Grandparents to grandchildren
Seven nights that move at the speed of the oldest traveler and the patience of the youngest: two warm, low bases, an elevator or a level room, a briefed doctor in each town, and two cars.
Photo: Sandeep Ruchal / Pexels
Every bed below 1,500 m (4,920 ft)
Four nights in the Makaibari tea estate below Kurseong, about 40 km and an hour and a quarter from Bagdogra, then three in Kalimpong. Darjeeling, at 2,045 m (6,710 ft), is one gentle day, never a night.
Photo: Kiran Sankar Das / Unsplash
Two cars
It goes first, front seat pushed back, with shawls, a hot flask and a folding wheelchair in the trunk. The second car takes the luggage. Either can take someone back to rest without ending the day for everyone else.
Photo: Prasanta Kr Dutta / Unsplash
Makaibari, since 1859
The estate describes its factory, first commissioned in 1859, as the world's first tea factory, and it became the first garden certified fully organic in 1988. The family tastes at one table; the children walk part of a butterfly trail.
Photo: Akash Dey / Unsplash
Kurseong
At Giddapahar stands the house where Subhas Chandra Bose was held under house arrest for seven months in 1936; it keeps photographs and belongings of both Bose brothers. Below it, the toy train runs down Kurseong's high street.
Photo: vineet singh / Unsplash
Kalimpong, 1,247 m (4,090 ft)
The MAYFAIR lists no elevator, so grandparents take Deluxe Cottages on the main grounds near the dining room, heaters on before they walk in. At Durpin the cars stop close to the monastery entrance.
Photo: Mosharraf Hossain / Unsplash
If someone feels unwell
Before you arrive, a local doctor in Kurseong and another in Kalimpong are briefed on your family's medical notes. The larger hospitals are in Siliguri, about 1.5 hours below Kurseong. Insurance with medical and evacuation cover is essential.
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When and how
Go October to mid-December, or in March and April. Tell us how many steps each person manages comfortably, and each house is asked for the route from car to bed, steps included, before you arrive.
Photo: Subham Shome / Unsplash