way round, which your driver has driven before. If a road, flight or permit fails outright, we rearrange with no fee of our own and pass on only any difference in supplier costs. How it works sets out each case.
When do we pay, and how much?
Nothing until you say yes: drafts and revisions are free, and no house, car or permit is booked in your name before you confirm. A deposit, normally 30 percent, confirms the journey, and the balance is due 45 days before your first day, by bank transfer or card; inside 45 days you pay in full at confirmation. Any supplier rate in a foreign currency is fixed on the day you confirm. How it works has the table.