Kanchenjunga's snow face rising at the head of a brown alpine valley on the Goecha La trail, a glacier moraine below

Private trek · 10 nights

Goecha La, Privately

Eight days on foot into Khangchendzonga National Park with your own crew, to Kanchenjunga at first light.

10nights, private
4bases
4,600 mhighest point
₹1,90,000from, per person, twin share

Price this journey for my dates See the 11 days

In short

Is Goecha La, Privately right for you?

Goecha La, Privately is a ten-night private trek in West Sikkim, with a guide, cook and porters who work for your party alone. From Bagdogra you sleep a night each in Pelling and Yuksom, then walk eight days through Tshoka and Dzongri to View Point 1, about 4,600 m, and back.

Made forfit walkers who have slept above 3,500 m before, couples who trek together, friends travelling as a private party, teenagers with trekking experience, walking with a parent and photographers who want Kanchenjunga at close range.

Not for you ifyou have never walked several days at altitude, or want a bed every night, start with The Singalila Ridge, or see the same mountain from a hotel on Kanchenjunga Face to Face.

Goecha La is the walk to the end of the trail below Kanchenjunga. The pass itself, at 4,940 m, has been closed to trekkers since 2017 to protect snow leopard country, so View Point 1, about 4,600 m, is as far as anyone now goes, and at first light it is far enough. It is the same mountain you see from the Elgin's garden on your first morning, but now there is only a glacier basin between you and its south-east face.

Most people walk it in groups of ten or fifteen, sharing a cook and a pace. We run it privately. Your guide, cook and porters work for you alone, the dining tent has a table and chairs, the sleeping bag is rated for the cold that actually comes at 4,000 m, and the day moves at your speed. Nothing about the trail gets easier. The difference is that the mountain becomes the only thing you have to think about.

Designed in the Darjeeling hills by the Darjeeling Trips team · Updated September 2026

Length: 10 nights, 11 days
Starts and ends: Bagdogra airport to Bagdogra airport
Best months: Mid October to late November, and March to mid May
Avoid: June to mid September (monsoon, leeches, cloud); December to February (snow closes the high camps)
Pace: Active
Longest drive: About 6 hours, 320 km in all
Highest point: Goecha La View Point 1, 4,600 m
Group: Private, 2 to 6 guests (foreign nationals must trek as at least two)

The route

Why Pelling comes first

The order is set by the mountain and by your blood. Pelling breaks the drive from the plains and shows you the range before you set out. Yuksom, at 1,780 m, is the trailhead and the place to settle permits and kit. On the trail your sleeping height rises 420 m, then 760 m, then about 1,040 m to Dzongri, where you stay a second night before going higher. We skip the usual night at Thansing and walk on to Lamuney, so the viewpoint morning starts close to the top.

your bases, in orderby roadborders not drawn

Where the nights go

1Pelling1Yuksom7Trek camps: Sachen, Tshoka, Dzongri, Lamuney, Kokchurung1Yuksom

Read the place guidesPelling & West Sikkim

The shape of the journey

From 126 m to 4,600 m, day by day

You sleep between 1,780 m and 4,150 m. The highest you go is 4,600 m, on day 8 at Goecha La View Point 1, and you come down again to sleep.

1,000 m2,000 m3,000 m4,000 m5,000 m 2,150 m4,600 m3,700 m2,960 m1,780 m

Arrive126 m
Day 12,015 m
Day 21,780 m
Day 32,200 m
Day 42,960 m
Day 54,000 m
Day 64,000 m
Day 74,150 m
Day 83,700 m
Day 92,960 m
Day 101,780 m
Day 11126 m

Built around

Pelling, Yuksom and Trek camps: Sachen, Tshoka, Dzongri, Lamuney, Kokchurung at their best

View Point 1, about 4,600 m, reached by headtorch from Lamuney for first light on Kanchenjunga
A crew that works for you alone: guide, assistant guide, cook, porters and a dining tent with chairs
Dawn from Dzongri Top, 4,170 m, with Kabru, Kanchenjunga and Pandim in one long arc
A second night at Dzongri written in, so your body adapts before the high camp
The quiet forest trail from Kokchurung to Phedang on the way down, bypassing Dzongri
Thee at a Limbu family table in Yuksom on the night you walk out

Day by day

Day by day, Pelling to Trek camps: Sachen, Tshoka, Dzongri, Lamuney, Kokchurung

The longest drive is day 11, Yuksom to Bagdogra airport, about 6 hours with stops, and 8 days have no drive at all.

