Thirty-two hairpins, a valley at 4,100 m, and homestays with wood stoves
The old trading road from Kalimpong to Lhasa, closed to commerce since 1962 and open to travellers since the mid-2000s. It is the best driving in the Eastern Himalaya and it is not a hotel holiday.
You stay in village homestays at 2,000 to 3,000 m. They are warm, the food comes out of the family kitchen, and the bathroom is basic. In exchange you get Thambi View Point at dawn with thirty-two hairpins stacked below you and Kanchenjunga behind, and a valley at 4,100 m where nothing much has changed.
If you want a bathtub, this is not your trip and we would rather tell you now. If you want the drive, there is nothing else like it in India.
This is the plan as we would run it. Days can be swapped, dropped or added — say what you want changed and we will rebuild it before you pay anything.
Day 1
Met at Bagdogra or NJP and driven into East Sikkim via Rangpo and Rongli, where the protected-area permits for the Silk Route are issued against your original ID. Aritar by evening, beside its lake, at a comfortable 1,500 m.
Day 2
The day the trip exists for. The road climbs through Lingtam and Padamchen and then throws itself up the mountainside in the famous switchbacks. Stop at Thambi View Point to look back down at them. Over the top to Nathang Valley at 4,100 m, and back down to the homestay.
Day 3
A full day along the ridge: Kupup Lake, the Elephant Lake, the old Baba Mandir bunker, the Tukla valley and the memorial, and the highest golf course in the region. This is the stretch where the rhododendron is unreasonable in late April.
Day 4
Off the ridge and across to Gangtok, four to five hours, for a hot shower and an evening on MG Marg. The contrast is the point.
Day 5
Down the Teesta, five hours. Flights after 1 pm.
Hotels are named on your written itinerary before you pay. The properties below are the ones we normally use in this band; if one is full on your dates we substitute a hotel of the same standard and tell you which, rather than leaving you to find out at check-in.
The whole Silk Route section is run in a Bolero, Sumo or Scorpio with a driver who does this road all season. It is not a route for a sedan and we will not send you up in one.
Up to 4 travellers normally ride in a Wagon R, Swift Dzire or similar; 5 to 7 in an Innova, Xylo or Scorpio; 8 and above in a Tempo Traveller or a second vehicle. On the North Sikkim and Silk Route legs the vehicle is always a Bolero, Sumo or Scorpio, because that is what those roads take.
Your written confirmation carries the exact advance, the balance date and the cancellation schedule for your trip. Those numbers, not this page, are the ones that apply. Full terms are on the booking conditions page.
General questions: permits, seasons, packing and how to get here
Enquire
Fill this in and we will come back with a proper day-by-day itinerary for your dates, with named hotels and one all-in price. No payment is taken at this stage and nothing is confirmed until you say so.
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Dates, how many of you, and anywhere you have your heart set on — that is enough for us to start. You will get a day-by-day plan with named hotels and one all-in price, in writing, before you pay anything.
