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Darjeeling & Sikkim trekking holiday

country:India
location:Sikkim 
trip type:Moderate trekking holidays
departures:Best time to go is Mar - June & Sep - Nov. This trip can be tailormade to suit your budget, interests and requirements
price:From £1100 (12 days) per person (minimum 2 people) including domestic flights only, as per itinerary. £900 per person (minimum 4 people).
offers:£50 off per person for departures in April, May and June 2010
vouchers:Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday
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introduction to Darjeeling & Sikkim trekking holiday

Sikkim and Darjeeling are situated in the Eastern Himalayas below Mount Kanchendzonga (8598 meters, 3rd highest Mountain in the world). To the north of Sikkim lies the vast area of the great Tibetan plateau, to the west the kingdom of Nepal, to the east the kingdom of Bhutan and the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, while the neighbouring State of West Bengal stretches along its southern boundary.

The route chalked in Sikkim / Darjeeling will present the finest scenery, prehistoric ruins, medieval towns and churches. The unrivalled high altitude treks of Dzongri at 3962 meters and Goechala at 4940 meters are both breathtaking and awe - inspiring. The captivating landscape, with an incomparable diversity of flora and fauna is refreshing treat to the trekkers and adventurer.

Coming across wildlife are very possible and cannot be ruled out altogether. The people by nature are simple, polite and docile, people with religious attachment and their culture and customs are as fascinating. Their festivals are full of colour.

So, all that it takes to get going is a love for the mountains / forest / adventure / expectation of the unexpected and a willingness to rough it out. Whichever way one chooses to trek, whatever one chose to tour, one will always enjoy Himalaya. It is an amazing place.

Please note: The below itinerary can be altered or modified to suit your requirements and we can also provide an extension to Delhi & Agra
day-by-day itinerary
Day 1: Arrive New Delhi - assistance upon arrival. Later transfer to a Boutique Hotel.Overnight hotel with all meals included
Day 2: Transfer to domestic airport to connect direct flight to Bagdogra Airport (IXB) – Gangtok - On arrival at New XB) Bagdogra Airport will be met by our office Executive who will assist you to board your vehicle to Gangtok (130 Kilometres / 04 hours) - Check in and over night stay at hotel.
Day 3: Drive - GangtokAfter breakfast Morning Go for a half day sightseeing covering Rumtek Monastery, Droul Chorthen, Research Institute of Tibetology, Directorate of Handicraft & Handloom (Closed on Sunday), Flower Show. Overnight at Hotel .
Day 4: Drive - Gangtok – Yuksom - After breakfast transfer to Yuksom (5840 Ft / 1780 Mts / 145 kms / 5 hrs), via Tashiding where you go for a trek to Tashiding Monastery located on top of a hill (approx it will take 30 minutes one way steep climbing). Yuksom (the meeting place of three monks) - the first capital of Sikkim. This was the place where the first Chogyal (a ruling dynasty in Sikkim) was crowned. Overnight at Hotel.
Day 5: Trek - Yuksom – Tsoka - Following an early morning start, you trek for three hours through lush green meadows and cross four mountain streams. Henceforth, the trek is a continuous uphill path lined with conifers and is virtually carpeted with a bed of leaves to leach Bakhim- a hill village at an altitude of 9000 ft. Tsoka is a slightly settlement with a few houses, a monastery and is the last village on the route. You spend the night at Tsoka (17 kms / 7 hours trek).
Day 6: Trek - Tsoka – Dzongri - Trek Dzongri from Tsoka, 10 km climb takes 05 hours. The vegetation changes to stunted bushes of rhododendrons and miniature pine trees resembling bonsais as you gain altitude with every step to reach Dzongri (13220 ft).
Day 7: Dzongri – Tsoka - Dzongri is picture of solitude surrounded by hills and mountains on all sides. The mountain fortress has no settlements except for two trekkers huts. An early morning trek at around 4.30 am to Dzongri top which at 4269 mtrs is higher than most mountain peaks in Europe, presents yet another view of the Kanchenjunga along with other ranges basking in the glory of the rising sun. We return to the camp site and have breakfast. After breakfast repeat your trek to Tsoka through downhill.
Day 8: Tsoka – Yuksom - A veritable repeat of your 2nd day. The only difference being that you are walking down hill to Yuksom. A visit to the oldest monastery of Sikkim Dubdi Monastery build in 1701 is must.
Day 9: Yuksom – Darjeeling – Today transfer to Darjeeling (7380 Ft / 2250 Mts, 65 Kms / 02.5 Hrs). Check in and over night at Hotel
Day 10: Darjeeling - Early morning tour to Tiger Hills (8364 Ft / 2550 Mts at around 4 AM) to view sunrise over Kanchendzonga Peak (subject to clear weather). On way back visit Ghoom Monastery. After breakfast go for a half-day sightseeing Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park & Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (Closed on Thursday), Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Center (Closed on Sunday) & Tea Estate. Overnight at Hotel.
Day 11: Drive to Bagdogra Airport (IXB) – After breakfast proceeds (100 Kilometers / 03 hours) take a direct flight to New Delhi. Check in Hotel. Farewell Dinner .
Day 12: Transfer to international airport for your onward journey
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.
how this holiday makes a difference
Himalayas, Sikkim trekThis is a unique example of a responsible trip, the people in Sikkim have an inborn skill for trekking and due to Tourism now these sherpas - a local community - have now mastered in trekking. This not only has improved their quality of life but has also given a great boost to the local upliftment.

One of today's major environmental challenges is the protection of the biodiversity and ecotourism could well play a very important role in the protection. Specifically, it has raised the local living standard and made local people become more involved in conservation. Moreover, ecotourism could fulfil needs of people living in the places which attract tourists.

The salient features of this trip are: 
  • To promote business opportunities by generating income and job. The local community is very heavily benefited as when the tour moves it requires a lot of team like cook, porters, trekking guide, camping assistant and yak rider and so on. They are all very well paid for all this and the money goes straight to them.
  • To reduce the negative impacts of tourism. When you are trekking you are leaving the minimum impact to the local area as you are on foot and the group is small in size. Secondly the Sikkim government also preserves these treks by not making them develop roads so that the area remains quite without vehicles and pollution.
  • To conserve biological and cultural diversity. Sikkim government is paying a lot of attention to preserve this area and a lot of emphasis is given to maintain the forest cover. The beauty of Sikkim lies in its culture which is still in its original form as it use to be.
  • To preserve the ecology from the fund thus generated. Tourism, especially trekking in Sikkim has become one of the main attractions thus increasing the state revenue which in turn helps the local govt to maintain its culture, ecology and its diversity.
We try to shop and buy things from the local market helping in the economy. We generally buy handicraft and local artefacts for our guest to encourage their art and culture. Sometime we donate books to local school. Last but not the least we will donate £5 per person to the local orphanage school.

All the staff through out in all the accommodation are all local. There is a serious water problem in Darjeeling. The hotels which we are using in this trip are all doing rain water harvesting and use only CFL (energy saving lamps) waste is being utilized to use hot water boilers.

We follow very strict rules when we trek: we carry disposable bags to bring back the waste that we generate during trek. We don’t change our schedule trekking trail and we stick to our pre chalked out trail. We carry water with ourselves and boiled water is given during trekking to all our clients. We also have a printed format of our trekking rules for guests.

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'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

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