Gangtok and North Sikkim in early December!!

Hi IMers,


After a lot of confusions and change of plans, we have finally decided to visit Sikkim this winter .
India Mike proved to be a treasure trove of information for us and has helped us form a rough sketch of how the trip is going to be. The existing threads on the same topic have really helped us , but we still have quite a few queries and we would really appreciate if you guys can clarify these.

First of all , we are a group of 6 friends and we will start our journey from Bangalore. Following is the Itenerary :

Day 1 - Bangalore to Kolkata - Duranto Exp.
Day 2 - Kolkata to NJP - Darjeeling Mail
Day 3 - Reach NJP 10 am .NJP -Darjeeling - Shared Jeep
Overnight @ Darjeeling
Day 4 - Sight seeing in and around Darjeeling
Day 5 - Start for Gangtok and reach by afternoon (Shared jeep )
Arrange for Permits and MG Marg
Day 6,7 and 8 - We want to visit
a) Tsomgo lake, Baba Mandir and Nathula Pass
b) Lachung - Yumthang Valley - Zero Point
c) Lachen - Gurudongmar Lake
Day 9 - Gangtok - NJP . Catch the train back to Kolkata
Day 10 - Kolkata -Bangalore.
So here are the queries:
1) Is it possible to cover all these places in December?
2) Can we make this trip on our own ,without any package tours?
3) From Gangtok to Lachen and Lachung we are planning to hire a private vehicle for our group. What would be the approx cost?
4) What should be our itenarary on days 6,7 and 8 to save time and minimize the travel?
5) Will Shared jeeps be available from NJP- Darjeeling, Darjeeling- Gangtok etc and what would be the cost?

We are planning to book the hotels ourselves.

Please advice and help us make this trip a success...
Cheers !!

I will try to answer your question one by one:
1) There will not be any problem in December. All these places are open. Just that you have very little time in hand & so you may not be able to complete all that you have planned for at Sikkim. A trip to Gurudongmar & Yumthang can be done in 2 Nights 3 days at the earliest & so your day 6,7 & 8 will be consumed in these places alone.
2) Yes you can but it will not result in any substantial benefits to you as the packages are also very competitive & at the same time it will be difficult for you to manage the permits on your own. You dont want to risk the permits as you have a fairly tight schedule.
3) The Mahindra would cost you around 10000 for 2 nights & 3 days
4) The itinery will have to be : depart early morning from Gangtok to Lachen. You would be reaching Lachen late evening & so not much to do. Next day early morning off to Gurudongmar to return by lunch time. After a quick luch you will have to dash off to Lachung & reach there by late evening. Next early morning to Katao & Yumthang to come back to Lachung by ,unch. Then depart Lachung after lunch to reach Gangtok late at night.
When you are 6 persons you need not wait for a shared jeep. You can very well hire a small car that are in abundance at NJP.
To add my 2 cents it would be a much better trip if you skip Darjeeling all together for the next visit & concentrate on Sikkim alone.

Thanks a ton vinaysinha for the reply and the valuable info provided...
After going through this forum and also your reply, even we thought it's better to concentrate on N Sikkim . But we have to visit darjeeling for atleast a day for some personal reasons. So we are going to add one extra day to our trip and the propoased itinerary looks somethin like this:
Day 3 - Reach NJP around 8am -Transfer to Gangtok- Arrange for Permits, package etc
Day 4 - Gangtok to Lachung - On the way cover some sightseeing (Please suggest)- O/N at Lachung
Day 5 - Yumthang -Zero point - Proceed to Lachen - O/N @ Lachen
Day 6 - Gurudongmar Lake - Back to Gangtok - O/N @ Gangtok
Day 7- Tsomgo lake, Baba Mandir and Nathula Pass - O/N @ Gangtok
Day 8 - Proceed to Darjeeling- Local Sight seeing
Day 9- Tiger Hill in the morning - Proceed to NJP to catch the Train @ 9pm


Now in this case
1) On day 6 is it feasible to come back to Gangtok or stay at Lachen?
2) We have decided to hire an exclusive vehicle so what are the options for sightseeing on the way to these places?
3) What would be an approx price for the afore mention packege to N Sikkim /head for a group of 6?

Please reply ..

Thanks in advance

not possible (all the important places)

as you have limited day.......you've no other option except come back..........generally tourists do so


its not recommended or you cant hire car for your entire trip.......e.g. N Sikkim and Nathula etc

package starts Rs 1200 on sharing basis: car 10 heads, room 2/3/4 heads

Thanks a lot PKanti...
Darjeeling - By local sight seeing , i mean just the mall and probably the zoo n montaineering institute.
Hope that much is possible.
We will take your advice...

Pkanti,
We are visiting Darjeeling for some fond old memories ...So we just want to visit a few places (The Mall , Zoo and Tiger Hill).
Do you think it's possible. Appreciate if you could help us.

in that case you should alter your Day 3 with Day 8.........by that you'll get more time in Darj

Thanks a lot