Darjeeling and Sikkim Tea Tour, 6 Nights

In short

Is The Tea Trail right for you?

The Tea Trail is a private six-night journey that follows Darjeeling tea across the Rangeet into Sikkim, from Bagdogra airport (IXB) and back. You spend one night at Cochrane Place in Kurseong, three at Glenburn Tea Estate in the Rangeet valley and two at Ravangla in South Sikkim, for the Temi Tea Garden.

Made fortea drinkers and home cooks, couples who like to walk, repeat visitors to Darjeeling and families with children over 10.

Not for you ifyou want polished rooms every night, choose The Planter's Week, which ends at Windamere in Darjeeling rather than Ravangla; if Sikkim's monasteries matter more than tea, choose Monasteries of the East.

In 2004 Darjeeling tea became the first product in India to have its name protected by law as a geographical indication, and that name stops at the district line. The leaf does not. Across the Rangeet, on the slopes of Tendong Hill, Sikkim's last Chogyal planted Temi in 1969, and it has grown fully organic tea since 2008. This journey follows the leaf over that river.

The pleasure is comparison. Three neighbours tasted blind on the first evening, one estate's leaf made four ways at Glenburn, Temi's grades where they grow, and on the last evening every tea of the week set out again without labels: by then you can tell a spring cup from an autumn one on your own. The houses grow simpler as the road climbs into Sikkim, and the last, a plain wooden resort under Mount Narsing, trades thread count for quiet.

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 early November
Avoid: mid June to mid September (monsoon), and December to February, when the gardens rest
Pace: Moderate
Longest drive: About 5 hours, 389 km in all
Highest point: Ghum, on the road to Glenburn, 2,258 m
Group: Private, 2 to 6 guests

The route

Why Kurseong comes first

Kurseong is the tea country closest to Bagdogra, about 40 km up the Pankhabari road, so the tasting starts on your first evening instead of after a long drive. Glenburn gets three nights because plucking, the factory and the rivers each deserve a full day. Sikkim comes last: Ravangla is 89 km from Glenburn by the Teesta and Namchi, about four hours, and a night there puts Temi's factory within an hour on the final full morning.

your bases, in orderby roadborders not drawn

Where the nights go

1Kurseong3Glenburn Tea Estate2Ravangla

Read the place guidesDarjeeling

The shape of the journey

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

You sleep between 900 m and 2,000 m. The highest you go is 2,258 m, on day 2 at Ghum, on the road to Glenburn, and you come down again to sleep.

500 m1,000 m1,500 m2,000 m 2,258 m2,040 m

Arrive126 m
Day 11,400 m
Day 2900 m
Day 3900 m
Day 4900 m
Day 52,000 m
Day 62,000 m
Day 7126 m

Built around

Kurseong, Glenburn Tea Estate and Ravangla at their best

Makaibari, Castleton and Ambootia tasted blind on a Kurseong terrace ringed by all three gardens
A morning plucking in Glenburn's Kimble Division, two leaves and a bud at a time, beside the women who do it all season
One estate's leaf made four ways, and a spring cup set against an autumn one
The 1902 Manjitar footbridge over the Rangeet, on the line of the old cane bridge into Sikkim
Temi, the organic garden the last Chogyal planted in 1969, tasted where it grows
A last blind tasting at Ravangla of every tea you have met in six days

Day by day

Day by day, Kurseong to Ravangla

The longest drive is day 7, Ravangla to Bagdogra airport, about 5 hours with stops.

01
Day 1 · Bagdogra airport Kurseong

Kurseong: three gardens, three cups
- 40 km, about 2 h
- High point 1,450 m
- Sleep at 1,400 m
- Easy
Your driver meets you at the Bagdogra arrivals exit and heads north past Matigara to the Pankhabari road: about 40 km and up to two hours, depending on which road into the hills your driver finds clearest that day. Cochrane Place stands on that road at Fatak, just below Kurseong, in the restored home of Percy John Cochrane, magistrate of Kurseong in British days. Lunch is late, then rest. At 17:00, as the valley turns blue, your guide sets out three cups on the terrace: a Makaibari, a Castleton and an Ambootia, the gardens that surround the house. We buy these teas from the current season the week before, because Castleton and Ambootia do not open their factories to visitors. You taste them blind, the way buyers do, with a spoon and a loud slurp, and choose a favourite before the labels come off. Dinner is at the house, Nepali or Anglo-Indian as you prefer.

