51 Best Offbeat Kalimpong Homestays and Resorts : Honest Guide

Darjeeling is a town that people visit. Kalimpong is a district that people disappear into.

That is the honest difference, and it is why this page exists. Most of what gets written about Kalimpong is about the town: Delo, Durpin monastery, the flower nurseries, Dr Graham’s Homes. All of it worth seeing, none of it the reason to come. The reason to come is the ring of villages around the town, each on its own ridge, each with a different angle on Kanchenjunga, most of them with four or five houses that take guests and nothing else at all.

We have 51 places to stay across 21 of those villages. This page tells you what each village is actually like, how high it is, how long the drive takes from the plains, when to go, what the road does in the monsoon, and which of the 51 suits which kind of traveller. It also tells you which ones we would not send you to in January, and why.

If you want the neighbouring district instead, the North Bengal homestay guide covers Darjeeling, Sittong and the tea belt, and there is a separate Darjeeling tea garden guide.

Kalimpong in one page, before the villages

Kalimpong town sits at about 4,100 feet on a ridge between the Teesta and the Relli, which is lower and warmer than Darjeeling’s 6,700. Around it, at heights from 2,000 to 8,500 feet, are the villages: Charkhol, Ramdhura, Icha, Samthar, Samalbong, Lolegaon, Lava, Rishop, Kolakham, Pedong, Nimbong, Bara Mangwa, Tarkhola, Sangsey, Daragaon, Lamadara, Lungchu, Panboo, Chisang, Jhandi, Gorubathan and the Khasmahal hamlets.

Three things follow from that geography, and they decide your trip.

Altitude decides the weather and the view. At 4,000 feet you are warm in winter and the mountain is distant. At 8,500 feet you are in cloud half the year, cold from November, and the mountain fills the sky. Neither is better. They are different holidays.

The Teesta decides the drive. Almost everything here is reached by the NH10 road along the Teesta from Siliguri, then a climb. That road is the weak link. It is fine most of the year and it is the first thing to go in heavy rain, so between late June and mid September check before you travel rather than after.

The villages decide the mood. Kalimpong town has hotels, a chemist, a bank and traffic. The villages have none of those and that is the point. Six houses, a footpath, somebody’s cows, and a view that costs nothing.

The altitude ladder, which is how to choose

Forget the names for a moment and pick your height. Everything else follows.

2,000 to 3,500 feet, the river villages. Bara Mangwa, Tarkhola, Chisang. Warm, green, orange orchards, the sound of water, and the mountain mostly hidden. Ideal from November to February, when everything higher is cold. Poor in May, when the valleys are hot.

4,000 to 5,000 feet, the middle ridges. Kalimpong town, Sangsey, Pedong, Charkhol, Daragaon, Ramdhura, Lamadara, Maldiram, Nimbong. The comfortable band. Cool evenings, mild days, a proper Kanchenjunga view from most, and nothing so high that a child or an older parent struggles with the cold. If you have never been to these hills before, start here.

5,000 to 6,500 feet, the high villages. Delo, Lolegaon, Samalbong, Kolakham, Lungchu, Panboo, Jhandi. Cold nights from October, genuine cold in December and January, clouds arriving and leaving all day, and the big views.

Above 8,000 feet, Rishop and Samthar’s high edge. Snow is possible in December and January, though never promised. Everything is colder than you expect, the roads are the roughest in the district, and on a clear morning you will not want to be anywhere else.

The villages, one by one

Grouped so you can read only the parts that matter to you. Distances are road distances from New Jalpaiguri where our records have them.

Kalimpong town, Delo and Chibbo: the base with a chemist

About 75 km and two and a half to three hours from NJP. The town is not pretty in the way Darjeeling is, and it is much easier to be in: less traffic, fewer tourists, cheaper food, and everything open by seven in the morning.

Windsongs Kalimpong is the comfortable end, with room heaters, laundry, room service and alcohol permitted. Dhardo Retreat has wifi, a doctor on call and a bonfire. Kalimpong Duplex Cottage, 75 km out, includes all meals and works well for a family that wants a whole cottage rather than rooms. Kalimpong Village Retreat is the simpler village option on the edge of town. And Kalimpong Homestay with Swimming Pool is the unusual one, because a pool at this altitude is rare and useful between March and June.

