Old Silk Route Sikkim Itinerary, Zuluk in 5 Nights

In short

Is The Old Silk Route right for you?

The Old Silk Route is a five-night private journey, for Indian citizens only, along the old trade road from Kalimpong towards Tibet. From Bagdogra it spends a night in Kalimpong, two in a family homestay at Zuluk, about 2,800 m, and two in Gangtok, crossing from Nathang past Kupup and Tsomgo at up to about 4,100 m.

Made forIndian citizens curious about the Tibet trade, fit couples and friends who can live simply for two nights, photographers after the Zuluk switchbacks and high-valley light and families with teenagers who travel well.

Not for you ifForeign passport holders and OCI cardholders cannot get the Zuluk permit, and anyone who needs a hotel-grade heated room every night should take Gangtok and the High Lake instead.

For half a century Kalimpong lived off one road. Mule trains, sometimes hundreds strong, came down from Lhasa over the Jelep La with wool, borax and musk, and climbed back with cloth, watches and fountain pens; the whole journey took about three weeks. Everyone here calls it the Silk Route, though it carried far more wool than silk. The pass has been shut since 1962, but the road beneath it survives, and most of it can be driven, with a guide who knows which ruin, grave and shrine belongs to which chapter of its story.

We will be plain about Zuluk, where the traders once stopped for the night. It is a village of about 65 households inside an army zone, with family homestays, a heater that costs extra and power that comes and goes. It is also where you wake above cloud, watch Kanchenjunga light up from Lungthung, and eat by a kitchen fire with a family that has put up travellers on this road since 2005.

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

Length: 5 nights, 6 days
Starts and ends: Bagdogra airport to Bagdogra airport
Best months: October to mid November, April to May
Avoid: mid June to mid September (monsoon); December to March, when snow can close the road above Zuluk
Pace: Active
Longest drive: About 5 hours, 446 km in all
Highest point: Road crest between Nathang and Kupup, 4,100 m
Group: Private, 2 to 5 guests, Indian citizens only

The route

Why Kalimpong comes first

We travel the way the caravans climbed, from the bottom. Kalimpong, at 1,247 m, is an easy first night 80 km from the airport. Zuluk, about 2,800 m, is the second, below the 3,000 m line, and you stay a third night there after a morning at Nathang near 3,800 m: climb high, sleep low. Only then do you cross the crest near 4,100 m and drop past Tsomgo to Gangtok at 1,650 m, for two nights of proper beds, hot baths and an easy 124 km run to Bagdogra.

your bases, in orderby roadborders not drawn

Where the nights go

1Kalimpong2Zuluk2Gangtok

Read the place guidesKalimpong Gangtok & East Sikkim

The shape of the journey

From 126 m to 4,100 m, day by day

You sleep between 1,250 m and 2,800 m. The highest you go is 4,100 m, on day 4 at Road crest between Nathang and Kupup, and you come down again to sleep.

1,000 m2,000 m3,000 m4,000 m 3,800 m4,100 m1,650 m

Arrive126 m
Day 11,250 m
Day 22,800 m
Day 32,800 m
Day 41,650 m
Day 51,650 m
Day 6126 m

Built around

Kalimpong, Zuluk and Gangtok at their best

Two nights with the Zuluk family who opened the route's first homestay in 2005, dinner by their kitchen fire
Kanchenjunga at dawn from Lungthung, about 3,700 m, after a 04:15 start with flasks in the car
Breakfast in Nathang's high valley, then the British war graves of the 1888 campaign and the village monastery
Kupup's Elephant Lake and the highest golf course on record, under 4 km from the closed Jelep La
Past the Sherathang trade mart, where cross-border trade resumed in August 2026 after six years
A first night in Kalimpong's old Himalayan Hotel, where the road to Tibet used to begin

Day by day

Day by day, Kalimpong to Gangtok

The longest drive is day 4, Zuluk to Gangtok, about 5 hours with stops.