The momentThe labels come off the three cups, and each one points to a slope you can see from your chair.

InsiderRooms at this house vary in size and outlook. We ask for one facing the valley and away from Pankhabari Road, and our team checks it the day before you land.

If the weather turnsShould a slip shut the Pankhabari road, the car goes up by Rohini instead; rain simply moves the blind tasting from the terrace into the house.

Tonight
Cochrane Place by Teesta Hotels, Kurseong

Meals
Lunch, Dinner
02
Day 2 · Kurseong Glenburn Tea Estate

Makaibari at seven, then over Ghum to Glenburn
- 56 km, about 2.5 h
- High point 2,258 m
- Sleep at 900 m
- Easy
At 07:00 your guide drives you 3 km to Makaibari, a garden certified fully organic as early as 1988, twenty years before Temi, the garden this journey ends with. Its office knows you are coming, and at that hour the rollers are already turning last night's withered leaf; the air smells of crushed green stalks. Breakfast back at Cochrane Place at 08:45. At 10:00 the car leaves for Glenburn: up through Kurseong to Ghum at 2,258 m, the highest point of the week, then down the Peshok road, 53 km in about two and a half hours. Lunch is set under the pomelo tree outside the Water Lily Bungalow. At 15:30 a jeep takes you 15 minutes up the hill, then a 30-minute uphill walk brings you past the Cluny Sisters' convent school to Glenburn's Lamahatta orange orchard. Ten minutes more on foot and you reach Gorkhay Daara, where the whole estate lies below you and Kanchenjunga stands beyond.

The momentFrom Gorkhay Daara the estate spreads out beneath you, and the snow of Kanchenjunga sits above the green hills of Sikkim.

InsiderIf bends bother you, take the front seat at Ghum. The Peshok road drops about 1,350 m to the Glenburn valley in roughly an hour, the steepest descent of the week.

If the weather turnsIf the Kurseong to Ghum stretch is blocked, we go down to Sevoke and up the Teesta to the Peshok road, about five hours, and Gorkhay Daara waits for a clearer day.

Tonight
Glenburn Tea Estate, Glenburn Tea Estate

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
03
Day 3 · Glenburn Tea Estate

Two leaves and a bud in the Kimble Division
- 8 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 900 m
- Sleep at 900 m
- Moderate
Bed tea at 06:30, a quick breakfast, and at 07:30 you walk into the Kimble Division with a Glenburn guide to find the pluckers. Stand beside one and watch before you try: two leaves and a bud, snapped clean between thumb and finger and tossed over the shoulder into the basket. It is the same gesture drawn on the Darjeeling tea logo of 1983, a woman holding two leaves and a bud. In spring the first flush shoot is small and pale, and your own basket fills with humbling slowness. Refreshments wait at a weighment shed halfway down the slope, where the morning's leaf is weighed in. At 10:30 a senior member of the estate team takes you through the factory, following yesterday's pluck from the troughs to the sorting table, and at noon the tasting sets one estate's leaf beside itself, made four ways and picked in different flushes. Lunch back at the bungalow; the afternoon is free for a book, your balcony, or a green tea oil massage in the Water Lily spa room, which the estate adds to your bill.

The momentThe plucker beside you fills her basket without looking down, while you are still deciding which bud counts.

InsiderGlenburn pours tea at any hour. At 16:00 ask for a spring tea and an autumn tea together: tasting the two side by side fixes the morning's lesson for good.

If the weather turnsPluckers keep working in light rain, but we shorten the field walk and drive between sections; the factory and the tasting are indoors whatever the sky does.

Tonight
Glenburn Tea Estate, Glenburn Tea Estate

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
04
Day 4 · Glenburn Tea Estate

The 1902 bridge at the edge of Sikkim
- 10 km, about 1 h
- High point 900 m
- Sleep at 900 m
- Moderate
After breakfast the estate jeep drops you through the Simbong Tea Division to the river, and a naturalist leads you for an hour or so beside the Rangeet, through the Badamtam forest. Then the Manjitar footbridge, the reason for the day. The British hung it in 1902, three years after the floods of 1899 carried off the cane bridge that stood here, and it spans about 200 feet at a height of at least 100 feet over the river. The far bank is Sikkim, where the second half of this journey lies. Indian guests may cross and walk up to the village temple; foreign passports stop at the far end, because Manjitar is not a permit post, and enter Sikkim by road tomorrow. On the way back there is a picnic on the sand and tea at the Glenburn to Badamtam bridge, and at dusk a barbecue at the Glenburn Lodge above the river before the jeep climbs home, unless you choose to sleep at the lodge by lantern light.