Above the town, Delo at about 5,600 feet is where everybody goes for the view and the paragliding. Delo Homestay sits up there. Bhalukhop Eco Resort at 6,000 feet is higher and quieter, with room heaters and alcohol permitted. Yuru Retreat Deolo is the comfortable version near Dr Graham’s Homes, with laundry, a doctor on call and room heaters.

Chibbo Retreat sits on the Chibbo ridge just outside the town, which gets you village quiet with the chemist ten minutes away. That combination is worth more than people realise on a first trip with children.

What to do here: Delo park and the ridge walk, Durpin monastery for the view down to the Teesta, Dr Graham’s Homes for the 1900s school buildings, the cactus and orchid nurseries that made Kalimpong a flower town, the Saturday and Wednesday haat, and Teesta Bazar below for river rafting.

Charkhol: the Kanchenjunga sunrise, four ways

Charkhol, also spelled Charkhole, is 73 km from NJP at about 5,000 feet, and it is the village we send more people to than any other in this district. The reason is simple: the ridge faces the range straight on, so the sunrise on Kanchenjunga happens from your window rather than from a viewpoint you have to drive to at four in the morning.

Four properties, in increasing order of comfort: Charkhol Homestay with all meals and child friendly, Charkhole Luxury Homestay at 5,000 feet, Charkhol Hilltop Resort with room heaters, and Charkhole Kanchen Resort which is the most equipped of the four.

Charkhol pairs naturally with Lava and Rishop, which are half an hour further, and with Ramdhura, which is close enough to visit for lunch.

Ramdhura and Icha: forest and the Teesta far below

Ramdhura is 86 to 87 km out, through Icha forest, and it is the quiet one. Pine, cardamom, a forest path that goes on for hours, and the Teesta winding somewhere far below.

Ramdhura Homestay with Kanchenjunga View includes all meals and is marked couple friendly. Ramdhura Woods Homestay sits in the Icha forest itself, which is the better choice if walking in trees is what you came for.

This is also the most underrated birding address in the district after Neora Valley, and the forest path towards Icha Gaon is walkable without a guide, which is not true of the deeper forests.

Samthar: the plateau, and the worst road worth taking

Samthar is a plateau above the Relli valley, open in a way the rest of Kalimpong is not, with the range across the whole northern horizon and the Bhutan hills to the east. It feels like a different country from the forested villages an hour away.

The road in is rough, and that is exactly why almost nobody is there when you arrive. Anyone prone to car sickness will feel the last stretch.

Samthar Homestay Kalimpong is the traditional village stay. Whispering Hill Retreat is the more comfortable one, all meals included, child friendly, with room heaters and a pool.

Samthar is already one of our better performing villages because people search for it by name, which usually means somebody came back and told their friends.

Lolegaon: the canopy walk village

Lolegaon, also spelled Loleygaon, sits at about 5,600 feet in dense forest, an hour beyond Lava. It is famous for the hanging canopy walk through the trees, which has been closed and reopened more than once over the years, so treat it as a bonus rather than the plan.

What is reliable is the forest itself, the Jhandi Dara sunrise point, and the fact that the village is properly cold and quiet from November.

Lolegaon Valley Retreat has room heaters and a doctor listed. Lolegaon Nature Resort at 5,600 feet has power backup, which matters more here than in town. Lolegaon Homestay with view of Kanchenjunga includes all meals and is the simplest of the three.

Lava, Rishop and Kolakham: the cold, forested corner

This is the part of Kalimpong that people remember. Three villages within a few kilometres of each other, all high, all cold, all on the edge of Neora Valley National Park.

Lava, 105 km from NJP at about 7,000 feet, is the gateway. A monastery, a small bazaar, pine and oak forest, and weather that changes every hour. Tea Estate Lava is a heritage tea bungalow with a fireplace, laundry, room heaters, pets allowed and a full staff, and it is the most comfortable bed in this corner by a distance.

Rishop, spelled Rishyap as often as not, is above Lava at about 8,500 feet, reached by a short and genuinely rough road. The view is of the Sleeping Buddha, which is what the Kanchenjunga range looks like from this angle once somebody points it out and you cannot unsee it afterwards. Five properties: Sleeping Buddha at 8,500 feet with a doctor listed, Blue Hut, Rishop Nature Homestay, Fairy Tale Retreat with room heaters and alcohol permitted, and Rishop Valley Retreat.

