Sikkim Family Itinerary, 6 Nights

In short

Is Sikkim for Families right for you?

Sikkim for Families is a six-night private journey for parents and children aged six to fourteen, from and back to Bagdogra (IXB). You spend three nights at a forest resort below Gangtok for the red panda zoo and a short morning at Tsomgo Lake, one near Ravangla after the Temi tea garden, and two facing Kanchenjunga at Pelling.

Made forfamilies with children aged six to fourteen, parents who want short, planned days, grandparents in good health and vegetarian families.

Not for you ifFamilies with babies or toddlers, or anyone advised against 3,753 m, will do better on The Hills with Children, which stays in Darjeeling and Kalimpong below 2,258 m.

Most Sikkim tours are built for adults with stamina: five sights a day, a dawn start, lunch at three. Children pay for that in the back seat. This journey gives each day one big thing and one small one, and puts meals and naps where children need them. Tsomgo is the one fast climb of the week, about 2,700 m in two hours, so we keep it to day three, stop twice on the way up and spend under an hour at the lake.

The rest is about space and small hands. The resort below Gangtok has 48 acres of forest, swings, slides and a play room, so afternoons are for running about. Children fold their own momos, pick their own tea, stroke a yak and walk out over glass. Parents get connecting rooms, a quiet cup of tea and, on the last two mornings, Kanchenjunga in the window before anyone has to get dressed.

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: March to May, October to early December
Avoid: Mid June to mid September (monsoon); January and February with young children
Pace: Gentle
Longest drive: About 5.5 hours, 585 km in all
Highest point: Tsomgo Lake, 3,753 m
Group: Private, one family of 3 to 6 guests

The route

Why Gangtok comes first

Gangtok comes first because it has the family resort we trust most, paediatric care and the permit office, and because Tsomgo should follow two nights lower down. Ravangla sits between Gangtok and Pelling, so a night there splits a 115 km road into two short days of about three hours and two, with the tea garden and the Buddha on the way. Pelling comes last for the mountain. The one price is an early start home: 135 km to Bagdogra, leaving at 06:00.

your bases, in orderby roadborders not drawn

Where the nights go

3Gangtok1Ravangla2Pelling

Read the place guidesGangtok & East Sikkim Pelling & West Sikkim

The shape of the journey

From 126 m to 3,753 m, day by day

You sleep between 1,000 m and 2,000 m. The highest you go is 3,753 m, on day 3 at Tsomgo Lake, and you come down again to sleep.

1,000 m2,000 m3,000 m4,000 m 1,780 m3,753 m1,950 m

Arrive126 m
Day 11,000 m
Day 21,000 m
Day 31,000 m
Day 42,000 m
Day 51,950 m
Day 61,950 m
Day 7126 m

Built around

Gangtok, Ravangla and Pelling at their best

Red pandas, Sikkim's state animal, at the Bulbuley zoo in the first hours after it opens
Tsomgo's ropeway and yaks at 3,753 m, with under an hour at the top and oxygen in the car
Picking two leaves and a bud in the Temi tea garden, planted by Sikkim's last king in 1969
Ravangla's 130 ft copper Buddha in late light, then a bonfire and a Sikkimese thali
India's first glass skywalk at Pelling in its first hour, before the cloud and the coaches
A duplex for the whole family, with Kanchenjunga in the window at breakfast

Day by day

Day by day, Gangtok to Pelling

The longest drive is day 7, Pelling to Bagdogra airport, about 5.5 hours with stops.

01
Day 1 · Bagdogra airport Gangtok

A slow road up to a forest resort
- 115 km, about 4.5 h
- High point 1,000 m
- Sleep at 1,000 m
- Easy
At the arrivals exit in Bagdogra your driver holds up a name board, and the car behind him is set up for children: a cool box with water, fruit and biscuits, a towel, a bag for emergencies and your own booster seat, fitted before you set off. It is about four and a half hours up the Teesta to Gangtok, with the Sikkim border at Rangpo, and the bends begin at Sevoke, an hour in. The car-sickness plan starts before them: the child who feels it first sits in the middle row facing forward, a window open a crack, screens away and a dry biscuit every half hour. We stop about every hour, not only when someone asks, and the driver takes the bends slowly on purpose. By about 17:00 you turn in under the trees of MAYFAIR's 48 acres at Ranipool. The Family Room has two connecting bedrooms, so parents sleep next door rather than beside a restless eight-year-old. Supper at 19:00, a warm bath and lights out by 20:30.