The momentHalfway across the 1902 footbridge the Rangeet is a green roar a hundred feet below your boots.

InsiderFrom the middle of the bridge, the tea on the slope behind you is Darjeeling's and the forest ahead is Sikkim's. The Rangeet under your boots is the border between them.

If the weather turnsIf the Rangeet runs high after rain, we keep to the upper forest path and move the barbecue to the Burra Bungalow's Simbong Garden Terrace.

Tonight
Glenburn Tea Estate, Glenburn Tea Estate

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
05
Day 5 · Glenburn Tea Estate Ravangla

Across the Teesta into South Sikkim
- 89 km, about 4 h
- High point 2,050 m
- Sleep at 2,000 m
- Easy
Leave Glenburn at 09:00 with a picnic packed by the kitchen. The estate track climbs to the Peshok road, which drops through tea and forest to the Teesta at about 270 m. At Melli you cross into Sikkim; foreign guests show the printed permit. From the river the road climbs through Namchi, past slopes where large cardamom, Sikkim's spice crop, grows in the shade of alder, to Ravangla at about 2,000 m. It is 89 km and about four hours, with the picnic at a viewpoint your driver picks on the day. Mt Narsing Village Resort is simple, and we say so: wooden cottages in a garden, plain rooms, a kitchen that closes early, no spa. What it gives you is silence, cold clean air and, on clear mornings, a sight of Kanchenjunga from the grounds. Dinner is at 19:30.

The momentAt Melli the bridge over the Teesta carries you out of West Bengal, and prayer flags begin on the far bank.

InsiderAsk for the annexe cottages at Mt Narsing, set back from the road with the mountain view; the roadside rooms hear every passing jeep.

If the weather turnsIf the Teesta road at Melli is blocked, we cross by Darjeeling and Jorethang instead, about an hour longer, and eat the picnic on the way.

Tonight
Mt Narsing Village Resort, Ravangla

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06
Day 6 · Ravangla

Temi's terraces by morning, a last blind tasting by evening
- 58 km, about 2 h
- High point 2,130 m
- Sleep at 2,000 m
- Easy
Breakfast at 07:00 and away by 07:45: Temi is 27 km and about an hour from Ravangla. The garden falls in terraces from Tendong Hill, between roughly 1,200 and 1,800 m, across 177 hectares that Sikkim's last Chogyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal, set up in 1969, partly to give work to Tibetan refugees. Conversion to organic began in 2005, certified by a Swiss institute, and was complete by 2008. Your guide arranged the visit with the garden office by phone and timed it for the morning, when the factory is most likely to be working. Walk the terraces first, then taste the grades, from the top 'Temi' through 'Solja' to 'Sikkim', and buy at the garden's own shop. Lunch is yours in Ravangla bazaar: momos and thukpa in a small café, then an hour at Buddha Park and its copper Buddha at 15:30. At 17:30, back at Mt Narsing, your guide sets out the week's teas without labels: the three Kurseong gardens from the first evening beside what you bought at Glenburn and Temi. Taste them blind once more, and see whether you can now tell the Temi from the Glenburn.

The momentBelow the factory the terraces curve away so steeply that the pluckers look like coloured dots on the green.

InsiderBuy Temi's grades in small packets rather than one large tin. Tasted side by side at home, 'Temi' against 'Sikkim' keeps this morning's lesson alive.

If the weather turnsIf Temi's factory is idle that day, your guide walks you through the terraces and we taste at the shop; Buddha Park is just as good in light rain.

Tonight
Mt Narsing Village Resort, Ravangla

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
07
Day 7 · Ravangla Bagdogra airport

The long road down to Bagdogra
- 128 km, about 5 h
- High point 2,040 m
- Easy
This is the one long drive of the week, so it starts early. Tea at 05:30, and the car leaves at 06:00 with a breakfast box, down through Namchi to the Teesta at Melli and out of the hills at Sevoke: 128 km and about five hours, reaching Bagdogra near 11:00 for flights from 13:00. Your driver stops for coffee at about the halfway mark. We watch the road reports from 05:00 and the flight status on the way, and our team stays on the line until you have checked in. If you are going home by rail instead, New Jalpaiguri station lies on the same road, and we can time the drive to your train.