01
Day 1 · Bagdogra airport Pelling

Bagdogra to the Pelling ridge, the long way in
- 135 km, about 5.5 h
- High point 2,150 m
- Sleep at 2,015 m
- Easy
Your trip leader waits for you at the arrivals exit in Bagdogra with the car, cold water and the day written on one card. Allow five and a half hours for the 135 km to Pelling: a late lunch at Jorethang, a permit check at Melli for foreign passports, and a last hour of hairpins above Legship. You arrive around dusk at The Elgin Mount Pandim, the last hotel bed and deep bath before the trail. Dinner is early and plain on purpose: soup, rice, dal and greens, and no alcohol tonight. Afterwards your trip leader weighs each duffel, because the limit on the trail is 10 kg a guest, and anything beyond it waits for you in Yuksom. He also goes through boots, headtorch, gloves and down jacket against the list with you, so there is still a morning to put anything right.

The momentCrossing the Rangeet at Legship in the last light, with the lamps of the Pelling ridge about 1,500 m above you

InsiderTake the front seat for the climb from Legship to Pelling if bends bother you. It is the twistiest hour of the whole road, and the view ahead helps.

If the weather turnsIf NH10 is blocked, we drive up through Kurseong and down to Jorethang. A late landing then means a night in Darjeeling and Yuksom by mid-afternoon on day 2.

Tonight
The Elgin Mount Pandim, Pelling

Meals
Lunch, Dinner
02
Day 2 · Pelling Yuksom

Pelling at dawn, then Yuksom and Dubdi
- 34 km, about 1.5 h
- High point 2,150 m
- Sleep at 1,780 m
- Easy
At 05:30 your trip leader knocks with tea. From the Elgin garden you see, whole and small, the three summits that will stand over your camps: Kabru, Kanchenjunga and Pandim. Breakfast at 07:30. Guests on foreign passports complete their trekking permit papers in Pelling this morning, which is one reason for the night here. The car leaves at 09:30 on the 34 km road to Yuksom, the trailhead town, and lunch is at Limboo Homestay, a Limbu family house whose kitchen cooks from its own garden. At 14:00 the police registration and park papers are settled in the village. At 15:00 you walk up to Dubdi, above Yuksom: about an hour of steady climbing, while your guide quietly learns your pace and you learn whether the boots are right. After dinner the cook sits down with you to agree the menu for the mountain, and anything you cannot eat comes off it.

The momentKabru, Kanchenjunga and Pandim seen whole from a garden chair, a week before you sleep beneath them

InsiderThe climb to Dubdi is the best test you will get before the trail. If you arrive talking in single words, say so tonight: pace is set now, not at Dzongri.

If the weather turnsIf the range hides at dawn, nothing is lost: you will be far closer in four days. If the Pelling road slips, we reach Yuksom by Legship and Tashiding.

Tonight
Limboo Homestay, Yuksom

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
03
Day 3 · Yuksom Sachen

Into the forest: Yuksom to Sachen
- High point 2,200 m
- Sleep at 2,200 m
- Moderate
Breakfast at 06:45, and at 07:30 you walk past the forest check post at the top of the village, where your permits are checked and stamped. The pack animals are loaded behind you; you carry only a daypack with water, a fleece, a rain shell and lunch. The first stretch follows field edges and cardamom under shade trees, then the path enters the forested valley of the Rathong. You cross three long suspension bridges, the first hung with prayer flags where the national park begins, and pass the Tshushay Khola falls. After the second bridge the path steepens to Sachen, a clearing at about 2,200 m with a wooden shelter and the river loud below. About 8 km and four to five hours. Your tent is pitched when you arrive, bags inside, and the cook has soup on. The afternoon is for sleep, a book and learning where everything in camp lives.

The momentThe first suspension bridge, strung with prayer flags, where the park begins and engine noise stops for eight days

InsiderWalk today slower than feels necessary. It is the easiest stage, and the one where people spend the energy they will want at Dzongri.

If the weather turnsIn rain the roots and bridges turn slick, so we start at 07:00 in ponchos and take lunch under the Sachen shelter instead of by the river.

