Darjeeling with Kids: 6-Night Family Itinerary

In short

Is The Hills with Children right for you?

The Hills with Children is a six-night private family journey from Bagdogra airport (IXB), paced for children aged six to fourteen. Three nights in Darjeeling bring red pandas, the Everest museum, a steam train and a tea factory, then three in Kalimpong bring cactus glasshouses, handmade paper and the Deolo lawns.

Made forfamilies with children aged 6 to 14, a first family trip to the hills, Puja, Diwali and summer school holidays and parents who want short drives and early nights.

Not for you ifFamilies with toddlers under three will find the bends and cold nights hard, and teenagers who want to walk far will find it slow: they should look at The Singalila Ridge, and families bringing grandparents at Three Generations.

Most hill itineraries are written for adults and endured by children: a 04:00 alarm, five viewpoints in one afternoon, a temple where nobody may touch anything. This one runs the other way. Every day has one thing a nine-year-old will describe at school, placed at the hour it works best: the zoo at opening time while the red pandas are awake, the steam train on a clear morning, the tea factory while the rollers turn.

The adults are looked after too. You stay in two MAYFAIR houses with family rooms, a games room, a pool and, in Darjeeling, a doctor on call, and the drives are short enough that nobody arrives in a mood. Dinner is at 19:00. Afternoons belong to rest, table tennis and the fire. And every outing gives the children a job: a drum to keep time at the Japanese Temple, a basket at the tea bushes, a film to choose for the hotel's small theatre, churpi to taste at the market.

Designed in the Darjeeling hills by the Darjeeling Trips team · Updated September 2026

Length: 6 nights, 7 days
Starts and ends: Bagdogra airport to Bagdogra airport
Best months: March to May, October to mid December
Avoid: mid June to mid September (monsoon)
Pace: Gentle
Longest drive: About 3 hours, 264 km in all
Highest point: Ghum, 2,258 m
Group: Private, one family of 3 to 6 guests

The route

Why Darjeeling comes first

Darjeeling comes first, while everyone is fresh: its two big days, the zoo and the steam train, need early starts and plenty of energy. Then the route drops about 800 m to Kalimpong, only 55 km away, where the air is warmer and the days slower, which is how children like a holiday to end. Kalimpong is 80 km from Bagdogra, so the last drive is no longer than the first. We set days 2 and 3 around the zoo's Thursday closure and the tea factory's Sunday and Monday rest.

your bases, in orderby roadborders not drawn

Where the nights go

3Darjeeling3Kalimpong

Read the place guidesDarjeeling Kalimpong

The shape of the journey

From 126 m to 2,258 m, day by day

You sleep between 1,247 m and 2,045 m. The highest you go is 2,258 m, on day 1 at Ghum, and you come down again to sleep.

500 m1,000 m1,500 m2,000 m 2,258 m1,704 m1,247 m

Arrive126 m
Day 12,045 m
Day 22,045 m
Day 32,045 m
Day 41,247 m
Day 51,247 m
Day 61,247 m
Day 7126 m

Built around

Darjeeling and Kalimpong at their best

Red pandas at 08:30 in the zoo that has returned captive-bred pandas to the Singalila forests
First-class seats behind a B-class steam engine, with half an hour at Ghum's railway museum
A factory tour at Happy Valley, founded in 1854, with the rollers turning in season
Hand drums at the Japanese Temple's 16:30 prayers, and Everest gear at the HMI museum
Kalimpong's cactus glasshouses, paper made from bark, and lollipops from the old Swiss dairy
No drive over 3 hours, dinner at 19:00, family rooms and a doctor on call in Darjeeling

Day by day

Day by day, Darjeeling to Kalimpong

The longest drive is day 1, Bagdogra airport to Darjeeling, about 3 hours with stops.

01
Day 1 · Bagdogra airport Darjeeling

Up from the plains, counting level crossings
- 70 km, about 3 h
- High point 2,258 m
- Sleep at 2,045 m
- Easy
Your flight lands at Bagdogra between 11:00 and 14:00, and our driver is waiting at the arrivals exit with your name on a card and a cool box of water and fruit in the door. If a younger child needs a booster seat, tell us before you fly: they are not standard in hill cars, so we source one in Siliguri. The 70 km up take about three hours, plus however long you want at Kurseong for hot momos and a pot of tea. Above Kurseong the road and the two-foot railway begin to cross and recross, and through Sonada and Ghum they share the same tarmac, which turns the back seat into a counting game. The family room is already warm: we ask the MAYFAIR to switch the heaters on at 15:00 and slip hot-water bottles into the beds. Dinner is at 19:00, and most children are asleep by 20:30.