Be honest with yourself about the cold. In December and January at Rishop, a room heater and a hot water bottle are not luxuries. In exchange, this is where snow occasionally falls, which no one can promise and everyone asks about.

Kolakham sits at about 5,250 feet on the far side, inside the Neora Valley buffer, and it is the wildest address we list in this district. Five stays: Skylark Valley View, Kolakham Homestay, Kolakham Resort with Kanchenjunga View, Changhey Retreat at 5,250 feet, named for the Changey waterfall below the village, and Neora Valley Jungle Camp, 99 km out, which takes pets and is child friendly.

Neora Valley National Park is the reason serious birders come to this district. Red panda country, though almost nobody sees one. What you will see, with a local guide and patience, is a bird list that few places in India match. Go with somebody who knows the tracks. The core area needs permission and a guide, and the park closes for the monsoon months.

Pedong and the old Silk Route

Pedong sits at about 4,000 feet east of Kalimpong, on the old trading road to Tibet through the Jelep La. Damsang fort, the Cross Hill where the first missionaries set up, the monastery, and a view across to Sikkim.

Old Silk Route Resort is child friendly and couple friendly with room heaters. From here the Sikkim silk route circuit, Aritar, Zuluk and the rest, begins properly, though that requires permits and is a separate trip.

The low warm villages: Bara Mangwa, Tarkhola, Chisang

If you are travelling in December or January with elderly parents or a small child, read this section twice. These are the villages where you can sit outside in January.

Bara Mangwa is orange country on the slope above the Teesta and Rangeet confluence, 72 km out. Three stays: Bara Mangwa Farm House, Bara Mangwa Nature Cottage with a fireplace, wifi and laundry, and Mangwa Village Hut. Orange harvest is December and early January, and picking fruit off a tree is most of what children remember from these trips.

Tarkhola Village Homestay sits low on the Sikkim border side, takes pets, has room heaters and permits alcohol. River, forest, no crowds.

Chisang Homestay is on a river plateau, child friendly, with fishing, games and a library, which makes it one of the few places here that works for a family stuck indoors on a wet afternoon.

The quiet ones almost nobody has heard of

This is the part of the district that makes Kalimpong worth a second and third visit.

Samalbong includes all meals and is couple friendly. Forest, a valley view, and the quiet that the better known villages have lost.

Sangsey Wooden Cottage at 4,000 feet takes pets. A wooden cottage above Kalimpong with nothing around it.

Daragaon Nature Homestay, 60 km from NJP, is the closest village stay in this whole guide, which makes it the easy first night after a late train.

Lamadara Eco Resort, 70 km out, has wifi and all meals and is child friendly, with the range in front.

Nimbong Village Resort at 5,000 feet sits in a hamlet on the way to Lava, with room heaters and alcohol permitted.

Lungchu Homestay, 114 km out, is the furthest and the most secluded thing we list here. All meals, bonfire, and genuinely nobody around.

Panboo Homestay is the other Kanchenjunga viewpoint village that has not yet been discovered.

The Khasmahal hamlets

Khasmahal is a land tenure term rather than a single place, which is why several villages around Kalimpong carry it in their name. Khasmahal Eco Homestay, Lolay Khasmahal Nature Homestay, which takes pets and has power backup, and Kanke Bong Homestay, which has a pool. All three are small village houses of the kind this district does better than anywhere else in North Bengal.

Jhandi, Gorubathan and the Dooars edge

The southern edge of the district, where the hills drop into the Dooars. The special thing here is that on a clear morning you see the snow line above you and the plains laid out below at the same time.

Jhandi Homestay sits on the hilltop, child friendly, with a bonfire. Jungle Log House at Upper Gorubathan takes pets, has room heaters and permits alcohol, and is deep in forest. Burmik Valley Retreat is the quieter neighbour. Tea Garden Retreat Maldiram at 4,500 feet is the budget end and sits in a tea garden, which is covered further in our tea garden guide.

This corner combines with Gorumara and Lataguri in the Dooars, which is an hour and a half down the hill, so hills plus a jungle safari in one trip is easiest from here.

When to go, month by month

October and November. The best. Rain gone, air washed, Kanchenjunga out most mornings, days warm and nights cool. Everything is full, so book weeks ahead. Orange trees start to colour in the low villages towards the end.

December and January. Clearest skies of the year and the coldest nights. Rishop, Lolegaon and Kolakham are genuinely cold, and the low villages, Bara Mangwa, Tarkhola and Chisang, are lovely. Snow is possible at Rishop and Lava, never promised, and anyone who promises it is selling something.