Tonight
Private camp at Sachen, Sachen (trek camp)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
04
Day 4 · Sachen Tshoka

Bakhim and the climb to the pond at Tshoka
- High point 2,960 m
- Sleep at 2,960 m
- Moderate
A shorter day and a steeper one: about 6.5 km and four to five hours. You set off at 08:00, cross the Prek Chu on a high suspension bridge, and climb switchbacks through oak and rhododendron to Bakhim, a clearing about halfway up, for tea at 10:30. In April these slopes are red and pink with rhododendron; in October the leaves turn and the air is clean. The last hour to Tshoka, about 2,960 m, is steady rather than hard, and lunch is hot, in the dining tent, at 12:30. At 15:30 walk up to the small monastery above camp beside a still pond, where on a clear afternoon Pandim appears for the first time. Tshoka was settled by Tibetan refugee families; most have since moved down to Yuksom, their houses now serve as trekkers' lodges, and that is why the monastery is so quiet. Before dinner your guide takes the first pulse oximeter reading of the trek, and from here on watches the trend from day to day rather than any single number.

The momentPandim rising over the monastery pond at Tshoka, near enough to pick out the ridges in its ice

InsiderThe pond gives a reflection only in still air. If the wind drops late in the afternoon, stand on the side away from the monastery and wait for it.

If the weather turnsIf anyone is slow or unwell, Tshoka is where we can still walk them down to Yuksom in a day with a porter. Above Dzongri that gets harder.

Tonight
Private camp at Tshoka, Tshoka (trek camp)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
05
Day 5 · Tshoka Dzongri

Phedang and the hard climb to Dzongri
- High point 4,000 m
- Sleep at 4,000 m
- Active
This is the day the trek is judged by: about 9 km and a climb of roughly 1,040 m. Breakfast at 06:30 and away by 07:15. Above Tshoka the path is laid with split logs through rhododendron and silver fir, and it climbs with few pauses to Phedang, an open shoulder at about 3,670 m where you rest and eat an early lunch with the Singalila range behind you. The last three hours to Dzongri cross open, windy ground. Walk at a pace that still lets you talk; if you cannot, slow down. You reach the Dzongri meadow, about 4,000 m, by mid-afternoon: prayer flags, chortens, low juniper and a view opening north to Kabru and Pandim. Tea, a warm layer, then nothing more energetic than a slow circuit of camp. Dinner at 18:00 is soup, rice, dal and something salty, with oximeter readings at 18:30 and again at 06:00.

The momentComing over the last rise into the Dzongri meadow, flags snapping, with Kabru and Pandim filling the north

InsiderA headache on the first night at Dzongri is common. Tell your guide as soon as it starts: water, rest and time usually settle it, and a headache kept secret does not.

If the weather turnsIf sleet comes in at Phedang, we still climb and walk into a camp already pitched. Anyone with serious altitude symptoms goes down to Tshoka that evening.

Tonight
Private camp at Dzongri, Dzongri (trek camp)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06
Day 6 · Dzongri (trek camp)

Dzongri Top at dawn, then a day to adjust
- High point 4,170 m
- Sleep at 4,000 m
- Moderate
Tea arrives at your tent at 04:15. By 04:30 you are climbing the hill behind camp by headtorch, slowly, for about an hour, to Dzongri Top at about 4,170 m. In late October sunrise comes close to 05:45, and the summits light before it reaches you: Kanchenjunga, Kabru North and South, Rathong, Koktang and Pandim in one arc. Your trip leader has a flask and names each peak as it colours. Back in camp at 07:30 for porridge, eggs and parathas. The rest of the day belongs to your body: a slow walk of an hour or two up the ridge towards Dzongri La, higher than you will sleep, then down for lunch. On the way your guide points to where Dechen Phug lies, the Cave of Great Bliss, the western of the four sacred caves that ring Tashiding, the spiritual centre of West Sikkim. Afternoon sleep, cards, soup and a hot water bottle. A second night at 4,000 m gives your blood time to catch up before you go higher.

The momentThe arc from Kabru to Pandim turning gold one summit at a time, seen from the chortens on Dzongri Top

InsiderKeep camera and phone batteries in an inside pocket on the climb. At 4,170 m before sunrise a cold battery can die just as the first summit colours.

If the weather turnsIf Dzongri Top sits in cloud at dawn, we go back to bed and try again at 16:00 for the evening light, or tomorrow at first light if the sky has cleared.

