Above Pelling
Two things stand within three kilometers of Pelling, and they could not be less alike: the forest ruins of Sikkim's second capital, and a glass skywalk opened in 2018.
Photo: Soham Kundu
Rabdentse
Rabdentse is reached on foot, about fifteen minutes along a forest path from a yellow gate on the Pemayangtse road, past a pond. Then the trees open on a platform with three royal chortens, and the palace walls to the north.
Photo: Arjis Kundu / Pexels
1670 to 1814
Tensung Namgyal moved the court here from Yuksom, and Rabdentse was Sikkim's capital from 1670 until 1814. Then the Gurkha armies came, and the court moved on to Tumlong. The Archaeological Survey of India looks after what is left.
Photo: Unsplash
Namphogang
Among the palace wings is Namphogang, the stone seat where judges gave their verdicts. Come at the end of the afternoon, when the light comes level through the trees and you will most likely have the platform to yourself.
Photo: Unsplash
The Chenrezig statue
On the hill that also carries Sanga Choeling stands a 137 ft statue of Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of compassion, with prayer-wheel pavilions and a stairway below. A glass skywalk runs out from its feet: the first built in India, opened on 1 November 2018.
Photo: Neeraj Pramanik / Unsplash
With children
Yes, in its first hour or late in the afternoon. Not on a cloudy day, when you pay to stand on glass above fog. Children like it and some adults do not; the statue's stairway and prayer-wheel pavilions are the better half of the visit.
Photo: Neeraj Pramanik / Unsplash
Timing
Tour groups tend to reach the statue and Pemayangtse from mid-morning. So take the skywalk in its first hour, or late in the day, and save Rabdentse, quiet at almost any hour, for the level light of late afternoon.
Photo: Expressive Capture / Unsplash
One day on the ridge
Both stand within three kilometers of the town, and neither fills a whole day. That leaves each dawn free for Kanchenjunga, which is what most people come to Pelling for.
Photo: Sahil Pandita / Unsplash