The momentThe Teesta keeps you company most of the morning, broad and grey-green, running south to the plains beside the car.

InsiderThe Teesta gorge road below Melli can lose an hour to one stalled truck. With a flight before 13:00, sleep the last night down in the plains instead.

If the weather turnsIf NH10 in the gorge is closed, we route through Jorethang and Darjeeling, about two hours longer; on those days the car leaves at 05:00.

Tonight
Homeward

Meals
Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, three houses

Cochrane Place by Teesta Hotels, Glenburn Tea Estate and Mt Narsing Village Resort. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

Cochrane Place on the Pankhabari road at Kurseong.Rangan Datta Wiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

1 night

Cochrane Place by Teesta Hotels

Kurseong

A restored magistrate's house on the Pankhabari road, ringed by Makaibari, Castleton and Ambootia: you taste all three in sight of them.

Ask for A valley-facing room in the main house, away from the road, with breakfast and dinner
The Burra Bungalow at Glenburn, with the lawn laid for tea.A. J. T. Johnsingh, WWF-India and NCF, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

3 nights
Glenburn Tea Estate

Glenburn Tea Estate

The fullest tea stay in the hills: plucking, factory, tasting and river days, with all meals, picnics and guides included.

Ask for The Singalila Suite in the Water Lily Bungalow, facing the range from the bed; reached by steps
- WarmthTwo of the four suites in the Burra Bungalow have fireplaces.
- BathroomThree of the four Burra Bungalow bathrooms have free standing bathtubs and all four have a walk in rain shower; the Water Lily Bungalow bathrooms have antique free standing bathtubs.
The Buddha at Ravangla, the park a few minutes from the cottages.Renjith Ponnappan / Pexels

2 nights

Mt Narsing Village Resort

Ravangla

Simple wooden cottages an hour from Temi and close to Buddha Park, chosen for quiet and the view from the grounds rather than for comfort.

Ask for An annexe cottage set back from the road, with extra quilts requested ahead

Price and what it covers

from₹1,55,000

per person, sharing a twin or double room. How our prices are built

About £1,210 or US$1,610 at the rates of 19 September 2026.

Price my dates

Less time?The Singalila Ridge5 nights More time?Kanchenjunga at First Light7 nights

Included

Your own car and driver from the hills, an Innova Crysta or similar, days 1 to 7, with fuel, tolls, parking and the driver's lodging paid
A Sikkim-registered car for the Temi and Buddha Park day, if the state's sightseeing rules require one
One night at Cochrane Place and two at Mt Narsing Village Resort, each with breakfast and dinner
Three Glenburn nights on full board: every meal and picnic, tea, coffee and juice all day, and laundry done
The blind tasting on day 1, with Makaibari, Castleton and Ambootia teas we buy from the current season, and the closing tasting on day 6
The early Makaibari visit on day 2, with our guide
Glenburn's plucking morning, factory tour and tasting, the Gorkhay Daara walk, the Manjitar river walk and the lodge barbecue, with estate guides
Temi Tea Garden visit and tasting, and Buddha Park entry, with a local guide in Sikkim
For foreign and OCI guests, the online Sikkim permit, filed and printed for the Melli post
A late lunch on day 1 and a picnic lunch on day 5
Our team on call 24x7 from the moment we meet you at Bagdogra

Not included

Your flights into and out of Bagdogra, which we are happy to book
Travel insurance, which should include medical evacuation
Lunch on day 6 in Ravangla, and alcohol at all three houses
Gratuities for the driver, the guides and the staff at each house
Massages at Glenburn
Fishing on the Rangeet, which carries a supplement
Anything you buy along the way, tea included

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

Tendong Hill on footFrom Ravangla, a 13 km drive and about two and a half hours' climb to the Tendong summit, near 2,600 m, with a guide.
Ralang MonasteryOn day 6, add an hour at Ralang, the Kagyu monasteries a short drive below Ravangla, with a monk to show you round if one is free.
A Darjeeling day from GlenburnThe town is 75 minutes from the bungalow; ride the toy train from Ghum into Darjeeling and let the car meet you at the station.
An hour in Glenburn's kitchenGlenburn keeps an open kitchen: cook its momos or Burmese khow suey beside the cooks, then eat your work at dinner.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifIf you want polished rooms every night, choose The Planter's Week, which ends at Windamere in Darjeeling rather than Ravangla; if Sikkim's monasteries matter more than tea, choose Monasteries of the East.