Tonight
Private camp at Dzongri, Dzongri (trek camp)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
07
Day 7 · Dzongri Lamuney

Down to the Prek Chu, up under Pandim to Lamuney
- High point 4,150 m
- Sleep at 4,150 m
- Active
A long day at a steady height: about 14 km and six to seven hours of walking, away by 07:30. The trail drops through dwarf rhododendron to Kokchurung, about 3,700 m, where a bridge crosses the Prek Chu, then follows the river up a widening valley. Lunch is at Thansing, a meadow at about 3,900 m under the ice walls of Pandim, where most groups stop for the night. You walk on for two more hours over open, stony ground to Lamuney, about 4,150 m, the last camp. Arrive around 15:30 to tents already up, the dining tent lit and water boiling. Your warmth tonight is a sleeping bag rated for the cold and a hot water bottle tucked inside it. Dinner at 17:30. Your guide lays out tomorrow's kit with you, piece by piece, and you are in bed by 19:00.

The momentPandim holding the last of the light above Lamuney long after the valley floor has gone blue

InsiderPack your summit daypack before dinner and sleep in your base layers. At 02:30 in the dark and cold, every missing glove costs ten minutes.

If the weather turnsIf anyone is tired or has a headache at Thansing, the whole party stops there. The viewpoint then becomes a 01:00 start from Thansing, longer but well proven.

Tonight
Private camp at Lamuney, Lamuney (trek camp)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
08
Day 8 · Lamuney Kokchurung

View Point 1 at first light, then down to Kokchurung
- High point 4,600 m
- Sleep at 3,700 m
- Active
Wake at 02:30 to tea and porridge in the dining tent. You leave at 03:00 by headtorch, your guide in front and the assistant guide behind. Samiti Lake, about 4,300 m, passes unseen on your left around 04:00; then the path climbs moraine to View Point 1, about 4,600 m, the highest ground the park now permits. In late October sunrise comes close to 05:45, and the summit of Kanchenjunga, straight ahead across the glacier basin, catches it before anything else, with Pandim at your shoulder. Stay 30 to 45 minutes and no longer: cold and height both count. On the way down you finally see Samiti by daylight. Breakfast at Lamuney at 08:00 while the crew strikes camp, then the long descent past Thansing to Kokchurung, about 3,700 m, by early afternoon. Around 15 km in all, and sleep comes easily tonight.

The momentFirst light striking the summit of Kanchenjunga from View Point 1 while you still stand in blue shadow

InsiderTurn round once on the way down. Samiti Lake, which you passed blind at 04:00, lies below you in daylight, and Pandim is in it if the air is still.

If the weather turnsIf cloud sits on the viewpoint, we wait at Samiti until 06:30 for a break. Ten nights leave no spare morning; the eleventh night in our add-ons buys one.

Tonight
Private camp at Kokchurung, Kokchurung (trek camp)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
09
Day 9 · Kokchurung Tshoka

The forest trail from Kokchurung back to Tshoka
- High point 3,700 m
- Sleep at 2,960 m
- Moderate
A kinder day on tired legs: about 14 km and six to seven hours, most of it downhill. Breakfast at 07:00. Instead of climbing back over Dzongri, you take the lower forest trail from Kokchurung, which contours through rhododendron and fir to Phedang. It is quiet, often empty of other walkers, and good ground for birds; blood pheasant, the state bird of Sikkim, lives in these forests, and your guide carries a field guide for anything that moves. Lunch at Phedang around 12:00, with the Singalila range in view again. Then the log steps down to Tshoka, which feels almost warm after four nights near 4,000 m. You will notice your appetite has come back. The cook has planned for it: tonight is the dinner he has kept ingredients back for since Yuksom, and a cake if the pressure cooker cooperates.

The momentYour appetite returning at Tshoka, and the cook bringing out the dinner he has been saving since Yuksom

InsiderThe forest trail to Phedang is the quietest stretch of the trek. Walk it a few minutes apart from one another and you will hear the forest instead of each other.

If the weather turnsIf the forest trail is iced or blocked by fallen trees, we climb back over Dzongri instead. It adds about an hour and a steep first section.