01
Day 1 · Bagdogra airport Kalimpong

Up the Teesta to Kalimpong, where the wool road ended
- 81 km, about 3 h
- High point 1,250 m
- Sleep at 1,250 m
- Easy
At the arrivals exit at Bagdogra your driver waits beside the Sikkim-registered Innova that carries you on the road days as far as Gangtok. Every operator on this road says only Sikkim-registered cars are let up past Rongli, so we take one from the plains. Kalimpong is about three hours up the Teesta. Tonight is one of the seven Heritage Rooms in the MAYFAIR's oldest wing, 39 sq m, with the fire laid in the grate. At 18:00 your guide spreads a map of the old road on the table, stage by stage, and checks your original IDs against the scans we sent for the permit. Two marks on it are in this town. Tharpa Choling stands on the Tirpai hill, the Gelug monastery Kalimpong's Tibetan wool merchants asked for in 1912. And for thirty-eight years from 1925 a press here printed the Tibet Mirror in Tibetan, which went up the road you are about to drive and was read in Lhasa, until it stopped in 1963, the year after the pass closed. Dinner in Tiffany from 19:30, and an early night.

The momentYour guide's finger tracing the caravan road across the map, Kalimpong to Lhasa, while the fire takes hold in the grate.

InsiderOld Kalimpong called its wool warehouses unn godam. Mule trains unloaded there, sometimes hundreds at a time, before the bales went on to Kolkata and ships for England.

If the weather turnsIf a slide shuts NH10, we take the forest road through Gorubathan and Lava instead. It is longer, so dinner moves; the map session does not.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa Resort, Kalimpong

Meals
Dinner
02
Day 2 · Kalimpong Zuluk

Down to the Reshi, up through the clouds to Zuluk
- 89 km, about 4.5 h
- High point 2,800 m
- Sleep at 2,800 m
- Moderate
Breakfast at 06:45, and at 07:30 the car climbs first to Durpin, about 5 km from town, for fifteen minutes at the top: the district describes the Jelep La showing in the distance on a clear morning, the pass you will stand beneath at Kupup on day 4. Then east along the caravans' first stage. Beyond Algarah the road drops to Pedong, 1,240 m, where the Sangchen Dorjee monastery has stood since the early 1700s, its inner walls painted with Tantric frescoes. Your guide takes you in for fifteen minutes and tells you what else stands near Pedong: the ruins of Damsang, the fort the Lepchas built in 1690, and the Cross Hill, where Father Augustine Desgodins set up a cross in 1882 on his way to Tibet. At the Reshi, the river that marks the boundary, you cross into Sikkim with ID ready if the police ask. Rhenock follows, then Rongli near 11:00, where the police check post stamps the Protected Area Permit we filed through a registered Sikkim operator. Lunch is dal, rice and greens in a Rongli kitchen. Then the long climb through Lingtam, past the Kuekhola falls and Padamchen, some 2,000 m of height in 33 km. You reach Zuluk near 14:30, at about 2,800 m. Your room at Dil Maya is in the newer building, with a balcony, a geyser and a heater booked ahead. Walk slowly, drink water, and leave the rum for Gangtok.

The momentCloud pouring up the valley below Padamchen, and Zuluk appearing on its spur above it like a village on a shelf.

InsiderRongli's permit office shuts at 14:00 on weekdays, at 11:00 on Saturdays and all day Sunday. That is why your permit is in the driver's folder before you leave Kalimpong.

If the weather turnsIf a slip blocks the climb above Rongli, we wait for the clearance or sleep at a homestay in Aritar, near Rongli, and go up at first light.

Tonight
Dil Maya Homestay, Zuluk, Zuluk

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
03
Day 3 · Zuluk

Kanchenjunga from Lungthung, breakfast in Nathang
- 47 km, about 2.5 h
- High point 3,800 m
- Sleep at 2,800 m
- Active
The driver starts the engine at 04:00 so the car is warm by 04:15. In the dark it winds up the loops above the village, some 32 hairpins you will see properly later, to Lungthung, about 3,700 m and 19 km out. Stand facing north-west with a flask: the Kanchenjunga range runs along the horizon about 80 km away, and in mid October the sun rises near 05:35. Then 4 km on to Nathang, a wide grassy bowl near 3,800 m where a village of about 150 people keeps yaks. Last night we rang a Nathang homestay to have the stove lit and breakfast ready by 07:00: tea, Tibetan bread, eggs. Walk slowly to the British memorial of 1909, with fifteen graves from the fighting and occupation that followed 1888, and on to the Gadenchoeling monastery. On the way back the car pauses at Thambi viewpoint, about 3,400 m, where the whole ladder of switchbacks lies beneath you. Home by 11:30, lunch, and a long rest.

The momentThe Kanchenjunga range catching first light across 80 km of cloud while Lungthung itself is still in blue shadow.