The momentAbove Kurseong the railway starts crossing the road, and the back seat begins counting every crossing out loud.

InsiderIn Sonada and Ghum the toy train runs down the middle of the bazaar: if one is coming, the driver pulls in so the children can watch it pass at walking pace.

If the weather turnsIf a landslide closes the Rohini road, we climb by Pankhabari Road or by NH110 through Tindharia; both still reach Kurseong for the momo stop.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Hill Resort, Darjeeling, Darjeeling

Meals
Dinner
02
Day 2 · Darjeeling

Red pandas at 08:30, then the men who climbed Everest
- 12 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 2,134 m
- Sleep at 2,045 m
- Moderate
Breakfast at 07:30, and at 08:30 your guide walks you through the gate of the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, 2.3 km from the hotel, ahead of the tour buses. The cool first hour is when the red pandas move along their branches, and here they come with a story worth telling a child. This zoo, opened in 1958 and the largest high-altitude zoo in India, has led the country's red panda breeding since 1994; between 2022 and 2024 it set nine of its pandas free in the Singalila forests on the Nepal border, and three of the released females have since raised five cubs in the wild. Snow leopards have been bred here since 1983. Look too for the Tibetan wolves, the goral, the mountain goat of these slopes, and the Himalayan salamander. The zoo is built on a steep hillside, so the walking is real. At 09:30 the museum of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute opens on the same hill. The institute was founded in 1954, a year after Everest was first climbed, and Tenzing Norgay, who ran its field training in the early years, was cremated here in 1986: the museum keeps expedition gear, and a telescope that brings the Kanchenjunga range close. Lunch in town, rest until 16:15, then the Japanese Temple's evening prayers, where visitors are handed small drums to keep time.

The momentAt the Japanese Temple your youngest is handed a small drum and keeps time with the chant, very seriously, for twenty minutes.

InsiderThe zoo and the HMI share one ticket and both close to visitors on Thursdays, so this day never falls on a Thursday; the ticket is free for children under six, and we buy the rest before you arrive.

If the weather turnsIn steady rain the animals take shelter, so we see the HMI museum first and the zoo when it eases; the Japanese Temple's prayers go ahead in any weather.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Hill Resort, Darjeeling, Darjeeling

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
03
Day 3 · Darjeeling

Steam to Ghum, then a tea factory in full voice
- 10 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 2,258 m
- Sleep at 2,045 m
- Easy
The steam joy ride leaves Darjeeling station in the morning, in first-class seats booked on IRCTC the day the window opened, 60 days ahead. Put the children where they can see the front of the engine: two sandmen ride there, throwing sand onto the rails whenever the wheels begin to slip on the climb. At Ghum the train waits 30 minutes while they explore the railway museum upstairs, and on the way down it circles the Batasia Loop and its war memorial garden. After lunch the car takes you 3 km north to Happy Valley, a garden since 1854, for an hour's factory tour and a tasting. In plucking season we ask the garden staff whether the children may pick a few shoots into a basket: two leaves and a bud, the way the pluckers take them. Back at the hotel by 16:00, with the table tennis waiting.

The momentAt Batasia the train circles the war memorial garden, and the children spot the track they climbed only minutes before.

InsiderChoose the steam ride over the diesel one: the route is the same, but only one of them has a fireman shovelling coal. First-class seats for October and May go weeks ahead, so we book the day the window opens.

