Darjeeling

Darjeeling is a Himalayan city now in the Indian state of West Bengal. Darjeeling was a part of Nepal, but the British took it from Nepal while it was ruling India. It is internationally renowned as a tourist destination, along with its tea industry and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is "hill town headquarters" of Darjeeling district with a partially autonomous status within the state of West Bengal. The town is located in the Mahabharat Range or Lesser Himalaya at an average elevation of 6,710 ft (2,050 m).

Darjeeling is a part of the Eastern Himalayan zoo-geographic zone. Flora around Darjeeling comprises sal, oak, semi-evergreen, temperate and alpine forests. Dense evergreen forests of sal and oak lie around the town, where a wide variety of rare orchids are found. The Lloyd's Botanical Garden preserves common and rare species of plants, while the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park specialises in conserving and breeding endangered Himalayan species. The town of Darjeeling and surrounding region face deforestation due to increasing demand for wood fuel and timber, as well as air pollution from increasing vehicular traffic.

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Places Of Intrests =>

Himalayan Zoo 

(Padmaja Naidu Zoological Park), (shares the premises of HMI). It has a good collection of animals found in the Himalayan region

Japanese Peace Pagoda

This impressing building is part of a grid of around 30 pagodas spanning the whole globe. Constructed by the Japanese Buddhist Nippon-Myopic Order, the one at Charlimont on the outskirts of Darjeeling was consecrated in 1992. A small temple just lies alongside.

Tiger Hill 

Ideal to visit early morning when the first rays of the sun kiss the Mt Kanchenjunga and give it a golden color. To visit the hill, one needs to get up at 3AM in the morning. You can taste some excellent tea on your way to the hill, which will provide much needed warmth on cold Darjeeling mornings. When getting into a taxi at 4AM keep in mind that they are shared taxis and your driver might wait around in vain for others to join your taxi causing you to miss the sunrise! Those traveling alone or as a couple might want to squeeze into an already occupied jeep to insure full viewing pleasure. Though it has executive lounge (Rs.40/- per person) and special lounge (Rs.30/- per person), nothing beats having view from open area as you can have a full panoramic view from outside avoiding crowd in the lounge. The early you can reach, the best place you can find to stand inside or outside the observatory tower. If you are late, you may find standing behind many people and a lot obstructions to feel the sunrise and magic lighting on Mt. Kanchenjunga. You may also need to walk a lot to reach there via a stiff ascendent road.   

Observatory Hill

Observatory hill is the oldest site in Darjeeling. This hill is also known as the “Makal-Babu-Ko-Thaan” in local area. It is said that a Red Hat Buddhist Monastery stood at this very spot. Nepal people destroyed this monastery in the 19th century.

Rock Garden 

Its a beautiful place with a small waterfall. This place has got varities of flowers landscaped in the rocks. Females can also get dressed in the local dress and take pictures

Batashiya Loop 

Batashiya Loop is basically a place where the legendary toy train makes a loop. there is a Gurkha martyar memorial here. There is also a landscaped park. if you go early in the morning (before 8 am) you can get the glimpse of a local crafts market here  

 

Nightingale Park/Srubbery Park. 

It is about 2-5 kms from Darjeeling Railway Station and walkable from the Chowrasta. It is a beautiful park with a package of cultural program performed daily during the tourist season and its opening time is 4.00 p.m. and closing time is 8.00 p.m. The park has recently been extensively re-developed, and now comprises of a giant Statue of Lord Shiva, a temple, and provisions for live-interactive entertainment. The best time to visit the park is in the evenings. Entrance fee is charged and nominal charges for photography may also be required to be made by the visitor. You may think alternative of Tiger-hill to see the sunlight magic on Kanchenjunga from this Park. Good spot for photographers. This place is not very crowded and you can enjoy your photography from here. Nice landscape is visible from this park

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Cuisines =>

Several eateries which dish out North Indian, Nepali, Tibetan, and continental fare dot the area around the Mall.

"Momos", a steamed Tibetan delicacy are a staple food offered by almost every eating joint.

Keep in mind that everything closes pretty early in the night (The town goes to sleep before 9PM). So, do keep something in stock to eat, if you are planning to stay up late.

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How To Reach =>

By plane

 

The nearest airport is Bagdogra, near Siliguri, 96 km from Darjeeling.

All other cities major cities can be accessed by taking a flight to Delhi/Kolkata and connecting.

Getting to and from Nepal can be tricky, despite their close proximity. One can catch a share jeep to Siliguri and a bus to the Nepalese border, changing buses in Nepal. . It is more expensive than organising your own transport but they make a concerted effort to look after you and will help you out if the situation becomes dicey (particularly with strikes in Nepal), they cannot be recommended highly enough and this is unusual for India.

By taxi/shared jeep

Siliguri is the nearest town connected to the mainline rail network. Ample transport is available to Darjeeling from here. The most popular modes of transport are taxi (usually shared by three to four passengers), shared jeep (ten passengers) @Rs.150/ to Rs.200/ depends on time.

Shared jeeps depart regularly, from several locations around town. They leave when full, and are a cheap, fast and reasonably comfortable way to get to Darjeeling.

If you have arrived by train at NJP, you can take a taxi or shared jeep to reach Darjeeling from the booking counter at the taxi stand in front of the railway station. There is also a prepaid taxi stand in front of the train station. Note that if you arrive too late for the jeep to make a return journey from Darjeeling, you may end up paying more, e.g. Rs.200 per person. The prepaid counter will tell you that no jeeps are available, so you'll have to find one via a fixer or by negotiating directly with drivers.

Tourists often opt to buy an extra seat or two to have more space for the 3 hour journey up to Darjeeling! Luggage is carried for free on the roof. Jeeps may stop for a snack and toilet break on the way up (normally a few km short of Kurseong). 

By Train

New Jalpaiguri (NJP) near Siliguri is the nearest station on the main inter-city line. Direct trains to NJP run from Delhi (approx 27 hours) several times a day. If you are traveling from Kolkata (Sealdah Station) the best train for you will be Darjeeling Mail (circa 12 hours) running nightly at 10:05PM. 

 From there (NJP), the famous Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), known to all as the 'Toy Train' completes the journey to Darjeeling. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was the first, and is still the most outstanding, example of a hill passenger railway.It is now listed as a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO.

 Have a amazing vacation in darjeeling ....  :-)) 

for more audio visual stuff do check out YouTube channel : Exotic Vacations

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