Sandakphu, 3,636 m (11,930 ft)
Five nights from Darjeeling along the India and Nepal border, to the highest point in West Bengal, where Everest and Kanchenjunga share one horizon. A bed every night, and an old Land Rover carries the bags.
Photo: Amey Meher / Unsplash
Day 2
From the trailhead at Manebhanjan the first 3 km to Chitrey are the steepest of the day. Then tea at Lamaydhura, on to Meghma, named for the cloud that often sits on it, and Tumling at about 2,970 m (9,740 ft). Five to six hours.
Photo: Saheb Santanu / Pexels
US passports
Since 2022, guests on foreign passports entering from India may not sleep in the lodges on the Nepal side, so they stay in plainer government lodges at Gairibas and Sandakphu. No Nepal visa is needed on the ridge; OCI cardholders plan as foreign guests.
Photo: Suman Mandal / Pexels
Day 3
Singalila National Park, protected since 1992, runs through bamboo, oak and rhododendron where red pandas live, though sightings are rare. A Land Rover covers the rough 6 km to Kalipokhri; then you climb about 6 km and 470 m (1,540 ft), the last stretch from Bikheybhanjang the steepest.
Photo: NSG / Unsplash
Dawn, day 4
Kanchenjunga, about 68 km north, takes the light first, with its neighbors laid out as the Sleeping Buddha: Kumbhakarna the head, Kabru the face, Kanchenjunga the body, Pandim the feet.
Photo: Abhishek Murmu / Unsplash
Look left
Then turn north-west. Everest, with Lhotse beside it and Makalu to the right, stands about 145 km away, no wider than a thumbnail at arm's length. The light reaches it a few minutes after the Sleeping Buddha, so keep looking.
Photo: Aashh Subba / Unsplash
Two nights at the top
You sleep two nights at Sandakphu, so one cloudy morning costs nothing. The day between goes to Sabargram, about 3,540 m, by Land Rover and back on foot, and to sunset at Aal, 1.3 km away, the one spot near the summit that faces it.
Photo: Monojit Dutta / Pexels
October and November
Singalila National Park closes from 16 June to 15 September. October and November give the best odds for Everest; spring brings more haze. On Indian passports the walk is priced from ₹95,000 per person; foreign passports are quoted separately.
Photo: Abhinav Kumar