InsiderThe battle these graves remember was fought on 22 May 1888, in the bowl where you will eat breakfast; the memorial came twenty-one years later, in 1909. The village keeps yaks, so walk wide of them on the track and let the herder pass first

If the weather turnsIf cloud sits on Lungthung at 04:00, you sleep. We leave at 07:00 for Nathang and Thambi instead; the valley looks its best in mid-morning sun anyway.

Tonight
Dil Maya Homestay, Zuluk, Zuluk

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
04
Day 4 · Zuluk Gangtok

Over the top by Kupup and the lake of Tsomgo
- 93 km, about 5 h
- High point 4,100 m
- Sleep at 1,650 m
- Moderate
Leave Zuluk at 08:00 with a packed lunch from the family kitchen. Past Nathang the road crests near 4,100 m and drops to Kupup, about 3,940 m: Bitang Tso, the Elephant Lake, and the army's Yak golf course, which Guinness measured in 2006 at 3,970 m and lists as the highest in the world. Your guide points north-east. The Jelep La, 4,390 m, where the caravans crossed into Tibet's Chumbi valley, lies under 4 km away and has been closed since 1962. You pass the shrines to Harbhajan Singh, a sepoy who died near Nathu La in 1968. At Sherathang, Monday to Thursday until November, traders may be at work in the mart: Nathu La reopened to border trade on 1 August 2026, after six years shut. Tsomgo, 3,753 m, at about 12:00: a walk along the shore and lunch from the box. Gangtok by 14:30, and a long bath at the Nor-Khill.

The momentStanding at Kupup with the Jelep La just over the ridge, the pass every bale of Kalimpong's wool once crossed.

InsiderBitang Tso, the lake's own name, means the lake of the cow-yak. Elephant Lake is the nickname, for a trunk-shaped outline best read from the road above.

If the weather turnsIf snow or army orders shut the road over Kupup, we drop back through Rongli and Rangpo to Gangtok, about 95 km and 4.5 hours, and tell you by 07:00.

Tonight
The Elgin Nor-Khill, Gangtok

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
05
Day 5 · Gangtok

Gangtok: the Tibetology library and wool on the loom
- 12 km, about 1 h
- High point 1,700 m
- Sleep at 1,650 m
- Easy
A slow morning after four early ones. At 10:00 a Gangtok taxi, since local rules keep town sightseeing for Gangtok cars, takes you to the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology as its doors open. The 14th Dalai Lama laid its foundation stone in February 1957 and Nehru opened it on 1 October 1958; inside are thangkas, statues, ritual objects and old Tibetan texts, for an entry fee of ₹25. Walk on to the Do Drul Chorten nearby. Lunch at 12:30 is Sikkimese, in a kitchen near MG Marg: rice, dal, gundruk and dalle chilli pickle, with a milder version for anyone who asks. At 14:00, the Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom at Zero Point, where trainees weave carpets row by row. After three days on a road built for wool, the looms feel like its last stage. Tea back at the Nor-Khill and an hour with your feet up. At 17:30 walk MG Marg while the whole town is out, then back to the house for a Sikkimese dinner or a plain one.

The momentWool knotted row by row on a Directorate loom, the old trade's raw material still at work at the end of your road.

InsiderThe Directorate and the Institute's museum both shut on Sundays and government holidays, so we keep this day off a Sunday.

If the weather turnsIf day 5 falls on a Sunday or a holiday, we go instead to Enchey, the monastery on its hill above town, and to Ranka's Lingdum, and keep MG Marg for the evening.

Tonight
The Elgin Nor-Khill, Gangtok

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06
Day 6 · Gangtok Bagdogra airport

Down the Teesta to Bagdogra
- 124 km, about 4.5 h
- High point 1,650 m
- Easy
Breakfast from 06:00 and the car at 07:00. Your driver checked the road down with other drivers last night and again at first light; Bagdogra is about four and a half hours down the Teesta, and you leave Sikkim at Rangpo. Your guide said goodbye last night. We ask each guide to leave the map from the first evening behind, with every stage you slept at, ate at or stood on marked in ink: Pedong, the Reshi, Rongli, Zuluk, Lungthung, Nathang, Kupup and Sherathang. Unfold it on the way down and the inked line stops just short of the Jelep La, where the caravans went on over the pass towards Lhasa. The terminal is in sight by about 11:30, which leaves room for any flight from 13:00, and the 24x7 line stays with you until you land at home.

The momentThe guide's map open on your knee, and the inked line stopping at Kupup, just short of Tibet.

InsiderMidday security queues at Bagdogra can be long. Your driver drops you at the departures gate; go straight in and eat airside rather than outside.