The momentSleepy children waking as the car turns in under MAYFAIR's trees, the long day of flying and driving done.

InsiderMAYFAIR sits several hundred metres below Gangtok's ridge, so the first night is warmer than town and a gentle start for small lungs before the lake.

If the weather turnsIf a slide shuts NH10, the police send traffic round by Gorubathan and the day gets longer; we stop for a proper meal on the way rather than push on hungry.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Spa Resort & Casino, Gangtok, Gangtok

Meals
Dinner
02
Day 2 · Gangtok

Red pandas, folded momos and a cable car
- 45 km, about 1.5 h
- High point 1,780 m
- Sleep at 1,000 m
- Easy
Breakfast at 08:00, and at 08:45 the car climbs through Gangtok to the Himalayan Zoological Park at Bulbuley, open from 09:00 on every day but Thursday. Its paths wind through 205 hectares of real forest, so the enclosures are large and the animals keep their own hours; red pandas, Sikkim's state animal, are easiest to find early. Snow leopards live here too. Allow two hours, with rests, because the slopes are steep. At 12:00 a Sikkimese home cook in town shows the children how to pleat momos, then serves them with clear soup and rice. At 14:30 board the Gangtok ropeway at Deorali: 935 m of cable, standing room only, the town dropping away beneath the glass. Back at MAYFAIR by 16:30 for the swings, the play room and the lawns.

The momentA red panda uncurling on a high branch at Bulbuley, rust against the moss, while the children hold their breath.

InsiderRed pandas are most active early and towards dusk. At 09:30 your chances are far better than after lunch, when they sleep curled up high in the trees.

If the weather turnsIf day 2 is a Thursday the zoo is shut, so it moves to the afternoon after Tsomgo and the ropeway comes forward. In rain, the momo lunch and the ropeway still run.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Spa Resort & Casino, Gangtok, Gangtok

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
03
Day 3 · Gangtok

The high lake, the ropeway and the yaks
- 110 km, about 4 h
- High point 3,753 m
- Sleep at 1,000 m
- Moderate
At 07:30 a Sikkim-registered SUV listed on your permit collects you, since only such vehicles may drive to the lake. We stop twice on the way up and keep the snacks coming. At 09:30 you step out at Tsomgo, 3,753 m. The rule for children is simple: slow steps, plenty of water and under an hour at the top. The yak men wait along the shore, and children can stroke one or sit on its back for a photograph; stalls nearby hire snow boots if the shore is white. When the ropeway starts, ride it, about 1 km and under ten minutes each way, for the whole lake beneath you. Hot noodle soup from a stall, then back into the car inside the hour. Lunch at MAYFAIR, a long nap, and at 16:00 Banjhakri Falls, where statues of the forest shaman stand beside a 70 ft cascade.

The momentThe ropeway cabin lifting over Tsomgo, the whole lake laid out below and a small face pressed to the glass.

InsiderSettle the yak price with the handler before a child is lifted on, and ask him to lead on foot. Keep hats on: the sun at 3,753 m burns fast in cold air.

If the weather turnsA child with a headache or grey lips means we turn back at once; oxygen rides in the car. If snow shuts the road, the day becomes the zoo or ropeway, then Banjhakri.

Tonight
MAYFAIR Spa Resort & Casino, Gangtok, Gangtok

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
04
Day 4 · Gangtok Ravangla

Two leaves and a bud at Temi, a Buddha at dusk
- 70 km, about 3 h
- High point 2,040 m
- Sleep at 2,000 m
- Easy
Leave at 08:30 with the bags. The road drops to Singtam on the Teesta and climbs to the Temi tea garden, laid out in 1969 by Sikkim's last king. By 10:30 you are on its paths with a member of the garden staff, and from March to October the children can pick two leaves and a bud into a basket of their own, then follow them into the factory to see what becomes of them. From November the factory is shut for the cold months, so on later dates the morning becomes a tasting at the garden shop and a slow walk among the bushes. Lunch at Cherry Resort, inside the garden. At 14:00 drive about 20 km on to Ravangla and check in at The Barfung Retreat. At 16:00 walk into Buddha Park, where the copper Buddha stands 130 ft high above the little Cho Djo lake; circle it clockwise, then look inside at the museum. Tonight: a bonfire, a Sikkimese thali and the resident dogs.

The momentA first basket of tea leaves held up for the camera at Temi, green-stained fingers and all.

