pelling and yuksom hotels?

tacita

based on what i've read and seen from photos on the web, hotel options in both these towns look rather dire. can anyone offer first-hand experiences and suggestions?

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k9healer

Can't offer any advice for Pelling as we never made it there, but the hotel we stayed at in Yuksom was great. (I'm not sure of the cost as it was part of our trekking package) It was cozy, comfortable and even had HOT water! The food was great and the two young girls that take care of the kitchen and the rooms were fantastic.

It is the first noticeable hotel you find as you come into Yuksom and it was called Hotel Yangrigang - beleive it or not I was even able to find the phone # from their sign in a picture I took! Phone : 03595241217

If you've got any other Yuksom questions I'll try to help! (you'll love it there!)

arunchs

What kind of hotels are you looking for? Hotel Tashigang is probably one of the best hotels around for budget travellers at higher end(Around Rs.1000). Clean, spacious rooms and 24 hour hot water, a good restaurant and an archidarium in the hotel.

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tacita

wow, thanks for your trouble. kudos on the detective work. very nice of you!

[/quote]If you've got any other Yuksom questions I'll try to help! (you'll love it there!) [/quote]

as a matter of fact...

if you didn't make it to pelling, i realize your reply to this will relate to yuksom, but here goes. i will be driving from gangtok to western sikkim, where i have allocated three nights. i'm trying to figure out whether to spend all three in either pelling or yuksom, making shorter forays towards the other town for it's nearby sights, or whether to spend one and two nights respectively in each.

not being fully able to conceptualize the on-the-ground logistics - despite the enormous wealth of information that's been generously offered to me here - i can't seem to complete this critical middle link in the chain of my itinerary. have you any thoughts on that?

i don't plan any overnight trekking, just shorter hikes to various destinations accessible only by trail - and i'll be traveling alone, for however those details might figure in the mix. (maybe i should post this as a separate thread inquiry.) in any event, any thoughts you have, at least about the yuksom area, would be appreciated.

thanks.

tacita

well, as a somewhat older (47), solo traveler, i'm looking for something on the higher end, creature comforts and all that. based on what's considered expensive for that area, i guess i could probably say money is not an issue. the most important things for me are a great view, hot running water, and a warm and patient reception. (i have a hearing impairment, so patience - as i sometimes respond with non-sequiters - is always welcome.) actually - how could i forget to mention this? - in that same vein, i should probably mention that reliable electricity is essential as well. i have a cochlear implant with batteries that i need to recharge at night. if i have no juice, i'm completely deaf. that's happened before on the road, though, and it's actually made for some of my more comical and fondest memories. people seem to be endlessly fascinated by the fact that i have a computer chip in my head!

dzibead

Uh oh! reliable electricity is a tricky requirement almost everywhere in India, particularly in more remote areas, so if the place you're staying doesn't have a generator ... And even places with generators will not necessarily run them overnight.

I haven't been to Yuksom or Pelling so I don't know what the facilities are like there, but I was in Lachung and Lachen in North Sikkim and the facilities are, shall we say, "basic". Even the "fanciest" hotel in Lachung was pretty bare-bones. There was no power outage when I was there (only one night) so I don't know whether even that place had a generator, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that none of the other guesthouses in town did. If you are going to be making reservations ahead of time, you might inquire about the power situation.

tacita

well, then, this really WILL be quite an adventure, won't it? i spent an entire day in brugges, belgium completely deaf - but because i stupidly forgot my batteries in brussels - writing notes and repeating "je suis sourde"...it was actually a sort of interesting way to experience the day, in complete silence. i sometimes do that in new york. a crazy, busy - but completely silent - city. not that i'd choose to travel that way. it's obviously not desireable on the road, but also not fatal.

i have several batteries and a back-up (more cumbersome) system that i always take when traveling, so even if electricity is spotty one night, i would arguably be ok, as the batteries charge fairly quickly. but i would be in a fix if i weren't able to charge fully on an alternate night. i'll be sure to inquire about this. and, in fact, it may make it clear that i should stay only in the larger of the two towns with more hotels and potentially more reliable electricity.

dzibead

Have you heard about this place? http://www.yangsumfarm.com/about_the_farm.html

I've never been there but it looks fantastic! It's not cheap by any means, though. (But I bet they have a generator!)

