Darjeeling, October and November
The clearest mornings of the year fall in the weeks Bengal takes its Puja holidays and the hills keep Dashain. The answer is not to avoid October, but to know which day is which and where to sleep.
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Two calendars
Bengali families keep Durga Puja, five days closing with Vijaya Dashami. The Nepali-speaking majority keeps Dashain, fifteen days with the tika from the elders on the last. In 2026 both closed on 21 October.
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Looking ahead
Bengal's Puja days run from 5 to 10 October 2027, and Tihar from 27 to 31 October, with Laxmi Puja on 29 October. The two crowded weeks sit further apart, and the quiet two weeks start in the first week of November.
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Tiger Hill, from 04:00
Tiger Hill takes a fixed number of cars a morning, on tokens, and in these weeks they run out sooner. If one clear dawn is all you want, Chatakpur or Jalapahar give it to you with nobody in the frame.
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Hill Cart Road, 10:00 to 18:00
On holiday weekends Kurseong, Sonada and Ghum slow to walking pace, and a three-hour run from the airport can take four and a half. In these two weeks, road moves are made before 09:00 or after 18:00.
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Where to sleep
The town is what everyone queues for, so guests usually sleep outside it: on a tea estate more than 1,000 m (3,280 ft) lower, in Kalimpong, or in Kurseong. Glenburn has eight suites in all, so it goes early.
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Booking
Houses first: these weeks are asked for by June, because the heritage rooms in each house are counted in single figures. Toy train seats next, the day the railway opens them, 60 days out. The Tiger Hill token last, the afternoon before.
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November
Laxmi Puja is the night the plains call Diwali, and Darjeeling's Bengali families keep Kali Puja on the same new moon, so crackers go on past midnight. Bring earplugs if bangs bother anyone in your party.
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If your dates are fixed
If your dates can move, move them past Tihar. If they cannot, sleep out of town, see Darjeeling early, and keep the middle of the day for an estate or a garden. It changes the house, the hours and the order of the week.
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