Sikkim experiences
Monasteries and shrines
Gompas, chortens, caves and temples
Photo: Myself (Ambuj Saxena) · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Prayer halls at their own hours, mask dances on their own days, and someone to explain what you see. 41 experiences below, each with its time, cost and the best hour to go.
Monasteries and shrines
Visit the shrine of Baba Harbhajan Singh
Pay respects at the Army-run shrine to Sepoy Harbhajan Singh, who died near Nathu La in 1968 at 22. See his quarters …
Monasteries and shrines
Morning prayers at Enchey
Reach Enchey before the sightseeing taxis and sit at the back of the prayer hall while the monks chant with drums and …
Monasteries and shrines
Ganesh Tok shrine and the view over Gangtok
Climb the short steps to the tiny Ganesh shrine, stoop through its doorway to offer a prayer, then stand on the terrace …
Monasteries and shrines
A quiet visit to the Hanuman Tok temple
Climb the steps to the small Hanuman temple built in 1950 over a sacred stone and kept by the Indian Army. A …
Monasteries and shrines
Afternoon prayers at Lingdum Monastery
Time your visit to Lingdum for the young monks' afternoon prayers, when horns and drums echo across the forest clearing. Then walk …
Monasteries and shrines
Morning prayers and the Golden Stupa
Sit in on prayers in Rumtek's main hall, modelled on the Karmapas' Tibetan seat at Tsurphu, then visit the Golden Stupa that …
Monasteries and shrines
Sang Monastery and Phaya Lama's prints
Visit the Karma Dubgyu Chokhorling, a Kagyu monastery built in 1912, and ask to see the two stones bearing a footprint and …
Monasteries and shrines
Walking the pilgrims' shore
At the lake, join the pilgrims' slow clockwise walk past chortens and prayer flags to the small shrine looked after by Lachen …
Monasteries and shrines
Visiting Labrang Monastery
A quiet hour at a Nyingma monastery built between 1826 and 1843, on a forest ledge above Phodong. See the courtyard, prayer …
Monasteries and shrines
Ngodrub Choling, Lachen's monastery
Climb to Lachen Monastery, built in 1858, for its murals, its monastic school and a wide view down the Lachen valley. This …
Monasteries and shrines
Morning walk to Lachung Monastery
Cross the Lachung Chu on foot and climb to the village's Nyingma monastery, founded in 1880, for morning prayers and a view …
Monasteries and shrines
Visiting Phodong Monastery
A calm hour at a Karma Kagyu monastery that Wikipedia credits to Chogyal Gyurmed Namgyal in 1740: courtyard, prayer hall, murals and …
Monasteries and shrines
Joining pilgrims at the Tholung Kamsel
Once every three years Tholung's sealed relics are opened, aired and shown to the faithful. Walk up with pilgrims from across Sikkim …
Monasteries and shrines
Samiti Lake and the sacred landscape
Pause at Samiti Lake on the way back from the Goecha La viewpoint, a glacial lake sacred to the Bhutia and Lepcha …
Monasteries and shrines
Kirateshwar Mahadev temple at Legship
Drive down from Gyalshing to Legship on the Rangeet to visit the Kirateshwar Mahadev temple, a Hindu pilgrimage site of West Sikkim, …
Monasteries and shrines
Walking the edge of Demazong
With a Yuksom guide, walk from Kathok Lake to Dubdi Monastery and the first stretch of the park trail, learning how the …
Monasteries and shrines
Dawn on the jetty at Khecheopalri
Stay in Khecheopalri village and walk down to the lake at first light, when mist lifts off the water, birds call from …
Monasteries and shrines
Evening kora around Kathok Lake
Join Yuksom residents for a slow clockwise walk around Kathok Lake at dusk, the lake associated with the holy water that anointed …
Monasteries and shrines
Skywalk, Chenrezig and the climb to Sanga Choeling
Walk the glass Skywalk beside the 137-foot Chenrezig statue opened in 2018, then climb the old path to Sanga Choeling, dated to …
Monasteries and shrines
Morning prayers at Pemayangtse
Sit quietly at the back of the prayer hall as Pemayangtse's monks chant the morning liturgy with drums, cymbals and long horns, …
Monasteries and shrines
Light a butter lamp and walk the kora
Offer a butter lamp and walk the clockwise path around Pemayangtse, turning the prayer wheels, as local families do on auspicious days.
