Grand East India Himalaya Tour from Kolkata

Day 2 – Kolkata City Tour

After Breakfast we  take a half-day City tour, begining from Lakshmi Narayan Temple towards the famous Botanical garden ,The Eden Garden and Fort William and then a walk through the Howrah Bridge. This legendary bridge is an amazing masterpiece of engineering, the third largest cantilever bridge in the world which was opened in 1943. This 71 ft wide bridge can accommodate upto eight lanes of traffic and is  also flanked by two wide footpaths. Overnight at Hotel in Kolkata.

Day 3 – Kolkata – Bagdogra – Darjeeling

Day 4 – Darjeeling Tour

Early morning at the time of sunrise ,we visit the Tiger Hill, it is famous for its splendid view of Kanchenjunga, Mt. Everest & other Himalayan peaks especially. On our return  first halt is Ghoom, and as the name advocates it is gloomy & damp with perpetual fog. At the Tibetan village, one can hear the foghorn-like sounds of Buddhist monks blowing on their giant Gyeling pipes from the  nearby Yiga-Choling ‘ Yellow Hat’ Buddhist Temple. We also visit the two Buddhist monasteries of Chholing & Darli.

later we board a toy train of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other places to visit is the Mountaineering Institute, formed by the late Tenzing Norgay, the first Sherpa who climbed Mt Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary, also we visit the Tibet Handicraft Centre along with the beautiful Tea gardens. We visit in the evening the Observatory Hill locally  known as Makal-Babu-Ko-Thaan. As per legend, a Red Hat Buddhist Monastery called Dorje Ling, or ‘place of the Thunderbolt’, was located here, Destroyed it in the 19th century by the Nepalis now the Shivas & Buddhists share the temple as it stands today. Overnight at the Hotel in Darjeeling.

Day 5 – Darjeeling – Gangtok

After Breakfast ,we leave for Gangtok, a magical capital in the clouds, poises precariously on Steep Mountain slopes. It is surrounded by lush rice terraces, fast flowing rivers & lovely snow views. Located in the lower Himalayas, it was but a small hamlet until the construction of the Enchey Monastery in 1840 , that made it a pilgrimage center. It became a major layover between Tibet & British India at the end of the 19th century. Now also a centre of Tibetan Buddhist Culture & Learning with a number of monasteries.

Day 6 – Gangtok

After breakfast , take an excursion tour to Tsomgo Lake, considered very sacred by the local community. A paradise for bird lovers with a sizeable number of Blue Whistling Thrush, Redstarts and Fork tails. The place also hosts a number of migratory birds prominent among which are the Brahminy ducks. The meaning of Tsomgo in Bhutia language means source of the lake. later we visit Do Drul Chorten. These are two exquisite Stupas, the Dul-dul-Chorten  was built to commemorate the victory of good over evil. The Jhang Club Chorten was built to preserve the memory of a great spiritualist of its time, Thrul-Shik Rinpoche an ardent devotee of Buddha & one of his best interpreters died in 1962, this stupa eternalizes Rinpoche in the land of his birth. later visit Rumtek Monastery, meandering roads through emerald green rice terraces, lies Rumtek, the main monastery of Kagyud or ‘Black Hat’ sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It was built in the year 1959 by His Holiness the 16th reincarnated Gyalwa Karmapa and is a replica of Tsurphu Monastery from the Kham region of Tibet.

Day 7 – Gangtok – Bagdogra – Kolkata (By Flight Departure)