Darjeeling Tourism

I have been exploring Darjeeling for decades, initially as a vacationer and then as a travel writer. Over time I have looked into many aspects of Darjeeling at great depths and can perhaps claim that I know almost every nook & corner of the place and a lot about its life, people & culture. This website is all about sharing those findings and experiences so that you can yourself easily design a great vacation in Darjeeling and its surrounding areas, and directly do the bookings yourself. It not only helps cutting out unnecessary costs, you can shape it exactly the way you want it to be. 

If you follow this website and go through the sections below, I can promise that you won't need any agency or a tour package to help you with your vacation in Darjeeling. You can easily do it on your own and eliminate dependence on someone else's interest & choices, be it hotels, food, transports, sightseeing tours, or adventures. 

And I have a good news for you! In order to facilitate self designed vacation, I have brought together many small & large hotels, transporters, tour operators, restaurants and shops of Darjeeling & nearby areas who are among the best. And they all offer great discounts if you have a Darjeeling Tourism Card. So apart from shaping your own vacation or holiday plan, you will also get the double benefit of great discounts! 

So excited to design your own vacation in Darjeeling? Then read on... 

While my main focus has been on the tourism aspects of Darjeeling, over time I have gone deeper trying to uncover its life as an insider. So my findings have evolved with time and includes not only my experience of Darjeeling Tourism but also many insider stories, reviews and finer aspects of the hill life. Along with tourist attractions, activities, guided & self guided tours, hotels and restaurants, my stories are also about its people & culture, fascinating history & heritage, unique flora & fauna, weather, tea gardens and everything this gem of a hill town offers to the world. 

Just to give you a head start about the place, Darjeeling hill town is located at an altitude of 6,710 ft in north east India and is part of the West Bengal state. The nearest airport is Bagdogra and the nearest railway head is New Jalpaiguri. It takes about 3.5 hours to reach Darjeeling from both these locations by car. Although the area of Darjeeling hill town itself is small (about 4 square miles), Darjeeling is also a district and spans over a large area of about 1,200 square miles. 

The hill town was originally set up as a sanitarium or health resort by the British in mid 1800s. But over the years, it earned its name for its world famous aromatic tea and then with opening up of roads and Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, for tourism. No wonder you will see numerous sprawling tea estates in Darjeeling that produce world's best tea, as well as the amazing narrow gauge Toy Train which is considered an engineering marvel that overcame such steep gradients and curves of the mountains. 

Residents are mostly immigrant Nepalese (predominantly Gorkhas), Tibetans, as well as some Lepchas and Bhutias from Sikkim. Nepalese are mostly Hindus while Tibetans follow Buddhism. When you compare them with the people of lower plains, they look so different both in structure and culture. It's an amazing world out there. 

A road in Darjeeling winding through a tea estate 

 

Over the past few decades Darjeeling lacked proper developmental support and had seen random & thoughtless constructions and overcrowding which it hardly deserved. Despite that the charming, sincere and friendly people of the place have continued to strive hard and successfully preserved pride of the 'Queen of the Hills' as one of the best places for tourism even today. 

The town center of Darjeeling is known as Mall or Chowrasta, which is like a flat open promenade, a pedestrian only zone free of vehicular traffic and surrounded by colorful stores with backdrop of mountains and valleys. Most tourists try to stay near the Mall area to be close to hub of all activities, restaurants and shops. So due to high demand, hotel rates are comparatively higher in the Mall area. Alternatively you can stay a bit away, enjoy better rates, nature & views, and a location relatively free of crowd. 

http://www.darjeeling-tourism.com/