Lolegaon trip at October/November

Madpiklu29

First to tell that I have gone through the beautiful threads on Lava Lolegaon and Pedong and it literally confused me to choose between these two places. Anyway, after going through the threads and experiences of some of my friends I have come up with a plan for my trip. But I need some expertise comments on the itinerary and I will be doing modifications as per your suggestions.

My plan is as below:
Day Details
1 Board train from Sealdah
2 NJP to Lava, over night stay at Lava
3 Go to Lolegaon, over night stay at Lolegaon
4 Visit Lolegaon ss, night stay at Lolegaon
5 Move to to Rishyap, over night stay at Rishyap
6 Enjoy wholeday in and around of Rishyap, night stay at Rishyap
7 Move to Pedong/ Kalimpong, night stay at Pedong/Kalimpong
8 Roam around Pedong/Kalimpong, night stay at Pedong/Kalimpong
9 Transfer to NJP to board train Train
10 Reach Sealdah

I have a few questions though in this itin:

1. As I am looking for mostly the calm and quiet nature holidays, so can I drop Lava and directly go to lolegaon from NJP?

2. Is Gorubathan is worth to stay for a day? In that case I can make my plan as NJP-Gorubathan(Night stay)-Lolegaon......

2. Whether 2 nights stay at all 3 places Lolegaon/Rishyap/Pedong will worth?

3. Any suggestions on standard accommodation at Pedong? I will be going with my wife and looking for a standard hotel.I would prefer staying in Pedong instead of Kalimpong.

Also I need to know if there is any accommodation available in Samthar and Rikkisum. I have found a resort at Samthar but it is a bit expensive. Any standard accommodation available in these places?

Well, I have a handful of questions so any friend who has read upto this and already got irritated, Please excuse me and any advise from your end will help me a lot.


Thanks

cutiepie

I would suggest instead of Gorubathan,please do stay one day at Lava.dont drop it.Your above plan is perfect.

Madpiklu29

Thanks cutiepie !!!

Any suggestions about Pedong or Kalimpong ??

Also any contact for a standard accommodation at Pedong ?

Santanu Das

I went to all these places a few yrs back. Pedong & Kalimpong are as different as chalk from cheese.

Trying to explain, please take yr pick.

Kalimpong bazaar/Mall area is just like a typical market place of any other hill CITY,full of jeeps,people,shops , hawker etc. But if you take the road which goes up to the Monastery,golf course,passing by Morgan House guest house & Hill top tourist lodge (Both under WBTDC) you can leave the hustle & bustle of the town below.I always take a jeep which drops me at the Monastery at the top & walk down the mountain road, enjoying the mountain view & british architectures.I found this to be the best part of Kalimpong. Have a relaxed meal at the 7th Heaven restaurant.In the evening you can buy trinkets/souvenirs/masks at the mall area.

Pedong (In 2005) was a lesser known VILLAGE, no shops,no hotels (Except the one we stayed, sort of home stay),no restaurants,No tourists.. just a single road to take a stroll, walk past the school building, sit at the playground, play with the local kids & the stray dogs, visit the nearby orphanage where the kids sang beautiful songs to us in the candlelit stone interiors of their hostel, very charming.

It depends on your mood/ what you are looking for. If you are looking for the typical "9 points" / "10 points" package tours you would be disappointed in Pedong.

Lava,Lolegao,Rishyap:

The road coming from Kalimpong stops at a bus stop/jeep stand sort of place in front of a huge modern monastery (Huge hostel facility)--this place is Lava.
From this point the serpentine motor road through the dense Pine forset ascends to the hill to your right.This place is Lolegaon. It is definitely more calm & quiet. But you must stay at the DGHC or the Forest Dept tourist lodge. Only these two are at proper location.Rest of the private hotels are deep down the claustrophobic congested lanes. Not worth staying. Hours fly past you if you just walk on the road among the pine forest in the early morning. Stay outside till dusk.In the evening have gaan adda khanapina by the campfire at guesthouse lawn.
From Lava a dirt road ascends to the left hill, which is Rishap.It was a few teahouse sort of accomodations there with no electricity/no phone among the jungle.When we ordered sabji we saw the guy going to his kitchen garden & picking up the cabbage.From next day we did it ourself & also cook the food around the fire in the evening !!! Given a few cooking tips to the lodge owner. But I am afraid the place might be spolt by now with the advent of electricity.It was a lovely place. You can just walk down from Rishab to Lava, our lodge owner carried our luggages,we enjoyed the walk through the woods seeing birds,butterflies flora & fauna.Take some rest/have your meal at Lava,tour the monastery & proceed. Thus one can avoid Lava.

But it all depends on what you'd like to do in your holiday :-)

Madpiklu29

Thanks Santanu for your perfect description of these plaaces. I wish I could go there a few yrs back but now I guess there are a lot of changes. I have heard that electricity has reached to those remote places. anyway I am not looking for typical 9/10 points locations, so would prefer pedong rather than Kalimpong. Let's see how things turn out for me :-)

Santanu Das

Just a suggestion :
We always spend the last night at Melli(Teestabazaar) DGHC tourist lodge whenever we go to that region.We arrange it in such a way that we can enjoy the mountains during day time & reach Melli Tourist lodge at evening.Spend the night.Do river rafting in next morning, have a relaxed lunch & start at ~ 2pm from there towards NJP to catch the Darjeeling mail.Rafting is pure fun especially for the kids in the family.

sandip2k1in

hi friends ... i would like to know about the ALNUS suite in WBFDC lolegaon ... can anyone help me please ?

csoumonil

Pls let me know whether Rishyap, Lava, Lolegaon is suitable to visit in the month of january?

Santanu Das

Depends on what you mean by "suitable". I visited them in mid Dec to Mid Jan & I enjoyed myself.Chances of getting a clear sky (and sunny day !!) is maximum during this time.Winter being typical off season ,the hills are not crowded,so you have got the perfect romantic set up.The temp is near 5 deg C, very very comfortable with woolens....You wont get much flowers though, for that you have to wait for the springtime, still this is one of my favourite times to visit the hillstations. It all depends on what you like :-)

csoumonil

Thanks a lot....Your description perfectly explains the word "suitable". Cheers