December to February
Winter in these hills is dry cold. The snow falls on the high passes; in Darjeeling you get frost, sharp blue mornings and the clearest skies of the year.
Photo: Lakshmi Raj / Pexels
The numbers
Darjeeling averages about 3.5 °C (38 °F) at night in December and under 2 °C (36 °F) in January. Pelling falls to 1 to 3 °C (34 to 37 °F). Days are often bright, between 11 and 18 °C (52 and 64 °F).
Photo: Sanat Anghan / Pexels
The reward
The monsoon has washed the dust out of the air, and December is the driest month on these ridges: under 3 mm of rain in Darjeeling. The range is out on most mornings, and Pelling gets about six hours of sun a day.
Photo: Aritra Roy / Unsplash
Indoors
Many older hill houses have no central heating. So rooms are booked with fireplaces or heaters, fires are laid before you come back in, and heaters, hot water and extra quilts are checked before you arrive.
Photo: Andrew Lamb
In Darjeeling
In town that means a fireplace room at The Elgin, the fire-lit rooms at the Windamere or a Heritage Room at the MAYFAIR. Hot-water bottles go into the beds on request.
Photo: Monojit Dutta / Pexels
Lower and milder
Kalimpong, about 800 m (2,620 ft) lower than Darjeeling, stays near 7 to 9 °C (45 to 48 °F) at night. Glenburn, low in the Rangeet valley, reports winter nights of 7 °C (45 °F) or more.
Photo: Endstarky / Unsplash
The passes
Snow falls on the passes: Nathu La, the road above Zuluk and North Sikkim can close, and Tsomgo freezes hard. Any winter plan that needs a high road keeps a second morning in reserve.
Photo: Dhruvin Pandya / Unsplash
Before you go
Bring a down jacket, hat and gloves for dawn at Tiger Hill, and warm socks for monastery floors, where shoes come off. The towns fill between Christmas and New Year, so the earlier December weeks are the calm ones.
Photo: Abhinav Das