If the weather turnsIf the steam ride is cancelled, we take the diesel joy ride. Happy Valley shuts on Sundays, Mondays and in winter: then we swap days or walk the garden and taste.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Hill Resort, Darjeeling, Darjeeling

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
04
Day 4 · Darjeeling Kalimpong

Down 1,800 m to the Teesta, and up to Kalimpong
- 55 km, about 2.5 h
- High point 2,258 m
- Sleep at 1,247 m
- Easy
No alarm this morning: breakfast is at 08:30 and the car leaves at 09:30. Past Ghum the road turns east at Jorebunglow onto the Peshok road, first through tall stands of cryptomeria, the Japanese cedar planted across these hills, then down through the Lopchu and Peshok tea gardens. At about 10:45 we stop above Peshok and let the children find the two rivers joining far below, before the road drops in tight bends almost to river level at the Teesta bridge. We pause halfway down so nobody feels unwell. Then come 16 km of climbing to Kalimpong, and you arrive by about 12:30, 55 km and 2.5 hours from Darjeeling. Lunch is at the MAYFAIR, on its own lawns above the town. At 16:00 the house's small theatre is yours for a private screening of the film the children chose on our pre-trip call. Fireplaces here belong to the seven Heritage Rooms of the original building; the Family Room is not listed with one, so we ask for its heaters to be on before you arrive.

The momentHalfway down to the Teesta the ears pop, and the river the children saw from the ridge is suddenly running beside the car.

InsiderWe carry ginger sweets and a paper bag in each door for the descent, and seat whichever child feels the bends most in the front, window open a crack.

If the weather turnsIf fog or a slip shuts the Peshok road, we wait for the police clearance over tea at Jorebunglow, or go round by Siliguri and NH10, a longer day with lunch on the way.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa Resort, Kalimpong

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
05
Day 5 · Kalimpong

Deolo before breakfast, then a house of cacti
- 22 km, about 1 h
- High point 1,704 m
- Sleep at 1,247 m
- Easy
At 06:15 our driver steps onto the hotel lawn to see whether the snows are out. If they are, we knock, and the car climbs 8 km past Dr Graham's Homes to Deolo, the town's highest hill, while its lawns are still empty: hot chocolate from a flask, blankets on a bench. Back for breakfast by 08:30. At 10:30 we reach Pine View Nursery on Atisha Road, where cacti from deserts on the other side of the world grow under glass by the hundred. We ask ahead for the family's time, so the children hear which plant came from which desert, and nobody touches before asking. Lunch at the hotel, then a free afternoon: the pool, the play area, the library or a nap. Between 09:00 and 15:00, from October to June, tandem paragliders launch from Deolo, and older children can watch from the lawns or fly as an add-on.

The momentFrom the Deolo lawn the Teesta runs some 1,500 m below, and the children hunt for yesterday's bridge.

InsiderPine View shuts on Sundays and is a working nursery, not a park: we go before noon on a weekday and ask the family before anyone handles a plant.

If the weather turnsIf cloud sits on Deolo at dawn, everyone sleeps and we go up after lunch for the lawns; on a Sunday we swap this day with tomorrow's plan.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa Resort, Kalimpong

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
06
Day 6 · Kalimpong

Bark paper, market day and milk lollipops
- 15 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 1,372 m
- Sleep at 1,247 m
- Easy
At 09:30 your guide leads a short uphill walk to the Gangjong handmade paper workshop above the town, a small family business started in 1993, with a shop downstairs. The paper starts as bark of the shrub they call argeli, soaked, boiled and beaten to pulp, then spread over a sieve floated in water and lifted out as a sheet. The owners explain each stage, and the shop sells notebooks, cards and lampshades. At 11:00, if it is a Wednesday or Saturday, we reach the Haat Bazaar as the villages lay out vegetables, spices and churpi, the hard hill cheese that a child can keep in one cheek most of the afternoon. Your guide also buys Kalimpong lollipops from a sweet shop in town. Lunch is momos and thukpa. At 15:00 we spend half an hour at Zang Dhok Palri on Durpin, turning its prayer wheels clockwise, then back to the hotel for a last evening in the library or the play area, and bed at a sensible hour.

The momentYour children buy notebooks made from bark they watched being beaten to pulp an hour earlier.

InsiderA Kalimpong lollipop starts as milk and sugar boiled down in a big wok until it turns brown, then cools and is rolled out by hand, each one shaped a little like a small cigar. The Swiss dairy that invented them closed in the 1990s; its form

If the weather turnsIf your dates miss the Wednesday and Saturday market, we buy churpi and lollipops in the town's shops and add the Lepcha Museum, open 09:00 to 17:00, founded by the folk musician Sonam Tshering Lepcha, with his instruments, old weapons and

Tonight
MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa Resort, Kalimpong

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
07
Day 7 · Kalimpong Bagdogra airport

Down the Teesta gorge to your flight
- 80 km, about 3 h
- High point 1,247 m
- Easy
Most flights from Bagdogra go from 13:00, so breakfast is at 07:15 and the car pulls away at 08:00. Your driver looked at NH10 last night and again at 06:00, and he tells the family which way you are going before anyone gets in. From Teesta Bazaar the road runs south with the river through its gorge, past Rambi, green water on one side and forest on the other, and the children can count the trucks coming up towards Sikkim. At Sevoke the Teesta leaves the hills under the arch of the Coronation Bridge, finished in 1941, and the car starts to warm. You reach Bagdogra at about 11:00, 80 km and 3 hours from Kalimpong, with time to eat before security. The notebooks, the churpi and whatever lollipops survived the week travel in the cabin bags, and we stay on the phone until your flight is called.

The momentNear Sevoke the Teesta runs out of the hills onto the plains, and the children feel the air in the car turn warm.

InsiderLocals call the Coronation Bridge Bagh Pul, the tiger bridge, though the two big cats at the far end are lions. Ask the children which they think they are before the driver points them out.

If the weather turnsIf NH10 is shut at Sevoke, we leave at 06:00 by the longer road through Lava and Gorubathan, about five hours, with breakfast boxes packed for the car.

Tonight
Homeward

Meals
Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, two houses

MAYFAIR Hill Resort, Darjeeling and MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa Resort. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

The MAYFAIR at Darjeeling, above its garden opposite Raj Bhawan.Mr. Debapriya Hore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

3 nights
MAYFAIR Hill Resort, Darjeeling

Darjeeling

A doctor on call, a games room with table tennis, a children's play area, and a short walk to Chowrasta. Chosen for comfort, not the view.

Ask for The house's single Family Room, two joined bedrooms for four; failing that, two Heritage Rooms with fireplaces
- WarmthHeritage Rooms come with fireplaces, described as keeping occupants warm and cosy.
- Getting inDoctor on call, described as a physician ready at all times.
The snows at first light from Kalimpong, the range the house looks to.Devashish Marwah, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

3 nights
MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa Resort

Kalimpong

The old Himalayan Hotel: a pool, a small theatre for private screenings, a play area, and fireplaces in the seven Heritage Rooms of the original house.

Ask for The one Family Room with joined bedrooms, or two Deluxe Cottages on the main grounds; neither is listed with a fireplace, so we ask for the heaters to be on
- WarmthHeritage Rooms and the Heritage Suite each have a fireplace.

Price and what it covers

from₹1,10,000

per adult, twin share; children aged 6 to 14 sharing the family room are priced separately with your dates. How our prices are built

About £860 or US$1,150 at the rates of 19 September 2026.

Price my dates

Less time?Rhinos and Tea5 nights More time?Three Generations7 nights

Included

One private Innova Crysta or similar and a driver from the hills for all seven days, airport to airport, with fuel, tolls, parking and his stay
Three nights at the MAYFAIR in Darjeeling, then three at the MAYFAIR in Kalimpong, with breakfast and a 19:00 dinner each day
A local guide on days 2 and 3 in Darjeeling and on days 5 and 6 in Kalimpong
First-class seats on the steam joy ride from Darjeeling to Ghum and back, booked on IRCTC
Entry to the Himalayan zoo and HMI museum (one ticket), the Happy Valley factory tour, Pine View Nursery and Deolo
A private film screening in the MAYFAIR Kalimpong theatre, arranged with the hotel
A pre-trip family call on allergies, food, bedtimes and the children's film choice
Heaters, hot-water bottles and extra quilts checked in your rooms before arrival from November to February
A booster seat for a younger child, sourced on request
Our team in the hills on call day and night while the family travels

Not included

Flights to and from Bagdogra
Travel insurance, which we strongly advise for families
Lunches and snacks on the road
Drinks, laundry, spa treatments and room service
Tips for the driver and guides
Add-ons: Tiger Hill, Tenzing Rock, paragliding, the momo lesson
Camera fees and personal shopping

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

Tiger Hill at dawnFor children over eight: out at 04:00 with the vehicle token collected the day before, back for breakfast and a nap.
A first climb on Tenzing RockThe gentler right face on Lebong Cart Road, roped from above and below by local guides, about 20 minutes from town.
Tandem paragliding at DeoloFor teenagers and parents, October to June, with licensed pilots who set their own weight limits and fly only in calm air.
Momo folding in a Kalimpong kitchenAn hour folding and steaming momos with a home cook in town, then eating the results for lunch.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifFamilies with toddlers under three will find the bends and cold nights hard, and teenagers who want to walk far will find it slow: they should look at The Singalila Ridge, and families bringing grandparents at Three Generations.

