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Sikkim only · six districts · from Gangtok

Sikkim, priced honestly

Shared-jeep weekends from under ₹10,000 to premium tours, with every cost shown, permits handled through registered partners and the Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepali stories behind each valley.

Itemised quotesPermits handledBudget to premiumSourced local stories
Photo: Original: Yoghya Derivative work: UnpetitproleX · CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Rinchenpong weekend from NJP, budget ₹5,500Aritar weekend: lake, Mankhim and villages ₹6,500Namchi weekend from NJP, 2 nights ₹7,500Dzongu Lepcha village escape ₹8,000Under ₹10,000: 9 packages₹10,000 – 20,000: 24 packages₹20,000 – 35,000: 14 packagesAbove ₹35,000: 1 packageRinchenpong weekend from NJP, budget ₹5,500Aritar weekend: lake, Mankhim and villages ₹6,500Namchi weekend from NJP, 2 nights ₹7,500Dzongu Lepcha village escape ₹8,000Under ₹10,000: 9 packages₹10,000 – 20,000: 24 packages₹20,000 – 35,000: 14 packagesAbove ₹35,000: 1 package

The climb

From river valleys to the Tibetan plateau

Sikkim rises faster than almost anywhere on earth. Plan the height as carefully as the road.

Melli
Melli280M

Melli

Melli is a small town on the Teesta at about 280 m, split between Kalimpong district of West Bengal and Namchi district of Sikkim and joined by a road bridge. It is the main entry from Siliguri and NJP into …

South Sikkim · best Nov – Feb
Namchi
Namchi1,500M

Namchi

Namchi is the headquarters of Namchi district (South Sikkim), about 78 km and 3–3.5 hours from Gangtok at roughly 1,500 m. It is known for two hilltop pilgrimages, the Guru Rinpoche statue at Samdruptse and the Char Dham complex at …

South Sikkim · best Mar – May · Oct – Dec
Gangtok
Gangtok1,650M

Gangtok

Gangtok is Sikkim's capital, a ridge town at 1,650 m and the base for almost every trip in the state. Plan 2–3 nights: one day for the town's monasteries, institute and MG Marg, one for Tsomgo Lake and Baba Mandir, …

East Sikkim · best Mar – May · Oct – Dec
Pelling
Pelling2,150M

Pelling

Pelling is a ridge town at about 2,150 m in Gyalshing district, 115 km from Gangtok, and the main base for West Sikkim. On clear mornings it faces Kangchenjunga, Kabru and Pandim. Pemayangtse, Rabdentse, Sanga Choeling and the Skywalk are …

West Sikkim · best Mar – May · Oct – Dec
Lachung
Lachung2,700M

Lachung

Lachung is a Bhutia village at about 2,700 m in the Lachung Chu valley, 120 km and 5–6 hours from Gangtok. It is the overnight base for Yumthang Valley and Zero Point, has an 1880 Nyingma monastery, and is governed …

North Sikkim · best Apr – May · Oct – Nov
Tsomgo Lake
Tsomgo La…3,753M

Tsomgo Lake

Tsomgo, also called Changu, is a glacial lake at 3,753 m about 40 km east of Gangtok on the road to Nathu La. It is Sikkim's most visited high-altitude sight, done as a day trip with Baba Mandir. A permit …

East Sikkim · best Apr – May · Oct – Nov
Nathang Valley
Nathang V…3,750M

Nathang Valley

Nathang (Gnathang) Valley is a wide high valley at about 3,750 m on the Silk Route in Pakyong district, with a small village, a gumpa, yak pastures and army camps. In May 1888 Tibetan forces attacked the British camp here. …

Pakyong and the Silk Route · best Apr – May · Oct – Nov
Gurudongmar Lake
Gurudongm…5,150M

Gurudongmar Lake

Gurudongmar Lake is a glacier-fed lake near the Tibet border, about 67 km and 3–3.5 hours from Lachen. The Sikkim government gives its altitude as 5,430 m; satellite data suggest nearer 5,150 m. Sacred to Buddhists, linked with Guru Padmasambhava, …

North Sikkim · best May · Oct – Nov

The full altitude ladder Check a package's altitude

Month by month

When each district is at its best

Full season guide

A planning guide, not a promise. Roads, passes and permits change every year: check current status before you travel. The outlined column is this month.

Right now

At their best this month

Sikkim this month

Little known

Things most visitors never hear

Each one is sourced. Tap through to the place it belongs to.

Rooted stories

The present Baba Mandir was built on 11 November 1982 at the junction of the road to Kupup and the trail towards Menmecho Lake; the original shrine is his bunker further along the Silk Route side.

Baba Harbhajan Singh MandirSource: darjeeling-tourism.com; Wikipedia: Baba Harbhajan Singh

Since 2015, Nathu La has been one of the two official routes for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra organised by India's Ministry of External Affairs; the route is motorable most of the way.

Nathu LaSource: Wikipedia: Nathu La; Kailash Mansarovar Yatra

Under the Chogyal-era reservation, not even a Lepcha from outside Dzongu may buy land inside it; the protection belongs to the Lepcha of Dzongu themselves.

DzonguSource: Live History India; Sikkim Escapes Dzongu guide

Wikipedia's Kabi Lungchok article says there are a number of waterfalls in the Kabi area, and that one of them is known as the Seven Sister waterfalls.

Seven Sisters WaterfallSource: Wikipedia, Kabi Lungchok

Dubdi is the only one of the four monasteries built in that early period of the kingdom that still survives, according to Wikipedia.

Dubdi MonasterySource: Wikipedia: Dubdi Monastery

Pemayangtse accepts only ta-tshang, 'monks of pure lineage', who must be celibate and without physical abnormality, a rule Wikipedia says still applies.

Pemayangtse MonasterySource: Wikipedia: Pemayangtse Monastery

The complex spreads over about 29 hectares on Solophok hill, which is why the four dham replicas can stand at full temple scale rather than as small models.

Char Dham, SolophokSource: Inditales; Sikkim Tourism

The Tibetan settlement near Ravangla market covers seven camps on about 328.5 acres, with roughly 1,300 residents, a primary school, two monasteries and a clinic.

RavanglaSource: Wikipedia: Ravangla

The 2011 census recorded Gnathang village as just 13 households and 60 people on 16 hectares, making it one of the smallest permanent settlements on the Silk Route.

Nathang ValleySource: Wikipedia: Nathang Valley

Wikipedia records that traders used Zuluk as an overnight base on the Kalimpong–Tibet route, which ran through Pedong, Aritar, Zuluk and Jelep La to the Chumbi valley until the 1959 crackdown in Tibet.

ZulukSource: Wikipedia: Dzuluk

Rooted stories

The people and histories behind the views

Every story
Baba Harbhajan Singh Mandir

Sepoy Harbhajan Singh, 1946–1968

Harbhajan Singh was born into a Sikh family on 30 August 1946 in Sardarpura, in a district that is now in Pakistan. He matriculated from DAV High School in Patti, Punjab, in March 1965, …

Source: Wikipedia: Baba Harbhajan Singh; memorial board at the shrine
Tsomgo Lake

A lake that monks once read like a weather map

Tsomgo has long been sacred to the Bhutia and other Buddhist communities of Sikkim. Its name, from 'tso' (lake) and 'mgo' (head), marks it as a source of the streams that run down, eventually, …

Source: Wikipedia: Lake Tsomgo; Sikkim Tourism permit notices
Thangu

The herders of the high pastures

The grasslands around Thangu and the valleys beyond, Lashar, Lhonak and Muguthang among them, have been summer pastures for generations. Lachenpa families and the Dokpa (or Drokpa), herders of Tibetan origin who live in …

Source: Wikipedia, Lachen, Sikkim; ICIMOD, Yak pastoralism in transition in L…
Pemayangtse Monastery

Zangdok Palri, a heaven carved by one lama

Zangdok Palri, the 'Copper-Coloured Mountain', is the pure land where Guru Padmasambhava, the 8th-century teacher who brought Buddhism to the Himalaya, is believed to live in a palace on a mountain rising from an …

Source: Lonely Planet: Pemayangtse Gompa; Wikipedia: Pemayangtse Monastery
Namchi Rock Garden

The sea floor above Namchi

Stand at Mamley, a few minutes above the Rock Garden, and look closely at the pale grey rock: fine wavy layers, small domes and columns, like a cabbage sliced in half. These are stromatolites, …

Source: Geological Survey of India via Wikipedia: National Geological Monumen…
Rangpo

The gateway and the two rivers

Wikipedia's article on Rangpo says the town lies on the belt of two rivers: the Teesta, coming from the Dikchu, Singtam and Majitar side, and the Rangpo, coming from Rongli, Rorathang and Kumrek. They …

Source: Wikipedia: Rangpo; Wikipedia: Maghe Sankranti

Read before you go

Costs, permits and festivals

Every guide
Losoong and the Kagyed dance Bhutia, with Lepcha Namsoon…

Losoong and the Kagyed dance

Losoong is the Sikkimese Bhutia new year and harvest festival, held in December. In Gangtok it is preceded by the Kagyed dance …

December; Kagyed on the 28th–29th days of the 1…Gangtok
Namsoong at Namprikdang Lepcha

Namsoong at Namprikdang

Namsoong is the Lepcha new year and harvest festival. Since 1979 its best-known public celebration has been held at Namprikdang, a riverside …

Dec–Jan, the Lepcha new year (lunar, dates set …Dzongu
Phodong Monastery Chaam Bhutia and Buddhist monasti…

Phodong Monastery Chaam

Phodong Monastery, a Karma Kagyu seat 38 km north of Gangtok, holds its annual masked dance on the 28th and 29th days …

Usually early to mid December, 28th–29th day of…Phodong
Tholung Kamsel Buddhist, Lepcha and Bhutia…

Tholung Kamsel

Every three years the sealed boxes of relics at Tholung Monastery in Upper Dzongu are opened, aired in the sun and shown …

Traditionally every three years, in spring; the…Tholung Monastery
The Chogyals and the story of Sikkim stories

The Chogyals and the story of Sikkim

Sikkim was a kingdom ruled by twelve Chogyals of the Namgyal dynasty from 1642, when Phuntsog Namgyal was consecrated at Yuksom, to 1975, when …

5 min readEast Sikkim
Gangtok on a budget: real costs for 2026 money

Gangtok on a budget: real costs for 2026

A careful traveller can do Gangtok for about ₹1,800–2,500 a person a day in 2026: a shared jeep up from Siliguri for ₹350–550, a …

5 min readEast Sikkim
Sikkim tour costs explained: cabs, jeeps and SNT money

Sikkim tour costs explained: cabs, jeeps and SNT

A Sikkim trip costs mostly transport and rooms. Shared jeeps cost ₹150–800 a seat, a reserved small car ₹3,000–4,000 a day and an SUV …

5 min readEast Sikkim
Dzongu and the Lepcha: a reserve with a story stories

Dzongu and the Lepcha: a reserve with a story

Dzongu is a reserved homeland for the Lepcha in Mangan district, protected since a 1958 notification of the Chogyal's government. In 2007 its young …

5 min readNorth Sikkim
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