February and early March. Cold easing, rhododendron beginning higher up, still very clear. Quietly the best value month of the year.

Mid March to April. Spring, flowers, comfortable everywhere, occasional haze in the afternoons. Good for a first trip.

May and June. Warm in the valleys, pleasant high up, and the pre-monsoon storms begin. Rishop and Lava are the right places to be. Bara Mangwa and the river villages are hot.

Late June to mid September, the monsoon. Green beyond description, cloud in every valley, leeches in the forests, and the roads at their most unreliable. Landslides on the Teesta road are a real possibility and the park closes. Cheapest time to travel and the only time you will have Lolegaon to yourself, but do not plan a trip with fixed return flights at the end of it.

Getting there, honestly

By air: Bagdogra, about 12 km from Siliguri. By train: New Jalpaiguri (NJP). From either, everything in this guide is a road journey.

Typical driving times from NJP in good weather: Daragaon two hours, Bara Mangwa and Charkhol two and a half, Kalimpong town two and a half to three, Ramdhura three, Lava three and a half, Rishop and Kolakham four, Lungchu four and a half. Add an hour in the monsoon, and add time for any afternoon arrival because the hill roads get busy between two and five.

The route. Siliguri to Sevoke, across the Coronation Bridge, then NH10 along the Teesta to Teesta Bazar or Kalimpong, then a climb to whichever village you have chosen. That Teesta stretch is beautiful and it is also the fragile part. In heavy rain it can close, and when it does, the alternative routes add hours. Ask us before you travel in July and August and we will tell you what the road is doing.

Shared jeeps run from Siliguri to Kalimpong all day and are cheap, but they drop you in the town, not in a village. From the town to a village is another vehicle, and after dark that is hard to arrange. Most of our properties list pickup, and for a first visit that is what we would set up.

Permits: none needed for anywhere in this guide. Kalimpong is West Bengal and open to everyone. Permits come into it only if you continue into Sikkim’s protected areas, the Silk Route side beyond Aritar, which is a different trip and needs planning.

Who each village suits

First trip to these hills. Charkhol, Kalimpong town, Lamadara or Daragaon. Good roads, real views, and a chemist within reach.

Second trip, when you want nobody around. Samalbong, Lungchu, Panboo, Sangsey, Tarkhola.

Cold and dramatic. Rishop, Lava, Lolegaon, Kolakham.

Warm in winter. Bara Mangwa, Tarkhola, Chisang.

Children. Chisang for the games and library, Lamadara, Charkhol Homestay, Kolakham Homestay, Whispering Hill at Samthar, Jhandi, and Neora Valley Jungle Camp. All are marked child friendly and the shorter drives matter more than the property.

Birders. Neora Valley from Kolakham, Lava, and the Icha forest around Ramdhura. Take a local guide, go at first light, and plan three mornings rather than one.

Honeymoon or a couple’s week. Charkhole Luxury Homestay, Samalbong, Ramdhura, Windsongs in town.

Pets. Tea Estate Lava, Sangsey, Tarkhola, Lolay Khasmahal and Neora Valley Jungle Camp. Our full pet friendly guide covers how we confirm each one.

Elderly parents. Kalimpong town, Chibbo, or Bara Mangwa. Lower altitude, shorter drives, and medical help nearby. Ask us about the walk from the car to the room, because that varies and we will check with the property rather than guess.

A pool in the hills. Kalimpong Homestay with Swimming Pool, Whispering Hill at Samthar, and Kanke Bong.

Circuits that work

Three nights, the easy one. Two nights Charkhol, one night Kalimpong town. Sunrise from the ridge, then Delo, Durpin and the haat before you drive down.

Four nights, the classic. Lava or Rishop for two nights, then Lolegaon or Kolakham for two. Cold, forested, high, and the Sleeping Buddha from two different angles.

Five nights, high and low. Rishop two nights, Kolakham one, then drop to Bara Mangwa or Chisang for two. You finish warm, which is a better way round than the reverse.

Six nights, the birding trip. Kolakham three nights for Neora Valley, then Ramdhura two for the Icha forest, then a night in town. Take a guide in both places.

Seven nights, the whole district. Daragaon, Charkhol, Ramdhura, Samthar, Lava, Rishop, Kolakham. One or two nights each, short drives between, and you will have seen more of Kalimpong than most people who live in Kolkata.