Papers: each child needs a birth certificate or school ID alongside the adults' photo ID, and foreign guests an Indian visa. No permit is needed for Darjeeling or Kalimpong; our Permits and visas guide has the detail.
Clothing: Darjeeling nights fall to about 6 °C in November and 3 to 4 °C in December, and days reach 16 to 19 °C in April and October. Pack thermals, fleece, a warm jacket, gloves and woollen caps for the children, and rain jackets for May.
Shoes: trainers with a good grip. The zoo is built on a steep hillside and the path at Happy Valley is uneven.
Travel sickness: every road here is hairpins. Ask your paediatrician about travel-sickness medicine before you fly, and keep breakfast light on drive days.
Altitude: at 2,045 m Darjeeling is not high enough to trouble healthy children; the cold matters more. Keep them drinking water, and tell us about asthma or any heart condition when you book.
Phones and cash: Indian networks work in both towns, with gaps on the Peshok road. Carry small notes for the market and sweet shops; the hotels take cards.
Tips are optional; the Before you travel guide gives a sensible figure for the driver and the guides.

Questions

Five questions about The Hills with Children

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What are the real hardships for children here?

Three, and none of them is altitude: Darjeeling sits at 2,045 m and the highest point, Ghum, at 2,258 m. The first is the bends, three hours of them from the airport, so we stop at Kurseong and halfway down to the Teesta. The second is the cold, with December nights of 3 to 4 °C, which is why the rooms are warmed before you arrive. The third is the zoo's steep hillside.

Our children are 5 and 13: will both enjoy it?

Usually, with small changes. A five-year-old goes free at the zoo, manages the two-hour steam ride, and naps in the car between outings. A thirteen-year-old gets the most from the Everest museum and the tea factory, and can add a first climb on Tenzing Rock or a tandem paraglide from Deolo, where pilots set their own weight limits. Tiger Hill is an add-on for children over eight.

What will the children eat?

Dinner is at 19:00 at both MAYFAIRs, and each kitchen has your allergies and dislikes in writing after the pre-trip family call. Lunches in town are momos, thukpa, noodles, and dal with rice, and the cooks leave out the chilli when asked. Glenary's on Nehru Road bakes bread and cakes for fussier days. In Kalimpong there are milk lollipops, and hard churpi, which is chewed slowly rather than eaten.

What will children enjoy in Kalimpong?

Kalimpong is where the week slows down. There is a family's cactus nursery on Atisha Road with hundreds of species under glass, a small workshop that beats shrub bark into sheets of paper, and a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays with churpi and milk lollipops. The Deolo lawns are made for running, the paragliders launch there, and the MAYFAIR has a pool, a play area and a small theatre for a private film.

Which days of the week shape this journey?

Four places keep their own days. The zoo and the HMI close on Thursdays, so the zoo day never falls on one. Happy Valley's factory rests on Sundays and Mondays and in winter, Pine View Nursery shuts on Sundays, and the Haat Bazaar fills on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We set your arrival day around them and tell you which one had to give way, if any did.

Sources we checked for this itinerary (28)

Checked September 2026. We confirm permits, fees and flights again for your dates.

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The Hills with Children

Is The Hills with Children right for you?

Why Darjeeling comes first

From 126 m to 2,258 m, day by day

Darjeeling and Kalimpong at their best

Day by day, Darjeeling to Kalimpong

Up from the plains, counting level crossings

Red pandas at 08:30, then the men who climbed Everest

Steam to Ghum, then a tea factory in full voice

Down 1,800 m to the Teesta, and up to Kalimpong

Deolo before breakfast, then a house of cacti

Bark paper, market day and milk lollipops

Down the Teesta gorge to your flight