No doubt, Gangtok and surrounding areas are one the most beautiful places in India. If u are reading this review to make up your mind on whether u should visit it, I can promise u would never ever regret it. And if u have already decided to visit it, great job, read on.
Here I will talk specifically about the route/path I took in Dec 06.
1) Getting there - I flew to bagdogra and then took helicopter ride bagdogra to gangtok. Heli cost me 2000/- and 10Kg baggage limit. But the experience was worth it - flying across the mountains. Totally diff feeling from planes. The aerial view of Teesta meandering thru the mountains was breathtaking. I recommend the heli ride very much. You can book it by calling Sikkim Tourism and they help you contact the person coordinating the heli ride at the airport. Book over phone, and pay when u get to bagdogra.
Otherwise from Bagdogra/Siliguri, you can get a taxi for(I think) 400-500 per person. There are no trains going to Gtk. If taking trains, you need to go New Jalpaiguri(NJP), and then taxi to Gtk.
2) Lodging - take a taxi to MG Road. Most lodges and restaurants are on this small stretch of road that takes 10 minutes to leisure walk from end to end. You should find lodges from expensive to very budget. The best way is - one person in party sits with luggage and rest check out rooms and rates. Rates vary a lot between seasons. Tip - choose lodges towards the end of M G Road as are cheaper. And that’s fine bcoz the road is quite short anyway. Note that the road is blocked to vehicle traffic 5-8 PM, only peds allowed. I stayed in Annapurna hotel, nice staff, Rs 700/- per day, located toward the other end of road.
3) Sightseeing – I covered –
a) Nathula Pass/Tchangu Lake/Baba Harbhajan Mandir (I call this NTB Trip)
As soon as you get there, book yourself a ticket from local tour operators(many shops on MG Rd) for NTB. This trip is hard to get as the Nathula pass is open to public only on 3 days of week – tue, thur and sat. Cost 450/- per person. I tried 3-4 operators, they said no seat left. Luckily the 5th one had 3 seats.
A packed 10-seater jeep leaves Gtk at 8 AM and gets to NAthula Pass at 12 noon-ish. The pass is at 14500 feet, very very cold. Take very warm clothing(layers work best), and brandy. Don’t forget brandy, it is medicine at those temp. Oxygen is pretty thin there, so old people be careful. Actually I would suggest that people with Asthma, lung problems, low pressure, severe anaemia, not to go there. They may encounter dizziness and faint. Heart patients also be careful, take precautionary meds. If these people want to go there, I suggest staying at Gtk and going around for 2 days to acclimatize, and then attempt NAthula. Acclimatization is THE key. Trust me. Because my mother had fainted at NAthula and we were scared to death. Military gave her oxy pumps.
NAthula is breathtaking beauty, wild and ravishing at the top of the world – the most beautiful part of my trip. Words cannot describe it. Here you get to meet with Chinese soldiers on Indo-china border, and really wonder what we fight wars for.
On way back we saw Tchangu Lake – very big lake nestled among mountains, freezes in winter. Awesome view. If possible, take Yak ride there. Cute yaks with their horns covered by tailor made clothing, make a pretty sight. We also went to Harbhajan Mandir on way back. It’s a shrine of a lost Indian soldier. Nothing much to say.
This completes a whole day, tiring but nice trip of NTB. Leave at 8 am, come back at 6 pm.
b) another day – took a 10-point trip of Gtk city and neighborhood. Except Rumtek monastery, rest 9 sites are not great. I suggest you can drop few of the rest sites(any ones will do) and do a half day trip to Rumtek. But do go to Rumtek. It is a good experience and insight into Budhist culture. In fact, Gtk trip as a whole is a great way to imbibe yourself in Buddhist thought and way of living as most local folks are buddhist.
Rest of day, you can spend on MG Rd, shopping, talking to local people who mostly speak hindi, English, nepali and sikkimese. You can also do some trekking on the surrounding mountains.
In winter, Gtk city is ok – one cosy jacket is enough for night time also. Temp was min 7-8 deg. Only NTH trip will require more. Place is safe, people are nice. Only certain tour operators and taxi drivers can be bit aggressive. Since you are a seasoned traveler, I assume you are an expert in tackling them, so no problem, cool.:-)
The city has choice of all kinds of food - veg, non-veg, etc so food should not be a prob. Medicine shops are there in plenty if needed. It is a small tourist city, so has everything tourists need. For shopping, there is a Lal Bazaar, which has more counterfeit goods than any market.but hey, you are on the border of india, so that’s expected.:-) I suggest spend a small amount for the sake of fun shopping.don’t buy anything expensive as most probably it will be fake.
I left by jeep the next day for Darjeeling. The trip was very memorable, and maybe I will come back to Sikkim for honeymoon.:-) The total cost came to 7000/person.
I hope you find the review useful, and wish you a good trip. Oh, I forgot, you can also go to Yumthang and Pelling which require overnight stays there. I heard they are great places, so if u have time, try them too. Since I did not go, I am skipping them.
Bon Voyage!