Health
Vaccines and medicines are your doctor's decision, and nothing here is medical advice. What we can tell you is when to book the appointment, how water and food are handled on the road, and which hospitals sit along our routes.
Photo: Subham Dhar / Pexels
Shots
The CDC's India page asks you to see your doctor at least a month before the trip; our guide suggests four to six weeks. The CDC lists the vaccines and medicines to discuss, from routine shots to hepatitis A and typhoid.
Photo: Mosharraf Hossain / Unsplash
Paperwork
India asks for a yellow fever certificate only from travelers arriving within six days of leaving a country with a risk of transmission. The CDC notes it is not required for direct travel from the United States, and none of our routes involves such a country.
Photo: Unsplash
Water
Tap water is not for drinking in India, Bhutan or Nepal, including for brushing teeth where plumbing is old. Refillable bottles ride in the car and every house puts drinking water in your room. Skip ice at small roadside places; the tea arrives boiled.
Photo: Rutva Andharia / Unsplash
Food
For the first two or three days, meals stay in hotel kitchens, estate bungalows and family kitchens we brief in writing. After that, momos and thukpa are part of the point. The rule is your driver's too: eat where it is cooked in front of you and the line keeps moving.
Photo: Monojit Dutta / Pexels
Medicines
Pack the full trip's prescription medicine plus a few days, split between two bags, with the prescriptions. Hill pharmacies are modest and close early; Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Gangtok are the reliable places to buy, and Yuksom, Zuluk and Lachung are not.
Photo: Abhinav Das / Unsplash
Hospitals
In Siliguri, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, the government referral hospital, and the private Neotia Getwel. In Gangtok, the Central Referral Hospital and STNM Hospital. In Thimphu, the national referral hospital, and near Kathmandu, Dhulikhel Hospital.
Photo: Unsplash
On the road
The bends begin about an hour out of Bagdogra. Ask your doctor about a travel-sickness remedy and take it before the drive, keep breakfast light, and sit in front. Use repellent at dusk in the Dooars forests, the lowest and warmest part of the routes.
Photo: Prasanta Kr Dutta / Unsplash
Next step
Our terms ask every guest for cover against cancellation, medical care and evacuation in the mountains. Tell us about any condition, medicine or diet that matters, and each house and guide receives only what they need to know.
Photo: Ajay Kumar Roy / Unsplash