If the weather turnsIf NH10 is shut near Sevoke or Rambi, we leave at 05:30 on the police diversion through Gorubathan and tell you by 20:00 the night before.

Tonight
Homeward

Meals
Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, three houses

MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa Resort, Dil Maya Homestay, Zuluk and The Elgin Nor-Khill. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

The snows at first light from Kalimpong, the range the house looks to.Devashish Marwah, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

1 night
MAYFAIR Himalayan Spa Resort

Kalimpong

The right first night for a road that ran to Tibet: 80 km up from the airport, in the town where the caravans stopped and the wool was weighed out.

Ask for One of only seven 39 sq m Heritage Rooms, in the oldest wing, each with its own grate
- WarmthHeritage Rooms and the Heritage Suite each have a fireplace.
Sunset over the ranges at Zuluk, from the old Silk Route.Mehul / Pexels

2 nights

Dil Maya Homestay, Zuluk

Zuluk

The first homestay on the Silk Route, opened in 2005 near the Shiva Mandir: family-run, home-cooked, with geysers and attached baths.

Ask for A balcony room in the newer block, with its own bath; the heater is booked ahead and costs ₹500 a night
Gangtok from above, the town the Nor-Khill sits in the middle of.Ahad Hasan / Pexels

2 nights

The Elgin Nor-Khill

Gangtok

Built in 1932 for the Chogyal's guests, in the middle of town, so the town day needs little driving after four early starts.

Ask for A Deluxe Double or Twin on breakfast and dinner, or one of the suites when a sitting room matters

Price and what it covers

from₹90,000

per person, twin share; the Zuluk permit is issued to Indian citizens only. How our prices are built

About £700 or US$940 at the rates of 19 September 2026.

Price my dates

Less time?Christmas in the Hills4 nights More time?The Hills with Children6 nights

Included

Kalimpong: a Heritage Room with its fireplace in the MAYFAIR's original house, breakfast and dinner included
Zuluk: two nights at Dil Maya Homestay in the newer block, all meals and a room heater
Gangtok: two nights in a Deluxe Double or Twin at The Elgin Nor-Khill, with breakfast and dinner
A Sikkim-registered Innova Crysta or similar for the road days, Bagdogra to Bagdogra, since the road above Rongli takes SK plates only
A Gangtok taxi for the town day, as local rules require
A guide from the hills from Kalimpong to Gangtok, days 1 to 5, who stays in Zuluk with you
East Sikkim Protected Area Permit for Zuluk, Nathang, Kupup and Tsomgo, filed through a registered Sikkim operator
Lunches on days 2 to 5, the Nathang breakfast and a packed lunch for the crossing
Pulse oximeter, portable oxygen, spare blankets and flasks in the car
Namgyal Institute of Tibetology entry and Sikkim's ₹50 tourist fee
24x7 support from your designer, with the homestay's numbers shared with your family before you go

Not included

Flights to and from Bagdogra
Travel insurance, which must cover travel up to about 4,500 m
Nathu La, which needs a separate permit and fee
Drinks, and spa time at the MAYFAIR or the Nor-Khill
Tips for the driver, the guide and the homestay family
Shopping, personal expenses and any camera fees

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

Nathu La on the crossing dayOn an open day, with a separate one-day permit, a detour from Sherathang to the pass at 4,310 m.
A night at Aritar on the way upAn extra night near Rongli before Zuluk: a slower climb and an evening walk round Lampokhari lake.
Kalimpong's Haat BazaarArrive a day early for the Wednesday or Saturday market, where churpi, spices and cloth still change hands.
Menmecho Lake on footFor fit walkers, a trail down to Menmecho Lake below the Jelep La on the crossing day; ask us how long it adds.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifForeign passport holders and OCI cardholders cannot get the Zuluk permit, and anyone who needs a hotel-grade heated room every night should take Gangtok and the High Lake instead.