Hills and jungle. Jhandi or Gorubathan for two nights, then Lataguri for the Gorumara safari. Ninety minutes apart.

What these stays are actually like

Worth setting expectations, because the gap between expectation and village reality is where bad reviews come from.

The food is home food. Dal, rice, vegetables, eggs, chicken on request, and whatever the garden has. Most of our village properties include all meals, which is the sensible arrangement because there is nowhere else to eat. Tell us about dietary needs before you book, not on arrival.

Rooms are simple and clean. Geyser hot water with a limit, quilts rather than heating, and a bonfire outside in the evening when the weather allows. Room heaters exist at several places and are listed, and in December that is worth checking.

Power cuts are ordinary. Carry a torch and a power bank. Some places list power backup, most do not.

Network is patchy. Jio and Airtel work in the town and at many villages, and there will be corners of Samthar, Lungchu and Kolakham where nothing works at all. Treat that as the feature.

There is no ATM in most villages. Draw cash in Siliguri or Kalimpong town. Several properties cannot take cards.

Nights are quiet and early. Dinner at seven or eight, everyone asleep by ten, and the whole village up at five because that is when the mountain is out.

The hosts are the experience. In most of these houses you are eating with the family. The ones who go back year after year go back for that, not for the room.

Food and things worth buying

Kalimpong has a cheese tradition that goes back to a Swiss dairy in the colonial period, and the local churpi, a hard cheese made from yak or cow milk, is chewed for hours and is an acquired taste worth acquiring. The town’s lollipops and its bakery biscuits have been famous in Bengali households for generations.

Otherwise: dalle khursani chilli in brine, cardamom from the villages, orange marmalade in season, and cut flowers or orchids from the nurseries if you are driving back rather than flying.

Mistakes people make here

Booking too many villages in too few nights. These roads are slow. Two nights per place, or you will spend the trip in a car.

Going to Rishop in January without checking what heating exists. It is 8,500 feet. Ask.

Assuming the canopy walk at Lolegaon is open. It has been closed more than once. Treat it as a bonus.

Planning around snow. It happens some years at Rishop and Lava, and it cannot be booked.

Travelling in peak monsoon with a flight to catch. The Teesta road does close. If you must go then, keep a buffer day.

Expecting Darjeeling. There is no Mall here, no Keventer’s, no toy train. That is the entire point of choosing Kalimpong.

Walks worth doing, none of them technical

Kalimpong is a walking district rather than a trekking one, and the best hours of most trips here are spent on a path rather than in a car.

Lava to Rishop, about 4 km through forest. The classic. A gentle climb through oak and pine, two to three hours at an easy pace, and you can send the car ahead with the bags. Do it in the morning, because cloud usually comes up by noon.

Rishop to Tiffindara. A short climb above Rishop to an open shoulder with the range on one side and the plains on the other. Half an hour up, and the reason people set an alarm at Rishop.

Kolakham to Changey Falls. Down and back, an hour each way, steep in places and slippery in the wet. The falls are at their fullest just after the monsoon.

The Icha forest tracks from Ramdhura. Cardamom, pine, birdsong and almost no one. The best gentle forest walking in the district and safe to do without a guide, unlike the Neora core.

Delo to Durpin, in the town. A ridge walk between the two ends of Kalimpong, with the Teesta below and the monastery at the far end.

Samthar’s plateau paths. Open, flat by local standards, and the one place here where you can walk without climbing. Good with older parents.

Neora Valley, with a guide only. The forest is thick, the tracks are not obvious, and it is genuine wildlife country. Go with somebody local, start at first light, and treat the bird list as the prize rather than the red panda nobody sees.

A short history that explains what you are looking at

Kalimpong was Bhutanese, then Sikkimese, then British, and each layer is still visible from the road.

The town grew as the last Indian stop on the wool and mule trade to Tibet through the Jelep La, above Pedong. At its height, caravans of hundreds of mules carried wool down and manufactured goods up, and the town’s warehouses and the old trading families came from that trade. It ended abruptly in 1962, when the border closed, and the town has been quieter ever since.

The Scottish missionaries arrived in the 1870s, and Dr John Anderson Graham founded his school for orphaned and Anglo-Indian children in 1900. The buildings, the chapel and the grounds are still working and still worth an hour.

