Sikkim – Heaven On Earth
Sikkim is a small northeast state of India and also one of the most beautiful states of the country, like heaven on Earth. This post is all about our experiences in Sikkim. Here I have shared details about Sikkim sightseeing and tourist places in Sikkim
It is a place enclosed by nature, serene with an unending landscape. Sikkim has the highest peak in India named “Kanchenjunga”. This place offers the beauty of snow-capped mountains, a variety of wildflowers, Rivers, Waterfalls, and the beautiful Northeast People. This state is a complete package of nature scenes.
It is the second smallest and least populated state. The best destination for nature lovers and travel freaks.
If you want to make this trip the best one then make sure you explore it by road. Every single spot of this place has its beauty, and the best part while exploring it by road is the huge mountains, fresh air blowing on the face, a river flowing on one side, soothing water chime, and gloominess in the sky. This place overall is the best eye treat one can ever have.
Our Sikkim Itinerary
Till now we have explored a few places from east, north, and south Sikkim as it is not possible to cover this state in one go. This is the basic itinerary we followed for our Sikkim Travel and we suggest you keep at least one extra day if you are visiting this place from November to March Months because the weather keeps changing here which might ruin your plans. Our trip was 5 days and according to the five days our Itinerary is below.
Day 1:- Started from Delhi and Arrived at Bagdogra airport, Siliguri. Same-day transfer to Gangtok via road by private cab.
Day- 2:- Explored Gangtok and nearby local sightseeing
Day- 3:- Checked out from Gangtok and started our journey toward Lachung
Day- 4:- Visited Zero Point And Yumthang valley, by the end of the return to Gangtok
Day 5:- Visit Tsomgo lake, but due to bad weather conditions, we made last-minute changes and visited Namachi i.e. in South Sikkim, and back to our hotel in Gangtok by the end of the day.
Day:- 6 Checked out From Gangtok, headed to Bagdogra airport, and back to our home.
How To Reach Sikkim
Here are the three options one can opt for to visit Sikkim:-
1 By Air:- Bagdogra is the airport operational throughout the year and has easily available flights from almost every big airport in India. It is 124 km from Gangtok and takes 3-4 hours to reach there if your driver is good. One can get shared cabs from the airport or can hire a private cab as we had our private cab booked for our complete journey.
2 By Train:- The nearest railway station to Gangtok is New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri. New Jalpaiguri to Gangtok also takes approx 3-4 hours but if you are traveling by train then you must have extra time.
We were traveling from Delhi and the time for the whole journey was around 24+ hours. It also depends on the train, So we chose to travel by air as the fare of 2Ac class of train and flight was the same.
3 By Road:- People living in nearby places to Sikkim can easily travel here by road. Sikkim is also well-connected to West Bengal and many other places.
Best Time To Visit Sikkim
Hotel We Stayed In Gangtok & Lachung
One might get so many hotels in the city while planning for a trip but many times people find so many issues during their stay in the hotel. We have also faced such problems while traveling to different cities. So after searching for so many hotels we finalized our stay with Summit Hotels and Resorts.
Our Stay In Gangtok:-
Summit Denzong Hotel And Spa, Now Named “The Fern Denzong Hotel And Spa”. The reason we chose the Summit for our stay in Gangtok is that it is hardly 500mtr away from MG Road in Gangtok. It was easy for us to commute to MG Road in the evenings on foot.
Price For One Day Stay:– Our booking price was 3600 per day excluding taxes with complimentary breakfast as our bookings got an early bird discount and we booked our room from their official website. The service was good and we didn’t regret our stay there.
Our Stay In Lachung:-
Summit Alpine Resort, Summit Groups have more hotels in Lachung but we find Summit Alpine Resort so amazing as it gives a priceless eye treat in the mornings that made our stay worth every penny.
Places We Explored In Sikkim
We explored a few places in east, north, and south Sikkim and according to our itinerary here follows:-
Places To Visit In Gangtok/Gangtok Sightseeing
It is a complete package of nature with the beautiful Himalayas, a natural waterfall, and unended viewpoints. We can bet, that once you visit this place you will feel like staying here forever. So here are the places one can visit in Gangtok.
Hanuman Tok:- This place gave us a great start to the day. It is one of the oldest temples in India and was formed in Gangtok in 1952. Temple is dedicated to Lord Hanuman. Along with the temple, it offers beautiful nature views, and high steep mountains which soothe the mind, and soul in and out.
Ganesh Tok:- It is a small temple situated at an altitude of 6500 m. This place offers you a beautiful panoramic view of mountains covered with fog. We have also tried beautiful northeast costumes named “Bakhu” For Men and “Honju” For Women and this look was more attractive with a hat on our heads.