Citizenship: every guest must be an Indian citizen for this road; a foreign passport or an OCI card cannot be added to the Zuluk permit, as the first question below explains.
Permit papers: three weeks ahead, send scans of a passport, voter ID or driving licence for every guest, and a birth certificate or passport for each child; PAN cards are not accepted, and the Tsomgo stretch on day 4 is permitted only for children over five. Bring the originals and four passport photographs each for the Rongli check post.
Altitude: you sleep at about 2,800 m and cross about 4,100 m. Keep any inhaler or heart medicine in your day bag rather than the boot, drink more water than feels natural at Zuluk, and tell the guide at once about any headache. Whether to see a doctor first is answered in the fourth question below.
Cold: Zuluk nights sit a few degrees above freezing in October and colder in November, and Lungthung at dawn is colder still. Bring a down jacket, thermals, a woollen hat, gloves and warm socks to sleep in.
Cash and signal: Zuluk has no ATM, cards and UPI rarely work, and only BSNL gives an intermittent signal. Draw cash in Kalimpong and warn family you will be quiet for two days.
Homestay life: attached bathrooms and geysers, but power can fail and the heater stops with it. Pack a headtorch, slippers and a hot-water bottle if you own one.
Photography: Zuluk and Kupup lie in an army zone. Never photograph camps, convoys or soldiers, and ask the guide when unsure.
Tipping: the Dil Maya family, the driver and the guide are thanked at the end if you wish; suggested figures are in Before you travel.

Questions

Six questions about The Old Silk Route

Ask on WhatsApp

Can we take this journey on a foreign passport or an OCI card?

No. Zuluk, Nathang and Kupup lie in a border zone where the protected-area permit is issued to Indian citizens only, and Sikkim treats OCI cardholders as foreign nationals, so neither can be added, even with Sikkim's Restricted Area Permit, which foreign and OCI guests file online through e-FRRO before they reach the state. Foreign guests can still reach Gangtok and, travelling two or more together, Tsomgo Lake; Gangtok and the High Lake is built for exactly that. If your party is mixed, ask us to plan the foreign guests' days separately and meet in Gangtok. The papers are set out in our Permits and visas guide.

What is left of the old trade road to see?

More than the name suggests. The Jelep La has been closed since 1962, but at Kupup you stand under 4 km from it, beside Bitang Tso, the lake of the cow-yak. On the way come Pedong's monastery from the early 1700s, the British memorial of 1909 at Nathang with fifteen graves from the fighting after 1888, and Zuluk itself, once a caravan halt. At Sherathang, trade over Nathu La resumed on 1 August 2026, Monday to Thursday, so trucks may be at the mart as you pass.

What are the Zuluk homestay nights really like?

Simple, kind and cold after dark. Zuluk has no hotels, only family homestays, and Dil Maya is the oldest on the route, opened in 2005 near the Shiva Mandir. Rooms in the newer building have attached bathrooms with geysers and heavy quilts, and the heater runs only while the power does; one guest found it weak, so the two heavy quilts matter more. Dinner is rice, dal, vegetables and eggs, eaten by the kitchen fire with the family.

Can a parent in their sixties, or a twelve-year-old, manage it?

Healthy ones usually can; the question is heart and lungs rather than legs. You sleep at about 2,800 m, below the 3,000 m line, visit Nathang near 3,800 m on day 3 and cross about 4,100 m on day 4, with a pulse oximeter and oxygen in the car. The 04:15 start for Lungthung is optional. Anyone with a heart, lung or blood-pressure condition should see a doctor first, and for young children or frail parents Gangtok and the High Lake is the kinder choice.

What happens if snow or the Army closes the road over Kupup?

You still reach Gangtok, by the lower road. The pass road from Nathang over Kupup and past Tsomgo can be shut by snow, most often from December to March, or by Army orders at short notice. We check the evening before and tell you by 07:00; if it is closed, the car drops back through Rongli and Rangpo, about 95 km and four and a half hours, and Kupup, Sherathang and Tsomgo fall out of the day.

How is this different from Gangtok and the High Lake?

Both reach Tsomgo Lake, but from opposite directions. Gangtok and the High Lake keeps you in Gangtok for three nights and drives up to the lake and back in a morning; it is open to foreign guests travelling two or more together. The Old Silk Route comes to Tsomgo last, from above, after two nights at Zuluk and the crossing near Kupup, and it is for Indian citizens only. Choose it if the road matters more to you than the hotel.

Sources we checked for this itinerary (41)

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

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The Old Silk Route

Is The Old Silk Route right for you?

Why Kalimpong comes first

From 126 m to 4,100 m, day by day

Kalimpong, Zuluk and Gangtok at their best

Day by day, Kalimpong to Gangtok

Up the Teesta to Kalimpong, where the wool road ended

Down to the Reshi, up through the clouds to Zuluk

Kanchenjunga from Lungthung, breakfast in Nathang

Over the top by Kupup and the lake of Tsomgo

Gangtok: the Tibetology library and wool on the loom

Down the Teesta to Bagdogra