Buddhist monasteries sit above the town at Durpin and Tharpa Choling, and the Bhutanese and Lepcha presence predates all of it. The Lepcha are the district’s oldest community, and villages like Kolakham, Samalbong and the Khasmahal hamlets are where that continues rather than being displayed.

All of which explains the thing visitors notice first: that Kalimpong feels less like a hill station somebody built for tourists and more like a town that happens to be in the hills and got on with its own business.

Getting around once you are there

Hire the car for the whole trip. This is the single most useful piece of planning advice for this district. Villages are 10 to 30 km apart on slow roads, shared jeeps run between towns rather than villages, and an unreserved car at nine in the morning in Lolegaon does not exist. A vehicle for three or four days, the same driver throughout, costs less than the taxis you would otherwise argue about daily.

Drivers know the roads better than any map application. Route suggestions from a phone regularly send people down tracks that a car cannot climb. Trust the driver.

Plan the day around the mountain. Kanchenjunga is out at dawn and often gone by ten. Long drives belong in the late morning and afternoon, not at first light.

Distances lie. Twenty kilometres here can be ninety minutes. When we plan a circuit for you, that is the number we are working with, not the map distance.

All 51, side by side

Questions people ask

Is Kalimpong better than Darjeeling? Different. Darjeeling has the town, the toy train, the restaurants and the crowds. Kalimpong has villages, silence and better value, and it is warmer. If you want to walk a Mall in the evening, go to Darjeeling. If you want to sit on a balcony with nobody else around, come here.

Which Kalimpong village has the best Kanchenjunga view? Charkhol and Rishop, for different reasons. Charkhol gives you the sunrise from your room without a drive. Rishop is higher and gives you the Sleeping Buddha shape across the whole horizon. Samthar’s plateau is the widest view of the three.

What is the Sleeping Buddha? The Kanchenjunga range seen from this side looks like a reclining figure, head to the left, feet to the right. Once somebody shows you, you will see it every time.

How far is Kalimpong from NJP or Bagdogra? About 75 km and two and a half to three hours to the town. Villages add half an hour to an hour and a half beyond that.

Do I need a permit? No. Everything in this guide is West Bengal and open to all. Permits apply only if you carry on into Sikkim’s protected areas.

Does it snow at Rishop or Lava? Sometimes, in December and January, and not every year. Nobody can promise it. Go for the clear skies and treat snow as luck.

When is the best time for a Kalimpong trip? October and November for the best all round conditions, February for clear skies and value, March and April for spring. Avoid peak monsoon unless you are relaxed about the roads.

Is Neora Valley National Park worth it? For birders, absolutely, and it is one of the better birding forests in the country. For everyone else it is a forest drive and a walk. Take a local guide, and remember the core area needs permission and closes in the monsoon.

Which village is good with small children? Chisang, Lamadara, Kolakham Homestay, Charkhol Homestay, Whispering Hill at Samthar and Neora Valley Jungle Camp. Shorter drives and lower altitudes matter more than the room.

We want to be warm in December. Where? Bara Mangwa, Tarkhola or Chisang, all low and along the river, with oranges ripe in December.

Can we combine Kalimpong with the Dooars? Easily. Jhandi, Gorubathan and Burmik sit on the edge, and Lataguri with Gorumara is about ninety minutes down.

Can we combine it with Sikkim? Yes, Pedong is the natural gateway to the Silk Route side. That needs permits and its own planning, so tell us early if the trip is meant to continue.

Are these homestays or hotels? Mostly homestays, which means a family house with a few rooms and meals cooked in their kitchen. Kalimpong town has proper hotels, and a few village properties are closer to small resorts. We will tell you which is which before you book.

What does it cost? It depends on the village, the season, the room and how many of you there are, and the difference between a village homestay and a heritage bungalow is large. Message us with your dates and we will send today’s rate for the ones that fit.

Is the road safe? Yes, in normal weather, with a local driver who drives these roads every day. In heavy monsoon the Teesta stretch can close, and that is worth checking before you set out rather than after.

How to plan it with us

Tell us three things: your dates, how many of you and what ages, and whether you want the mountain, the forest or the quiet. We will come back with two or three villages rather than 21, say plainly how long each drive takes, tell you whether the property has a heater if you are going in winter, and what the road is doing that week.

That last part is why we would rather you asked us than booked from a photograph. Kalimpong in October and Kalimpong in July are not the same place.