Tashi View Point:- It is a perfect viewpoint from where one can witness beautiful mountains and valleys. You can experience beautiful sunrise and sunsets from this place. It is the best place if you want to spend some peaceful time just seeing the mountains around you.
Do Drul Chorten Monastery:- It is a must-visit place in the city and is near the institute of Tibetology. It is the biggest stupa with the Golden mark on the top i.e. visible from many spots of the city. It was established in 1945. Inside the stupa, one will see hundreds of prayer wheels and so many monks around. One can visit here any day between 8 am – 6 pm.
Enchey Monastery:- This monastery is around 200 years old. Currently, many monks reside here. It looks so colorful with peaceful surroundings and is famous for Chaam Dance performed on the 18th and 19th of the 12th lunar month of the Tibetan calendar, i.e. June.
It is open to tourists from 9 am to 6 pm.
As Sikkim has so many Monasteries, two more monasteries one should visit are called Rumtek Monastery and Ranka Monastery.
Plant Conservatory:- This place is a kind of garden where one can see a huge variety of wild and other plants of different species. It is the best place for people who love photography as they can capture so many colorful flowers and can click pictures of themselves, mountains in the background, and some wild surroundings.
Banjhakri Waterfalls:- It is one of the best tourist places in Gangtok, an amazing treat for couples and families too. For people who are water lovers then this place is for them as it offers a natural swimming pool. It is good for kids and people who love adventure as it has some fun activities to do there.
Tsomgo Lake, Nathula Pass, and Baba Harbhajan Temple:- All these three places you can explore on the same day as they have the same route. Tsomgo lake is also called Changu lake. It is the glacial lake that remains frozen in winter. It is around 40-50 km from Gangtok at an elevation of 12313ft. This lake is treated as a sacred lake by Buddhists and other local people.
Baba Harbhajan Singh temple is situated at an elevation of 13123 ft around 50 km from Gangtok. This temple was made in honor of Indian Army Soldier Harbhajan Singh. He is also called the hero of Nathula. He is called Baba by the believers of the state and it is believed that his spirit protects the country and his soldiers even after his death.
One needs to get a permit for visiting these places.
Places We Explored While Travelling To Lachung And Lachung Sightseeing
Seven Sister Waterfalls, Naga Falls, and Bhewma falls:- We encountered these natural falls while heading toward Lachung on our third day of the trip. After visiting these falls it was hard to leave the place and move forward as the falling water gives a relaxing environment to the mind.
Seven Sister falls has seven falls, but we were unable to capture all falls. We were able to capture 5 falls as it falls from high cliffs.
Naga Falls is around 20km away from Bhemwa falls. Bhemwa falls is also called Bhim Nala Falls or Red Snake Falls. Bhemwa fall is a straight fall which is also called Amitabh Bachan Falls
These Falls are visible throughout the year.
Kanchenjunga ViewPoint:- We found it one of the most beautiful viewpoints of Sikkim as here you will see Kanchenjunga mountains on both sides with the Teesta river Flowing in between.
Yumthang Valley, Zero Point:- Yumthang valley is also called the flower valley of Sikkim. It is the charm of North Sikkim at an elevation of 3500mtr. As Sikkim is blessed with nature, one can experience that completely after visiting the Yumthang valley with its blooming flora in Springs.
People can also visit Zero Point as it is 25km from the Yumthang which takes around 40 minutes to reach here. This place is named Zero point because of the high elevation i.e 15000ft. and one can see the snow-covered roads and mountains.
When we visited Lachung we only got a permit to go up to Snow Viewpoint which is 43 km before Zero points. Below is the picture of Snow View Point Lachung.
Namchi Sightseeing/ South Sikkim
It is a place situated in South Sikkim at a normal elevation of 4314ft. It is 78 km away from Gangtok and it took around 2 hours to reach here. While Visiting Namchi you will see the Teesta river which will force you to stop and spend time there and create some beautiful memories that will last in your head forever. We visited two places in Namchi as mentioned below while returning to Gangtok in the evening we had amazing Coffee with some momos in Flavors Restaurant.
Char Dham Temple:- It has a replica of the original Char Dham temples on the hills i.e Badrinath, Rameshwaram, Puri, and Dwarka. Visiting this beautiful place can give peace to any soul. We suggest you visit this place if you are visiting Sikkim because generally, people don’t include Namchi in their itinerary.
Samdruptse Hill:- It is called a wish-fulfilling hill by the people of Sikkim. It is 5km away from Namchi situated at an elevation of 7000ft. It has a huge statue of Guru Padmasambhava also called Guru Rinpoche, the saint of Sikkim who blessed the people for 1200 years.
The entry fee in this temple is 30rps per adult.