Travel advice for trip to Kolkata, Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan if possible..

HI thr ,,, Am Prashant , Doc by profession based in Mangalore... Am new to this forum ... Was suggested about this forum by a friend in a tech forum i visit regularly ...

Coming to the point, I am planning a trip to Kolkata in Jan 2013 from 18 till 20th for a conference. Would like to visit Sikkim, Nepal and bhutan if possible by extending the trip by 7 days till 27th.

It would be of great help if anybody could help me plan this trip in kolkata and then to sikkim nepal ...

Would like to start with following questions
1) Things to visit in kolkata in 3 days
2) How to reach sikkim from kolkata by train or bus or if any other means possible
3)Places to be covered in Sikkim and nepal
4)How to cross border to nepal from sikkim
5) Any good hotels or lodgings for stay in kolkata near science city, Sikkim and nepal
6) Is it possible to cover bhutan as well within these 7 days
7) Any other places that can be covered in the transit

Please do feel free to give suggestions..

Hi Prashant and welcome to IndiaMike!

The time of your visit in Kolkata might coincide with the dates of the Dover Lane Music Festival. If you are interested in classical Indian music, try to attend some concerts. Otherwise, the three days can easily be spent in visiting the Victoria Memorial, the Tagore Museum, the India Museum, Belur Math, Dakshineswar, the Botanical Gardens, the Jain temples, Kalighat, Kumartuli (the area where artisans create goddesses for Durga Puja), College Street book shops, the new shopping malls of South Calcutta (South City Mall, for example), as well as enjoying the marvellous street food of the city and taking in the unique ambience.


Then you can either take a train overnight to NJP (next to Siliguri) and shared sumo to Sikkim. Or, if budget permits, fly from Kolkata to Bagdogra, then take a dedicated sumo jeep.

In Sikkim you have many choices: from the monasteries to the snowscapes. Please read around the Sikkim forum for more tips. You will find a lot of useful information.

For Nepal and Bhutan, have a look at the "Crossing the Border" forum. Especially, read Asishdas' report on Bhutan:
Our Bhutan Trip – a senior citizen's effort to backpack!

Seven days are a little bit on the short side to cover so many places.

Hi im from Bangalore.... had been to Sikkim from Kolkota in Feb this year. Me and 5 frnds went on a 5 day trek to Dzongri from Yuksom. Its a fantastic trek. If u are fit, its a must try

You will be attending conference on 18-20th and little time will be left to visit places I think. For touring you have only 7 days - 21-27 Jan. In such a short time you will not be able to cover Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal and West Bengal. I would suggest you to make a choice of one state out of these four and cover as many places as possible.

Yeah satyabrata .. You are right ... Its too short a time to cover all these places ... so change in plans, Nepal is out and dates have been changed our itinerary is as follows

05/01/13 Night bus to bangalore from mangalore

06/01/13 Flight to bagdogra from bangalore, catch taxi from bagdogra to DARJEELING

07/01/13 Sight seeing in Darjeeling

08/01/13 See sunrise in darjeeling and leave for gangtok, if possible sight seeing in & around gangtok

09/01/13 Other places in gangtok and then leave for nathula, stay in nathula

10/01/13 Tsongmo lake and back to gangtok and try to reach pelling

11/01/13 Sight seeing in pelling, yuksom, uttarey

12/01/13 Travel to bhutan

13 to 16 th in bhutan ... ( need some help to plan these 4 days)

17/01/13 travel to kolkata

18 to 20 conference in kolkata

21/01/13 Flight to bangalore from kolkata

21/01/13 Bus to mangalore

This is a tentative itinerary i have prepared after going through the various forum here, would like to improve upon it ,,, Please help me complete the plan for Bhutan for 4 days ...

Sorry to say, I cannot help for Bhutan. I just went to visit one place - Phunt shilling, from Jaygaon. It was 20 years ago.