BACKPACKING TO SIKKIM

Tripoto
13th Apr 2018

Sikkim is a picturesque Himalayan state of India. It is a heaven for photographers and mountain lovers. I planned a trip to Sikkim with 2 of my friends, the best thing about Sikkim unlike other states of India is that, there are a lot of sharing options available, for example if you want to go on a 3 day -2 night trip that covers Yumthang Valley, Zero Point and Gurudongmar lake , you do not really have to book a personal cab, arrange hotels and worry about food, you can just contact any tour agency in M.G. Marg, Gangtok and they can arrange a group tour that costs around 2400 Rs/person. So, even if I was traveling alone I did not really have to spend more.

How to reach to Gangtok : I reached Bagdogra airport from Delhi, took a cab (500 Rs /3) to Siliguri town and from there took a shared cab (250 Rs) to Gangtok. If you are going by train, get down to NJP station and can get a shared cab to Gangtok.

Accommodation :

We stayed in Tse-ka residency (1500 per night/ 3) , that is near to MG marg and city taxi stand. We had to haggle a bit with the manager of the hotel as the hotel definitely worth more than the price we paid. However, if you are alone than there are many options available online, that will cost you between 450 to 600 Rs.

PLACES TO VISIT :

Photo of BACKPACKING TO SIKKIM 1/4 by ALOK SINGH
Tsomgo Lake , Check my instagram @singhvoyage for more pictures

A shared cab to Tsomgo Lake costs between 400-500 Rs and a private luxury cab costs 2700 Rs.

Photo of BACKPACKING TO SIKKIM 2/4 by ALOK SINGH
Yumthang Valley, Check my instagram @singhvoyage for more pictures
Photo of BACKPACKING TO SIKKIM 3/4 by ALOK SINGH
GURUDONGMAR LAKE

FOOD:

There are many good restaurants in MG road. We had chicken biryani from Khan Uncle restaurant that was good. A kingfisher strong 650 ml cost only 62 Rs, that was so cheap. The dinner in a good restaurant will cost you between 150-200 Rs.

Itinerary :

1st day : Arrival at Bagdogra airport at 3 pm , and from Bagdogra to Gangtok by shared cab reached at around 9 pm.

2nd day: Tsomgo Lake and Rumtek monastery . Tsomgo lake is one of the most traveled destination in Sikkim. It is absolutely gorgeous.

3rd day: started early from Gangtok reached Lachung and night stay. On the way, we saw many beautiful waterfalls. Please check my instagram @singhvoyage for videos and pictures.

4th day: Yumthang Valley and Zero Point. The drivers usually make fool of tourists by showing another point which is around 8 kms before the actual Zero point, they make excuses that the army is not allowing to go further, luckily in my group there was a couple from Kolkata who had already been there so they knew it. After lot of argument with driver, he finally agreed to take us there. You will have to pay 300 Rs extra to the driver to go to Zero point. The landscape is incredible there. Our night stay was in Lachen, a small village.

Photo of BACKPACKING TO SIKKIM 4/4 by ALOK SINGH
Zero Point

5th day : Lachen to Gurudongmar lake , we started at 6 am from Lachen and after visiting the mystical lake we headed for Gangtok. The roads are not quite in good condition, so it takes a lot of time to reach from Gurudongmar lake to Lachen. We reached at around 8:30 pm to Gangtok and as no shared cabs were available during that hours to Siliguri, we stayed in Gangtok. Next morning, we left early from Gangtok for Bagdogra.

... please comment if you have any suggestions or inquiry, i would really appreciate it . thanks for reading it.

Book Sikkim Tour Packages