Tonight
Private camp at Tshoka, Tshoka (trek camp)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
10
Day 10 · Tshoka Yuksom

Down to Yuksom: hot water, thanks and thee at the family table
- High point 2,960 m
- Sleep at 1,780 m
- Moderate
The last stage retraces the first two: about 15 km and five to six hours downhill through Bakhim, over the Prek Chu, past Sachen and across the three bridges. Start at 07:30 with poles and short steps, which your knees will thank you for. You reach Yuksom around 14:00, where the luggage you left behind is already in your room. Hot water, a proper shower and a laundry bag handed over. At 16:30, if you have legs left, your guide walks you through the village to the garden at Norbugang, quiet at this hour, and back past the forest check post where the trail began a week ago. Dinner is at the family table, where the household pours thee, the Limbu millet brew, into a bamboo tongba, with tea for anyone who prefers it. The crew are all in Yuksom tonight, so this is when thanks and tips are handed over, together.

The momentThee at the family table in Yuksom, the first evening in eight without a headtorch in your pocket

InsiderHand over tips at dinner tonight rather than at the trailhead. By the morning most porters and animal handlers have already gone home to their villages.

If the weather turnsIf rain turns the descent to mud, we leave Tshoka at 06:30 and walk it in stages, with long stops at Bakhim and Sachen. Yuksom waits either way.

Tonight
Limboo Homestay, Yuksom

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
11
Day 11 · Yuksom Bagdogra airport

Yuksom to Bagdogra, leaving before the light
- 151 km, about 6 h
- High point 1,780 m
- Easy
This is the long road, and we plan around it. The car leaves at 05:30 with breakfast packed by the family: boiled eggs, bread, fruit and a flask of tea. The route runs 151 km: down past Tashiding to Legship, along the Rangeet to Jorethang and out to the Teesta at Melli, about six hours with two short stops. No other day of the journey spends as long in a car. You reach Bagdogra around 12:00, so we ask you to book a flight leaving from 14:00. If only an earlier flight will do, tell us when you book and we move your last night to Pelling or Darjeeling instead. Your trip leader rides with you to the terminal door. Before you part, he writes out the names of the crew who carried the camp, so that the next time you come, you can ask for them.

The momentLooking back up the Rangeet valley towards Yuksom and knowing, now, exactly what waits at its head

InsiderDress tonight for the flight and close the trek duffel before bed. At 05:30 in the dark, the fewer bags you open, the calmer the start.

If the weather turnsIf NH10 is shut along the Teesta, we drive up through Darjeeling and down the hill road to Siliguri instead. On such days we leave at 05:00.

Tonight
Homeward

Meals
Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, three houses

The Elgin Mount Pandim, Limboo Homestay and Private camp at the park's campsites. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

The lawn at Mount Pandim, looking into the cloud on the Pelling ridge.flowcomm, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

1 night

The Elgin Mount Pandim

Pelling

A royal retreat of 1942 on the ridge beside Pemayangtse, heated in winter: a proper bed and a deep bath before seven nights under canvas.

Ask for A Deluxe Cottage down the garden path; a main-building room if you would rather not walk it after dark
The Yuksom valley the homestay sits in, at the trailhead.Arijit Dey / Pexels

2 nights

Limboo Homestay

Yuksom

A Limbu family home at the trailhead, with a kitchen that cooks from its own garden: simple, clean rooms rather than grand ones.

Ask for A room in the newer building with an attached bathroom; we confirm hot water before you walk in
High Sikkim above the treeline, the ground the trek crosses.Bliss / Pexels

7 nights

Private camp at the park's campsites

Trek camps

Your own camp at Sachen, Tshoka, Dzongri, Lamuney and Kokchurung, pitched by the crew before you arrive, with a dining tent and a toilet tent.

Ask for A three-person tent for two, 4-season sleeping bags with liners, insulated mattresses; single tent on request

Price and what it covers

from₹1,90,000

Per person, twin share, for two Indian nationals trekking together. Foreign nationals pay higher park fees, and a single trekker pays considerably more because the crew costs the same. How our prices are built

About £1,480 or US$1,980 at the rates of 19 September 2026.

Price my dates

Less time?The First Time: Darjeeling and Sikkim8 nights

Included

Road transfers in a Sikkim-registered Innova Crysta or similar: Bagdogra to Pelling, on to Yuksom, and from Yuksom back to Bagdogra
The Elgin Mount Pandim, 1 night, and Limboo Homestay, Yuksom, 2 nights, with breakfast and dinner
Our own trip leader from Darjeeling, with you from Bagdogra arrivals to Bagdogra departures
A private trek crew for 8 days: licensed Sikkim trek guide, assistant guide, cook, kitchen helper, porters and pack animals
Camp equipment: sleeping tents, a dining tent with table and chairs, a toilet tent, 4-season sleeping bags with liners, insulated mattresses and hot water bottles
All meals on the trail from breakfast on day 3 to lunch on day 10, a menu agreed with you before departure, and boiled, filtered drinking water
Lunch on days 1 and 2
Khangchendzonga National Park entry, camping and pack animal fees at Indian rates, the trekking permit and police registration at Yuksom
For foreign and OCI guests: the Sikkim permit, filed online through e-FRRO, and the trekking permit, arranged through a registered Sikkim operator and processed in Pelling
Pulse oximeter checks morning and evening, a full first-aid kit and bottled oxygen carried with the party
A 10 kg duffel per guest carried by porters or pack animals
24x7 support from our Darjeeling team, with a check-in whenever the guide finds signal

Not included

Flights to and from Bagdogra
Travel insurance covering trekking to 5,000 m and evacuation, which is required
Tips for the crew, driver and trip leader
Drinks other than tea, coffee and water, and all alcohol
Personal trekking kit: boots, down jacket, trekking poles and daypack (we can arrange hire)
The higher park fees for foreign nationals, about ₹5,000 per person
Extra nights caused by weather, road closures or illness

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

A spare day on the mountainAn eleventh night at Lamuney or Thansing, so a cloudy dawn at View Point 1 gets a second morning.
A night in Darjeeling on the way homeYuksom to Darjeeling, then Bagdogra the next morning: two shorter drives in place of one long one.
A porter for your daypackA second porter walks beside you with your daypack, so you climb with only a water bottle and a camera.
Kit hire before you flyDown jacket, poles, gaiters and a spare headtorch sized and waiting for you at the Elgin on day 1.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifIf you have never walked several days at altitude, or want a bed every night, start with The Singalila Ridge, or see the same mountain from a hotel on Kanchenjunga Face to Face.

Documents: Indian guests bring a passport, voter ID or driving licence, copies and two passport photographs. Foreign and OCI guests trek as a party of at least two and need the Sikkim permit, filed online through e-FRRO, and a trekking permit; send scans about 30 days ahead. The rules are on /plan/permits-and-visas/.
Fitness: you should walk 12 km with 800 m of climbing comfortably. We ask every guest for a doctor's fitness note, and suggest four to six weeks of stairs, hills and a loaded daypack.
Altitude: two nights at Dzongri, about 4,000 m, come before the camp at Lamuney, with oximeter readings twice a day. Acetazolamide is your own doctor's call; how we plan for height is on /plan/before-you-travel/#altitude-rules.
Clothing for October and November: days around 10 to 15 °C at the lower camps, nights well below freezing at Dzongri and Lamuney. Bring thermal layers, a down jacket, a waterproof shell, warm gloves, a hat and boots already broken in.
Signal and power: expect no dependable mobile signal beyond Yuksom and no charging on the trail. Bring a large power bank and keep it in your sleeping bag at night.
Cash: carry enough from Siliguri or Pelling for tips and small purchases, and do not count on finding an ATM in Yuksom.
Cover: a policy that names trekking to 5,000 m and evacuation from the park; we ask for its number before the crew is booked.
Tipping: the crew is thanked once, together, on the last evening in Yuksom; the guideline for your crew size comes with your quote, and our general ranges are on /plan/before-you-travel/#tipping.

Questions

Six questions about Goecha La, Privately

Ask on WhatsApp

Why does the trek stop at View Point 1, short of the pass?

Since 2017 trekkers have been allowed only as far as View Point 1, about 4,600 m. The pass at 4,940 m is closed to protect snow leopard habitat, after camera traps recorded the animals, and because the moraine beyond is unstable. You lose little. View Point 1 faces the south-east face of Kanchenjunga across the glacier basin, and the whole trek is timed so that you stand there at first light.

How hard is the climb from Tshoka to Dzongri?

It is the day the trek is judged by: about 9 km and roughly 1,040 m of climbing, on split-log steps through rhododendron and silver fir to Phedang, then some three hours over open, windy ground to the meadow at about 4,000 m. Walk at a pace that still lets you talk. If you can manage 12 km with 800 m of climbing at home, and have slept above 3,500 m before, you will manage it, slowly.

Is one dawn at View Point 1 enough, or should we add a night?

Ten nights give you one attempt. If cloud sits on the viewpoint, we wait at Samiti Lake until 06:30 for a break, and sometimes it comes. An eleventh night at Lamuney or Thansing gives you a second morning, and it is priced in your quote as its own line. If standing in front of Kanchenjunga at first light is the reason you are coming, and your leave allows it, take the extra night.

Goecha La or The Singalila Ridge: which walk is ours?

The Singalila Ridge is five nights with a bed every night: two in a Darjeeling hill resort, one in a lodge at Tumling, about 2,970 m, and two at Sandakphu, 3,636 m, with an old Land Rover carrying the bags and Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Kanchenjunga on one horizon. Goecha La is ten nights, seven of them under canvas, two near 4,000 m before a camp at about 4,150 m, and it puts you under Kanchenjunga rather than across from it. If you have never slept high, walk Singalila first.

What are the camps like when the crew is yours alone?

Your camps sit at the park's own sites: Sachen, Tshoka, Dzongri, Lamuney and Kokchurung. You sleep two to a three-person tent on insulated mattresses in 4-season sleeping bags, with liners and hot water bottles. Meals come to a table in a dining tent, and every camp has a toilet tent. The crew walks ahead and pitches camp before you arrive. There is no electricity and no shower after Yuksom; warm water comes by the bowl.

What happens if one of us feels the altitude above Dzongri?

Your guide checks oxygen saturation and symptoms every morning and evening from Tshoka up. A headache is treated with rest, water and time at the same height, which is what the second Dzongri night is for. Anyone whose symptoms worsen goes no higher, and anyone seriously unwell descends at once with a guide, a porter and the bottled oxygen the party carries. From Tshoka, Yuksom is a day's walk; above Dzongri it takes longer.

Sources we checked for this itinerary (21)

Checked September 2026. We confirm permits, fees and flights again for your dates.

Plan my journey

Goecha La, Privately, shaped around you

At its best Mid October to late November, and March to mid May. Tell us your month and who is travelling, and we reply within 24 hours with this journey priced for your dates.

Length: 10 nights
From: ₹1,90,000 per person
At its best: Mid October to late November, and March to mid May
Bases: Pelling, Yuksom, Trek camps: Sachen, Tshoka, Dzongri, Lamuney, Kokchurung

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AboutGoecha La, Privately, 10 nights

Your name

When would you like to travel?

Phone or WhatsApp With country code if outside India. Either this or email is enough.

Tell us about the trip you picture Who is coming, the pace you like, the occasion. A sentence is fine.

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Adults

ChildrenTheir ages help: add them in your note

Passports in your partyPermits in Sikkim and fees in Bhutan depend on it

Budget per person, excluding flightsThis journey starts at ₹1,90,000 per person. Your band tells us which rooms to price.

How should we reply?Calls from our office, 8am to 9pm IST (GMT+5:30)

Nights away

Occasion

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Places you have in mindDarjeeling, Kalimpong, Gangtok, Pelling, Bhutan, Nepal

Someone in our party finds stairs or altitude hard

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No deposit to begin, and nothing is booked until you say yes.

Goecha La, Privately

Is Goecha La, Privately right for you?

Why Pelling comes first

From 126 m to 4,600 m, day by day

Pelling, Yuksom and Trek camps: Sachen, Tshoka, Dzongri, Lamuney, Kokchurung at their best

Day by day, Pelling to Trek camps: Sachen, Tshoka, Dzongri, Lamuney, Kokchurung

Bagdogra to the Pelling ridge, the long way in

Pelling at dawn, then Yuksom and Dubdi

Into the forest: Yuksom to Sachen

Bakhim and the climb to the pond at Tshoka

Phedang and the hard climb to Dzongri

Dzongri Top at dawn, then a day to adjust

Down to the Prek Chu, up under Pandim to Lamuney

View Point 1 at first light, then down to Kokchurung

The forest trail from Kokchurung back to Tshoka

Down to Yuksom: hot water, thanks and thee at the family table

Yuksom to Bagdogra, leaving before the light

Where you sleep, three houses

The Elgin Mount Pandim

Limboo Homestay

Private camp at the park's campsites

Included

Not included

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

Before you go on this route

Six questions about Goecha La, Privately

Also through Pelling and Yuksom

Kanchenjunga, Face to Face

Sikkim, End to End

Walking Western Bhutan

The Singalila Ridge

Goecha La, Privately, shaped around you