Red Panda and Rhododendron Tour, 6 Nights

In short

Is Red Pandas and Rhododendrons right for you?

Red Pandas and Rhododendrons is a six-night private spring journey for walkers and birders, with a naturalist from the hills on every walk. From Bagdogra it spends a night in Darjeeling, two at Okhrey below the Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary, two at Kolakham on the edge of Neora Valley National Park, and a last night in Kalimpong.

Made forwalkers who manage 8 km on a mountain path, birders and wildlife photographers, couples and friends who like early mornings and families with walking children over 12.

Not for you ifyou need lifts, a spa and room service every night, or cannot walk 8 km on uneven ground, choose Kanchenjunga at First Light instead.

Each spring the forests above the Rangeet and the Teesta flush red, pink and cream. Guras, the hills call the rhododendron, and on the Singalila ridge at Barsey whole slopes of it open at once, some trees taller than a two-storey house. Beneath them grows the bamboo that feeds the red panda, a shy animal that rests in the canopy through the day and feeds around dawn and dusk. This journey is built around both, and around the person who walks it with you: a naturalist from the hills who reads bamboo the way others read a map, and who keeps the week's list of every bird you see and hear.

We will be straight with you. A wild red panda is luck: we put you in the right forest at the earliest hour the park allows, and the animal decides. The lodges are simple, a Sherpa family's homestay and wooden cabins with no television, chosen for where they stand rather than what they offer. In return you get empty trails, birds at breakfast, and a mountain that may show itself above the flowers.

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

Length: 6 nights, 7 days
Starts and ends: Bagdogra airport to Bagdogra airport
Best months: Mid-March to early May (bloom peaks mid-March to late April)
Avoid: Mid-June to mid-September (Neora Valley closed, monsoon); June to February has no bloom
Pace: Moderate
Longest drive: About 6 hours, 447 km in all
Highest point: Barsey, on the Singalila ridge, 3,000 m
Group: Private, 2 to 6 guests

The route

Why Darjeeling comes first

Darjeeling comes first, one night at 2,045 m and a morning with captive red pandas, so you know the animal before you look for it. West Sikkim is next, while your legs are fresh for the 8 km walk to Barsey at about 3,000 m, after two nights between 2,000 and 2,300 m. The long transfer to Neora follows a rest afternoon. Kalimpong closes the week lower and warmer, 80 km from the airport.

your bases, in orderby roadborders not drawn

Where the nights go

1Darjeeling2Okhrey (West Sikkim)2Lava (Kolakham)1Kalimpong

Read the place guidesDarjeeling Pelling & West Sikkim Kalimpong

The shape of the journey

From 126 m to 3,000 m, day by day

You sleep between 1,247 m and 2,300 m. The highest you go is 3,000 m, on day 3 at Barsey, on the Singalila ridge, and you come down again to sleep.

1,000 m2,000 m3,000 m 3,000 m2,300 m2,195 m2,195 m1,247 m

Arrive126 m
Day 12,045 m
Day 22,300 m
Day 32,300 m
Day 41,868 m
Day 51,868 m
Day 61,247 m
Day 7126 m

Built around

Darjeeling, Okhrey (West Sikkim), Lava (Kolakham) and Kalimpong at their best

An 8 km walk from Hilley to Barsey and back through rhododendron forest at about 3,000 m
The first park jeep of the morning into Neora Valley's bamboo belt, with a forest guide and our naturalist
Two nights with a Sherpa family in Okhrey, 10 km below the Barsey trailhead
Captive-bred red pandas at Darjeeling's zoo at opening time, before you look for wild ones
Two nights in a Kolakham cabin on the park's edge, lit by candles and oil lamps because the grid does not reach it
A printed list of every bird you saw and heard, written up by your naturalist on the last night

Day by day

Day by day, Darjeeling to Kalimpong

The longest drive is day 4, Okhrey to Lava (Kolakham), about 6 hours with stops.

01
Day 1 · Bagdogra airport Darjeeling

Up to Darjeeling, with the naturalist from Kurseong
- 70 km, about 3 h
- High point 2,258 m
- Sleep at 2,045 m
- Easy
Your driver waits at the arrivals exit at Bagdogra with a name card and water in the door, and the climb to Darjeeling is about three hours, on whichever road the morning's report has open. At Kurseong, about halfway up at 1,483 m, your naturalist gets in with a flask of tea and the binoculars you will carry all week. The town is probably named for a small white orchid, Coelogyne cristata, Kharsang to its first Lepcha settlers, which grows on mossy trunks in these valleys and flowers in late winter and spring: if one is out on a wall above the road, it is the first line on your list. From here to Ghum he keeps his window down and names what calls from the forest. By about 16:00 you are at the Windamere on Observatory Hill, a few minutes on foot from Chowrasta. At 18:30 he spreads the week on one sheet by the fire: the Barsey walk, the Neora morning, the birds likely in each forest and the ones that would be pure luck. Dinner is early, because tomorrow begins at the zoo gate.

The momentA spray of small white orchids on a mossy trunk above Kurseong, and the first tick on the week's list.

InsiderAn April night on the ridge still falls to about 9 °C. We ask the Windamere for heaters and hot water bottles before dinner, and to tell us of any charge for a fire.

If the weather turnsIf slides close the usual climb, the driver takes one of the other roads up from the plains, the naturalist waits at Kurseong with tea, and the briefing moves to after dinner.

Tonight
Windamere Hotel, Darjeeling

Meals
Dinner
02
Day 2 · Darjeeling Okhrey

The zoo's red pandas first, then down to the Rangeet and up to Okhrey
- 68 km, about 3.5 h
- High point 2,300 m
- Sleep at 2,300 m
- Easy
At 08:30, as the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park opens, your naturalist spends forty minutes with you at the red panda enclosures for one lesson only: the shape to scan for in Neora, a ringed tail hanging below a branch and a rust-red back laid along it. By 09:45 the car is dropping some 1,700 m to the Rangeet at Jorethang, where the checkpost reads papers; a foreign or OCI guest whose e-FRRO permit does not list this post enters by Melli instead, which adds about an hour. Then the climb west through Sombaria to Okhrey, about 2,300 m, by 13:30. A Sherpa family has run the Royal Barsey Homestay here since 2016, and lunch is waiting on their table. At 16:00 walk up through the village to its monastery as the light goes, rhododendrons flowering over the roofs. Your naturalist asks the family which slopes above Hilley were reddest this week, and books the jeep for 05:30.

The momentA red panda wakes on its branch, yawns, and grooms its ringed tail while you stand ten paces away.

InsiderIn Singalila, studies found the red panda's diet was mostly maling bamboo. Your naturalist shows you what a maling stand looks like, so you know where to look in Neora.

If the weather turnsThe zoo shuts on Thursdays, so this day is never one. If rain keeps the pandas in shelter, we leave at 09:00 and add an hour of village birding in Okhrey.

Tonight
Royal Barsey Homestay, Okhrey, Okhrey (West Sikkim)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
03
Day 3 · Okhrey (West Sikkim)

Hilley to Barsey through the flowering forest
- 20 km, about 1 h
- High point 3,000 m
- Sleep at 2,300 m
- Active
Tea at 05:00, and at 05:30 a local jeep, booked through the homestay the evening before, runs you 10 km up to Hilley, about 2,730 m, where the forest guard writes your entry permit. Walk the 4 km trail to Barsey at a birder's pace, about two hours with stops, gentle for most of the way with a steeper pull near the top. The rhododendrons change as you climb: tree forms in red and pink lower down, paler flowers and broader leaves towards the ridge, magnolia among them. Listen for the fire-tailed myzornis and look for niltavas in the understorey. At Guras Kunj, the trekkers' hut near 3,000 m, breakfast comes out of the flasks and tins we carried up: eggs, bread from the homestay kitchen, hot sweet tea. On a clear morning Kanchenjunga stands to the north above the flowers. Down by 11:30, lunch in Okhrey at 12:30, then the afternoon is yours to sleep. Supper is shyakpa, the Sherpa stew of hand-torn dough and vegetables, eaten beside the heater.

The momentThe trail turns a corner and the slope ahead is red to the skyline, low sun coming through the petals.

InsiderKunj is a grove and guras is the rhododendron, so the hut on the ridge is called, simply, the rhododendron grove. Sikkim's own state tree is a rhododendron too, R. niveum, whose magenta flowers sit in a tight ball. Barsey protects about 104

If the weather turnsIf rain sets in or snow blocks the Hilley road, we walk the rhododendron lanes above Okhrey and try the upper trail after 13:00 if the sky clears.

Tonight
Royal Barsey Homestay, Okhrey, Okhrey (West Sikkim)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
04
Day 4 · Okhrey Lava (Kolakham)

The long road east: Rangeet, Teesta, and up to Lava
- 138 km, about 6 h
- High point 2,300 m
- Sleep at 1,868 m
- Easy
This is the one long day, about six hours at the wheel, declared as the journey's transfer, so we leave at 07:30 with coffee in flasks. The car runs down to Jorethang and along the Rangeet to Melli, where it joins the Teesta, then climbs to Kalimpong for lunch at about 12:00 in the garden of the Elgin Silver Oaks, your house on day 6. From Kalimpong the road runs east through Algarah into dhupi and fir, and at about 14:30 you reach Lava, near 2,195 m. We stop at the forest range office to ask whether it will write tomorrow's Neora permit early, then give you half an hour in the Nature Interpretation Centre, open until 16:00 except on Thursdays. The last 10 km to Kolakham are slow and rough. By 16:00 you are at the camp, 1,868 m, with tea poured in the dining room, a small library off it, and the forest standing behind the cabins.

The momentLunch on the Elgin lawn with the valley falling away below you and the worst of the road already behind.

InsiderNeora's permits are day permits, usually written on the morning of entry. Asking at Lava as we pass costs five minutes and can spare your guide a drive at dawn.

If the weather turnsIf slides hold traffic near Melli, we sit it out over lunch at the roadside and ring the camp to keep dinner late; the police checkpost gives the driver clearance times.

Tonight
Neora Valley Jungle Camp, Kolakham, Lava (Kolakham)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
05
Day 5 · Lava (Kolakham)

Neora Valley on the first jeep, and the luck of the bamboo
- 26 km, about 1.5 h
- High point 2,195 m
- Sleep at 1,868 m
- Moderate
At 06:00 your guide is at the Lava range office with copies of your ID to pay the fees and collect the park jeep booked last night. The park opens no earlier than the first jeep, at about 08:00, so dawn belongs to the forest edge behind the camp, with tea in hand. Then the jeep, a forest guide on board and a packed breakfast behind the seats, climbs from the Kolakham gate some 13 km through the forest to Zero Point, as far as wheels may go. Then you walk. Bamboo closes over the track among rhododendron, oak and fir, the red panda's country. Scan the crowns of the bamboo and the fallen logs, listen for the satyr tragopan, whose males grow blue horns and a wattle to display in spring, and watch the track for barking deer and goral. Most visitors meet birds rather than a panda, and we say so plainly. Late lunch at the camp, then a slow village walk at 16:00.

The momentThe jeep's engine stops at Zero Point and all you hear is bamboo creaking and a laughingthrush somewhere below.

InsiderRed pandas use fallen logs to reach bamboo leaves and often leave droppings on them, packed with bamboo fragments. Fresh ones tell your guide where it is worth waiting.

If the weather turnsIf rain shuts the forest road or no permit is issued, we walk the forest edge above the camp and try the 12:00 jeep, or the 08:00 jeep on day 6 before Kalimpong.

Tonight
Neora Valley Jungle Camp, Kolakham, Lava (Kolakham)

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06
Day 6 · Lava (Kolakham) Kalimpong

Morning prayers at Lava, then the Lepcha Museum in Kalimpong
- 45 km, about 2 h
- High point 2,195 m
- Sleep at 1,247 m
- Easy
A last walk along the camp's forest edge at dawn, breakfast at 07:30, and at 08:30 the car takes you back through Kolakham to Lava. Kagyu Thekchen Ling, on the hill above the bazaar, is young by the standards of these hills, opened in 1990, and more than a hundred monks study there. You sit at the back of the morning prayers, and on a clear day Kanchenjunga shows from the courtyard. The road runs down through Algarah to Kalimpong, 33 km and about 1 hour 20 minutes, for an early lunch in town. The afternoon belongs to the Lepcha Museum, open until 17:00, and it is the right last stop for a naturalist's week: the Lepchas, the first people of these forests, are recorded using more than 370 species of plants, animals and fungi in Sikkim, and the museum keeps their script, their crafts and the carved timbers of their houses. Take your time there. Tea in the Elgin garden, and at dinner your naturalist hands over the week's list, every species seen and heard.

The momentYour naturalist reads the week's list aloud at dinner, and someone at the table claims the bird nobody else saw.

InsiderKagyu Thekchen Ling was founded by the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche. Walk round behind it for the view down over the village and its playing field.

If the weather turnsIn steady rain we skip the monastery courtyard and drive straight down, and give the Lepcha Museum the whole afternoon; it is all under a roof.

Tonight
The Elgin Silver Oaks, Kalimpong

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
07
Day 7 · Kalimpong Bagdogra airport

One line left open on the list, then the airport
- 80 km, about 3 h
- High point 1,247 m
- Easy
Your checklist has one line left open this morning: anything you see between the Elgin's garden and the airport counts. Breakfast from 07:00, and at 08:30 the car leaves for Bagdogra, 80 km and about three hours down the Teesta road. The driver confirmed the road last night and again at first light, and tells you which way you are going before you set off. Your naturalist said goodbye in Kalimpong, so the binoculars stay with him, but the list and the week's notes come home with you. The terminal comes into sight at about 11:30, which suits departures from 13:00, and our team in the hills is a phone call away until you board. If your flight leaves before 12:30, we leave at 07:00 and the Elgin packs breakfast for the road.

The momentThe last bird of the week, written in on the drive down, in your own hand rather than the naturalist's.

InsiderWe watch your flight from the evening before. If Bagdogra moves the time, we change your departure and breakfast to match and tell you as early as we can.

If the weather turnsIf slides close NH10 near Sevoke, we come down through Algarah, Gorubathan and the Dooars instead, leaving at 06:00 with breakfast packed.

Tonight
Homeward

Meals
Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, four houses

Windamere Hotel, Royal Barsey Homestay, Neora Valley Jungle Camp and The Elgin Silver Oaks. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

Windamere from its garden on Observatory Hill.P.K.Niyogi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

1 night

Windamere Hotel

Darjeeling

On Observatory Hill, minutes from Chowrasta and the zoo road: a fire, an early dinner, and no drive before the 08:30 zoo gate.

Ask for A Superior room, and we ask for the heater on and hot water bottles in the beds before you walk in
Cloud on a Sikkim hill village, the country around Okhrey.Ankit Bhattacharjee / Pexels

2 nights

Royal Barsey Homestay

Okhrey

A Sherpa family's house in upper Okhrey, 10 km below the Barsey trailhead, so the jeep to Hilley leaves at 05:30 from the door. Seven rooms, home cooking, and hot water in every bath.

Ask for Their one family room, or one of the six triples made up for two; every room has its own bath and hot water
Mist in the Kalimpong forest, the country the camp's cabins stand in.Ayush Paul / Pexels

2 nights

Neora Valley Jungle Camp

Lava (Kolakham)

Cabins of local timber at 1,868 m where the forest starts, a social enterprise shared with Kolakham village: birds at breakfast from your own verandah, Nepali cooking from the farms below, candlelight after dark.

Ask for Niltava, with an attic and the camp's best Kanchenjunga view, or Sama, alone at the forest edge
The garden at Silver Oaks, above its pond.Anuj Kumar Pradhan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

1 night
The Elgin Silver Oaks

Kalimpong

A 1930s house with valley-facing gardens, a library and a spa: a comfortable landing after four simpler nights.

Ask for A Premium room, with tea in the garden when you arrive
- BathroomAttached private bath with shower, bathrobes and bath slippers.

Price and what it covers

from₹95,000

per person, twin share, with a naturalist from day 1 to dinner on day 6; single rooms on request. How our prices are built

About £740 or US$990 at the rates of 19 September 2026.

Price my dates

Less time?The Singalila Ridge5 nights More time?Kanchenjunga at First Light7 nights

Included

Your car and driver from Bagdogra and back, an Innova Crysta or similar, with fuel, tolls and parking paid, and the driver's own nights at Okhrey and Kolakham
A naturalist from Kurseong on day 1 to dinner on day 6, with binoculars on loan, a printed checklist and the written-up list of every bird you saw and heard
1 night at the Windamere and 1 at The Elgin Silver Oaks with breakfast and dinner; 2 nights at Royal Barsey Homestay and 2 at Neora Valley Jungle Camp with all meals
Packed breakfasts for the Barsey and Neora mornings, and lunches in Kalimpong on days 4 and 6
Your tickets for the Darjeeling zoo's opening hour on day 2
Barsey entry and camera fees paid at Hilley, the local jeep from Okhrey to Hilley and back, and Sikkim's ₹50 tourist fee
Neora Valley National Park entry, vehicle and forest guide fees, and the park jeep from the Lava stand
For foreign and OCI guests, we prepare and file Sikkim's Restricted Area Permit through e-FRRO about 30 days ahead and print it for the checkpost (the steps are in our Permits and visas guide)
Heaters, hot water and extra quilts confirmed with each lodge before you arrive
Our team on call 24x7 from the Bagdogra arrivals exit to your flight home

Not included

Flights to and from Bagdogra
Travel insurance, which should cover walking to 3,000 m
Drinks, laundry and personal expenses
Tips for the driver, naturalist, forest guides and the homestay family
Add-ons such as a night at Guras Kunj or the Changey Falls walk
Single-room supplements

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

A night at Guras Kunj on the ridgeDusk and dawn at Barsey from the trekkers' hut near 3,000 m. Dormitory beds, shared washrooms, cold nights.
Changey Falls from KolakhamA steep path down to the falls below Kolakham on the afternoon of day 5, for walkers with strong knees: a real descent, and the same climb back.
A second night in DarjeelingTiger Hill at dawn on a free day, placed before the drive west so no early start meets a long road.
The Haat Bazaar in KalimpongAdd a Wednesday or Saturday night and walk the market early with a local guide, churpi and chillies in hand.
Tiffin Dara above Rishyap at first lightRishyap sits at 2,591 m, 10 km beyond Lava, and Tiffin Dara, about 1 km above it, looks across the Kanchenjunga range. A dawn walk on day 6 for keen birders; April haze often hides the peaks, so we decide the evening before.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifIf you need lifts, a spa and room service every night, or cannot walk 8 km on uneven ground, choose Kanchenjunga at First Light instead.

Documents: send scans of photo ID for every guest a week ahead, because the Barsey permit is written at Hilley and Neora's day permit at the Lava range office, each against copies. Foreign and OCI guests also need Sikkim's Restricted Area Permit, filed online through e-FRRO about 30 days before they reach the state: see Permits and visas.
Clothing: April days reach about 19 °C in Darjeeling and 24 °C in Kalimpong, but mornings at Hilley and Barsey are cold. Pack thermal layers, a warm jacket, gloves, a hat and a light rain shell for spring showers.
Walking: Barsey is 8 km there and back, from about 2,730 m to about 3,000 m, and Neora's trails turn to mud after rain. Bring broken-in boots with grip, and trekking poles if you use them.
Altitude: the highest bed is Okhrey's, about 2,300 m, and the walk to about 3,000 m comes on day 3 after two nights above 2,000 m. Walk slowly, and tell us about heart conditions or asthma when you book; the general rules are in Before you travel.
Leeches: they appear on lower forest trails after spring rain. Leech socks and a pinch of salt deal with them.
Power and signal: mobile signal is patchy at Okhrey and weak at Kolakham, and the camp has no mains power, so evenings run on candles and oil lamps. Carry a head torch, a charged power bank, spare camera batteries and small notes for village shops.
Tipping: most guests thank the Okhrey family, the forest guide at Neora, the naturalist and the driver at the end; our suggested figures are in Before you travel.

Questions

Six questions about Red Pandas and Rhododendrons

Ask on WhatsApp

Can you see a red panda in the wild in Neora Valley?

Sometimes, and rarely in daylight. The animal is crepuscular: it eats in the half-light at either end of the day and sleeps out the middle of it along a high branch, and Neora's forest is steep and thick. The park's first jeep goes in at about 08:00, so dawn is spent on the camp's forest edge; then the jeep climbs to Zero Point with a forest guide and your naturalist, who checks fallen logs for fresh droppings. Most guests meet birds, deer and the animal's habitat rather than the animal, which is why day 2 starts with the zoo's captive-bred pandas.

We can only travel in early May. Is Barsey still worth it?

Often, yes, but you will be at the tail of the bloom. It begins in the tree rhododendrons lower down from about mid-March, climbs towards the ridge near 3,000 m and usually peaks by late April, with flowers lasting into May. A late snow can push everything back by weeks, as it did in 2019, and May haze hides Kanchenjunga more often. Before you book flights we ask the family at Okhrey what is open on the slopes above Hilley.

Can a 65-year-old manage the walk from Hilley to Barsey?

If they walk regularly, usually yes. From Hilley at about 2,730 m the trail runs 4 km to Barsey near 3,000 m, gentle most of the way with a steeper pull near the top. Steady walkers take about 90 minutes up, or two hours at a birder's pace. The return is quicker, 8 km in all, and muddy after rain, so poles help. If a heart or lungs need watching, see your doctor before you book; on a bad day the plan B keeps to the rhododendron lanes above Okhrey.

What do foreign guests need for Barsey and Neora beyond the Sikkim permit?

Two more permits, both written on the spot. The Barsey entry permit is issued at the Hilley check post on the morning of the walk, against passport copies, and Neora Valley needs a day permit from the Lava range office, at a higher fee for foreign visitors. We carry the copies for both. Sikkim's own Restricted Area Permit is a separate thing: you file it online through e-FRRO, roughly a month ahead, before you reach the state. The steps are in our Permits and visas guide.

How is this different from The Singalila Ridge?

The Singalila Ridge is a trek along the Nepal border: nights in trekkers' lodges, the highest at Sandakphu, 3,636 m, and walking days of 11 and 15 km. This journey never sleeps above about 2,300 m and asks for one 8 km walk, with every other outing short. It trades Sandakphu's view of four of the five highest peaks for forest in flower, a naturalist beside you and a morning in Neora's bamboo. Choose the ridge for mountains, this one for forest.

How simple are the Okhrey and Kolakham nights?

Simple and warm, with a few rough edges. At Royal Barsey Homestay you sleep in a Sherpa family's house, with attached baths and hot water, and eat what their kitchen cooks. Neora Valley Jungle Camp has a handful of wooden cabins, one of them named for the niltava, and cooks Nepali food from the farms around it. There is no television and no mains power at all, so the evenings are candles and oil lamps: bring a head torch and charge what you can in Darjeeling. Both are chosen for the forest at the door, and afterwards you land in the Elgin's gardens at Kalimpong.

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