Papers: for the two Ravangla nights, foreign and OCI guests need the Sikkim permit as well as an Indian visa. We file it online through e-FRRO about 30 days before you travel; see Permits and visas, /plan/permits-and-visas/. Indian guests carry original photo ID.
Clothing: Glenburn, near 900 m, is mild, while Ravangla at about 2,000 m is cold at night in March and October. Pack a warm layer, a rain shell for spring showers and a hat for the tea fields.
Shoes: the river walk crosses loose stones and the plucking slopes are steep. Pack boots or trail shoes that grip, and sandals you do not mind getting wet.
Height: the highest point is Ghum, 2,258 m, on day 2, and you sleep no higher than about 2,000 m, so most guests need no acclimatisation. Tell us in advance about any heart or breathing condition.
Money: Glenburn is all inclusive. Carry enough cash for two days in Sikkim, Temi's shop and tips; ATMs are in Kurseong and Ravangla but can run dry.
Signal: expect gaps on the Sikkim roads. At Glenburn phones work well by the estate's own account, though its Wi-Fi covers only some rooms.
Tea to take home: leave room in your bags for Temi's shop and Glenburn's; anything you buy sits outside the price.
Tipping: an envelope for each house's staff and one shared by your driver and guides is simplest; suggested amounts are at /plan/before-you-travel/#tipping.

Questions

Six questions about The Tea Trail

Ask on WhatsApp

Is there really a tea garden in Sikkim?

Yes. Temi, on the slopes of Tendong Hill, was planted in 1969 and for over thirty years was the state's only garden; Bermiok followed in 2002. It is run by the state, employs about 400 workers, won the All India Quality Award in 1994 and 1995, and sends about three quarters of its crop to the Kolkata auction. The rest is packed under its own grades, which is why the garden shop is the place to buy.

What is the difference between first flush and second flush tea?

First flush is the spring pluck, from March into May: tender shoots, a pale liquor and a light, floral cup with a little astringency. Second flush, in May and June, comes from fuller leaf; the cup deepens and can carry the grape-skin note tasters call muscatel. Autumn flush, in October and November, is softer and more herbaceous. You taste whichever flush the bushes are giving that week, and on day 3 you set spring against autumn.

The Tea Trail or The Planter's Week?

Both give six nights to tea. The Planter's Week stays in West Bengal: two nights at Taj Chia Kutir inside the Makaibari estate at Kurseong, two at Glenburn and two at the Windamere in Darjeeling, with Tiger Hill and the dawn train, and no Sikkim permit for foreign guests. The Tea Trail crosses into Sikkim for Temi, walks more, and ends in plainer rooms at Ravangla. Choose it if you want to taste how the leaf changes across a border.

Is early November worth it for Temi?

The first half of the month is. The Himalayan cherry, Prunus cerasoides, flowers pink along the garden roads before Temi closes for winter. The Temi Tarku Tourism Development Committee and the state tourism department have held a Cherry Tea Festival there in mid November since 2013, usually over three days from the 15th, and we confirm the year's dates before you book. Darjeeling's autumn flush is still being plucked, and from December to February the gardens rest, which is why the journey does not run then.

Why Mt Narsing in Ravangla, and not The Barfung Retreat?

Barfung is the more polished house, and we use it on Monasteries of the East, where Doling Gompa is a short drive away, and on Sikkim, End to End. On this route we choose Mt Narsing's annexe cottages, set back from the road in a garden with Kanchenjunga in view on clear mornings, because the week ends well in quiet. The rooms are plain and the kitchen closes early. If you would rather have Barfung, we price it for you.

Do we need to know anything about tea before we come?

No. The first evening starts from nothing: three unlabelled cups, a spoon, and your guide showing you how buyers taste, with a loud slurp. By day 3 you are plucking beside the women who do it for a living, and by day 6 you taste the week's teas blind again and find out how far you have come. Tell us what you drink at home, and we choose the Kurseong teas to start from there.

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