Another thing about electricity in India is that there's deliberate, regular "load shedding" in some areas - scheduled power outages, so you'd want to inquire about that and maybe plan to recharge an extra set of batteries during the hours when the outage is not scheduled.

holiday

Dear Jenice, You can see the listing of hotels in the home page of indiamike for the hotels listing in sikkim

tacita

this place indeed looks fantastic - perfect, in fact. i'll definitely contact them. can probably get a discount rate for off-season (late february), assuming they are open then. (their website says "closed: rarely". it also looks like they could help me organize my day trips.

thanks so very much!

k9healer

Janice - glad to hear you've been to Brugge! It is one of my absolutely favorite places in the world!

I spent two nights in Yuksom (and the beginning and end of our trek) and that was plenty. It's a very small town with not alot to do - the Dubdi Monastery up on the hill is one of the oldest in Sikkim and worth the long uphill hike...but there is not much else there really. You might want to just plan one day and one night.

As for the creature comforts...I had a hot water bottle in my bed at night and watched the sun rise over the mountains the next morning....VERY nice. I had really been roughing it before that, so it was a real treat!

paharganj21

garuda hotel... 300 bucks and lots of fun and great views.

greenman

That farmhouse hotel is I believe a bit further south from Pelling Janice, looks very nice though.

If its a choice between Pelling and Yuksom then I'd say you'd be better off spending the three nights in the former. The mountain view is much better(Yuksom is actually too close to see most of the peaks) as is the selection of hotels.

I used the Norbugang Resort....

http://www.sikkiminfo.net/norbughang/#in

Probabley around 3 stars by western standards(good bathroom, western tv channels, fan heater, lets you order food for inclusive stays rather than just using a buffet) and pretty well maintained with great views of Kangchenjunga. Only negative is that its in the center of the town so while there are gardens around the cottages the site feels a little cramped in.

Pic from outside my room....

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...Picture254.jpg

Somewhere else you could visit would be Ravangla, its closer to Gangtok than either Pelling or Yuksom so you'd spend quite a bit less time driving. The Menam Wildwife park is just above town and would I'd imagine make a nice day trek. Also I visted a local Monastery(at Ralang I think, you can see it at the bottom left of the view pic at the end of the ridge) that was almost as large a Rumtek but far more relaxed(no security checks or guards at the gates). I'd definately recommend the Mt. Narsing hotel there, not quite as comfortable as the Norbu Gang(still pretty good though) but with more character and in a great location outside town...

Pic of the Hotel...

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...Picture186.jpg

The view....

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...Picture218.jpg

tacita

wow, greenman - stunning! all of the pix! i sent you a PM, but having done yet more research and cross-referenced everything on the maps i DO have (not the soon-to-arrive super-duper deluxe wall version i described , it appears pelling may best fit the bill. it looks to be a good base for the sights i want to see, a low-altitude day trek, and reliable electricity, so as not to wind up traveling deaf! ravangla would save driving time the first day, yes, but i'd still want to go to head on to pelling, tashiding, pemayangtse, khecheopalri lake, lepcha villages, etc.

thanks very much for your thoughtful reply and links to those breath-taking photos. i'll definitely consider norbu gang, which the rough guide describes as "far and away the best that pelling has to offer." hopefully, they can assist me with day trips, or refer me to someone locally who can.

most grateful.

mridula

I was in Pelling last week and I had more power than I usually get in Gurgaon (near delhi). I had no problem in keeping my mobile and two camera battery charged.

I hope you have decided on your hotel. We stayed in a small place called Bintan but even they had hot water available almost all the time. If you have stomach for some more pictures from Sikkim here they are:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/556...f?vhost=travel

Wish you a wonderful trip.

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mridula

http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfromindia/