Places To Visit In Darjeeling. The early sun rays kissing the mountain peaks, the mist filled atmosphere with an extensive stretch of mountains creating a mystifying effect and the nature’s magnificent beauty mesmerizing the onlooker, Darjeeling is one wonderful place to be. One of the most significantly wondrous destinations of the north eastern portion of the Indian subcontinent, Darjeeling has been one of the tourist’s heavens since decades. Amongst the numerous splendid locations, here are a few, one essentially needs to visit once they end up being here in Darjeeling:
TIGER HILL –
THE MALL – the most popular commercial streets of Darjeeling is the mall. It is one of the most important tourist’s gathering places all over Darjeeling. A wide range of hand knitted sweaters by Tibetans are sold here, along with souvenir shops which sells a varied range of Himalayan art crafts , with both of the real and imitation quality. Variety of photos, including hand printed of the black and white variety oil paintings is available here. The Mall leads to Chowrasta, which is another favorite location for the tourists.
CHOWRASTA – the Chowrasta is mainly a square, which is famous for its pony riding expeditions for children, a bandstand and is a lovers’ haven. The meaning of the word Chowrasta is crossroads. There are a number of commercial activities going on here. This place is the heart of the Darjeeling town. Several hostels, restaurants and shops are present here. Antique souvenir collection is available in the shops here. Starting from Gorkha draggers to several Bhutanese crafts like woolen sweaters, tribal jewelry, brass statues and Thankas are out on sale and display at the Chowrasta. Although foreign goods are also found here for the selling purpose but generally local handicrafts remain in demand mostly.
ROCK GARDEN AND GANGA MAYA PARK – THE Rock Garden and Ganga Maya Park is situated 10 kilometers away from the town. This is a nature’s delight and an amazing picnic spot with a number of waterfalls flowing from the uneven rock cliffs. The great scenic beauty is mesmerizing and the park offers boating facilities to the visiting tourist parties. An ample number of eateries are available here where one can indulge in great local cuisine. The park authorities don’t charge a penny for taking photographs, but transportation to this place has to be self arranged to avoid any inconvenience.
PHALUT AND SANDAKPHU– the trip to Phalut and Sandakphu is a weeklong trip. The beautiful panorama of the Tiger hills and other lofty mountain ranges can be witnessed when one reaches this place. The flowering trees of Rhododendron and colorful red and white dwarf plants beautify the entire trail. On reaching a height of 3048 meters, a deserted area is found which is dramatically surrounded by clouds.
BOTANICAL GARDENS– Lloyd botanical garden is the oldest botanical garden of the world. This is famous for the exotic flora and fauna and also two living fossils. The entire area is over 40 acres with no entrance fees.
TEA PLANTATIONS:
TOY TRAIN:
BENGAL NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM : Established in 1903, a comprehensive but dusty collection of Himalayan and Bengali fauna is packed into this interesting museum. Among the 4300 specimens is the estuarine crocodile, the animal responsible for the greatest loss of human life in Asia. The museum is open daily except Thursday, from 10am to 4pm.
HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINEERING INSTITUTE (HMI): It was founded in 1954 on the British Hill Park. It has a Museum,which shows historic mountaineering equipment, specimens of Flora and Fauna of the Himalayas, badges and pins from mountaineering clubs of the world, relief model of the Himalayas and traditional dresses of the hill tribes of the Himalayas. Mount Everest has a museum all dedicated to it.
DHOOM GOMPA : About 8 kms from Darjeeling is the Dhoom Gompa. Here a very beautiful statue of the Maitrayie Buddha is established. The Monastery has also preserved some of the rare handwritten Buddhist manuscripts.
Best Time to Visit Darjeeling
The best time to visit Darjeeling is from March-May or September-November. The rains which start by May end are heavy downpours making living conditions cold and dreary. In winter there is a drastic fall in temperature from the summer’s 15 to 25 degrees centigrade to 2 to 10 degrees in winter.