Monasteries and shrines
Tenth-day recitations at Sanga Choeling
Time your climb for the tenth day of the Tibetan month, linked with Guru Padmasambhava, when Sanga Choeling's lamas hold special recitations …
Monasteries and shrines
Walking the chortens and mani walls
Walk clockwise through Tashiding's field of chortens and past its carved mani walls in the late afternoon, as pilgrims do, and find …
Monasteries and shrines
Morning at the Uttarey Kagyu monastery
Walk up through the forest to the village monastery of the Kagyu school, which the district administration notes for its wall paintings …
Monasteries and shrines
Borong to Ralang: two monasteries by afternoon light
A short drive or walk from Borong back towards Ravangla to the old Karma Rabtenling monastery of 1768 and the large Palchen …
Monasteries and shrines
Buddha Park at opening time
Be at the gate when Tathagata Tsal opens, walk the long avenue while it is still quiet, circle the 130 ft Buddha …
Monasteries and shrines
Butter lamps and dusk at Tathagata Tsal
Return late in the afternoon, when the tour groups have left, to light a butter lamp, walk a last kora around the …
Monasteries and shrines
A Char Dham yatra in two hours
Walk the full round of Siddhesvara Dham as pilgrims do: the four dham replicas, twelve jyotirlingas and the great Shiva, with time …
Monasteries and shrines
Evening aarti on Solophok hill
Stay on at Char Dham for the evening lamp ceremony, when bells ring across the hilltop and the Shiva statue is lit …
Monasteries and shrines
Up the Rangeet valley to Legship's riverside temple
A short river-valley drive north from Jorethang to Legship in Gyalshing district, where the Kirateshwar Mahadev temple stands by the Rangeet. A …
Monasteries and shrines
Visit Kewzing's Bon monastery with your host
A quiet visit to one of very few Bon monasteries in India, guided by your homestay host. Learn how the Bon tradition, …
Monasteries and shrines
Two statues before breakfast: Namchi's hill circuit
A morning car loop that takes in Samdruptse's Guru Rinpoche, the Rock Garden and Siddhesvara Dham's Shiva while the light is clear …
Monasteries and shrines
Morning prayers at Palchen Choeling
Arrive early to hear monks chanting in Palchen Choeling's assembly hall, with drums, horns and the smell of butter lamps. Sit quietly …
Monasteries and shrines
A slow kora around Guru Rinpoche
Climb the prayer-wheel stairway, walk clockwise around the statue as Sikkimese pilgrims do, and sit for a while in the shrine room …
Monasteries and shrines
Stop at the Old Baba Mandir shrine
Visit the older, smaller shrine to Baba Harbhajan Singh on the Silk Route circuit near Kupup, built around the bunker associated with …
Monasteries and shrines
Butter lamps at the Gnathang gumpa
A quiet visit to Gnathang Gadenchoeling Gumpa, the small Buddhist temple of the valley's herding families. Prayer wheels, flags snapping in the …
A quiet stop at the Sarva Dharma Kendra
Stop at the Sri Sathya Sai Sarva Dharma Kendra in the centre of Daramdin, which Wikipedia names as the village's main attraction. …
Monasteries and shrines
Visit Rahuney Cave at Kamling
Visit the cave at Kamling that the Soreng district site describes as the abode of the protector Rahula, where Guru Padmasambhava is …
Monasteries and shrines
Climb to Ugen Thondroling Monastery
Walk up the long flight of steps through Okhrey's rhododendron park to the village gompa, a Nyingma monastery built in 1950, and …
Monasteries and shrines
See the Ati Buddha at Rinchenpong Monastery
Walk up to the monastery founded around 1730, counted as the third oldest in Sikkim, and see its rare Ati Buddha in …
Monasteries and shrines
Ramidham hilltop shrine and Kangchenjunga view
Drive about 13–14 km from Soreng and walk 2.5 km uphill to Ramidham, a Hindu hilltop site above Bara Samdong with a …
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