InsiderTemi is run by the state and employs some 400 workers. The garden shop's tea comes from these slopes, so a packet bought there makes a present with a story.

If the weather turnsIn rain, the factory and Cherry Resort's covered spaces keep the morning dry. If Buddha Park is lost in cloud, we go at 09:00 tomorrow, when it opens, before Pelling.

Tonight
The Barfung Retreat, Ravangla

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
05
Day 5 · Ravangla Pelling

Down to the Rangeet, up to a room with a view
- 50 km, about 2 h
- High point 2,150 m
- Sleep at 1,950 m
- Easy
Wake early if anyone is willing: guests at Barfung often see the snow peaks at first light, before cloud rises from the valleys. Breakfast at 08:00, and at 09:30 the car sets off for Pelling, about 49 km and two hours. The road falls to Legship on the Rangeet, where the Kirateshwar Mahadev temple stands by the water and small legs can stretch for ten minutes, then climbs through Gyalshing. By 12:00 you reach Udaan Khang-Chen View at Naku, about 4 km from Pelling town. The Family Duplex sleeps up to six, has a bathtub, and frames the range in its windows. Lunch at 13:00 from a pure vegetarian kitchen. At 15:00 a gentle outing: Pemayangtse's painted halls, then the forest path of 15 minutes to Rabdentse, the ruined royal capital. Back by 17:00, heaters on, pyjamas early.

The momentChildren running ahead on the forest path to Rabdentse, counting the chortens of a lost royal capital.

InsiderHeaters at the Udaan are charged separately, so we book them with the room in advance. December nights at Pelling average about 3 °C, and children feel it first.

If the weather turnsIf the Legship road is blocked, we take the longer road through Namchi and Jorethang. If rain sets in, Pemayangtse's halls are dry and Rabdentse waits for tomorrow.

Tonight
Udaan Khang-Chen View Resort & Spa, Pelling

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06
Day 6 · Pelling

Glass underfoot, a bridge above a gorge
- 60 km, about 2.5 h
- High point 2,150 m
- Sleep at 1,950 m
- Easy
The duplex windows face the range, so first light on Kanchenjunga, near 05:45 in November, reaches whoever is awake without anyone leaving the warm beds. After breakfast, at 08:45, drive to the Chenrezig statue above Pelling, 137 ft tall, and walk the glass skywalk in its first hour, before the tour coaches and the midday cloud. Children under ten go free; adults pay ₹100. At 10:15 the car heads out for Singshore Bridge, about an hour away: 240 m long, 100 m above the gorge and the highest bridge in Sikkim. Walk out to the middle, look down at the waterfalls, and walk back. Lunch at the Udaan at 13:00, then an afternoon with nothing on it: the play area, a card game, a nap. Dinner at 18:30, and bags packed tonight, because tomorrow the car leaves at 06:00.

The momentLooking down through the skywalk's glass floor while the braver child walks on ahead.

InsiderThe glass is optional. The statue terrace above it is solid ground with the same view, which suits the child, or the grandparent, who does not like heights.

If the weather turnsIf cloud wraps the skywalk, we skip the glass and go straight to Singshore. The range often clears again late in the day, so look out from the room at 16:30.

Tonight
Udaan Khang-Chen View Resort & Spa, Pelling

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

An early start for the plains
- 135 km, about 5.5 h
- High point 1,950 m
- Easy
Up at 05:30. The breakfast boxes we ordered at dinner wait at reception with flasks of hot milk and tea. At 06:00 the car pulls away while the children doze under a blanket, and the driver takes the Rangeet road down through Legship to Jorethang, then along the river to Melli and the Teesta. The first stop, around 08:00, is for toilets and a leg stretch by the water. The second comes near Sevoke, where the river leaves the hills, at about 10:30. The 135 km take five to six hours, so you reach Bagdogra around 11:30 or 12:00, right for flights leaving after 14:00. Your driver brings trolleys and waits until the whole family is inside the terminal. Send us the flight number, and our team keeps an eye on it until you are in the air.

The momentChildren asleep in the back as the car follows the Rangeet down through the early light.

InsiderKeep one warm layer on each child until Sevoke. You leave Pelling near freezing on a December morning and reach Bagdogra in the warmth of the plains.

If the weather turnsIf NH10 is shut along the Teesta, we drive via Jorethang and Darjeeling and leave at 05:30. If your flight leaves before 13:00, we plan a last night nearer the airport.

Tonight
Homeward

Meals
Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, three houses

MAYFAIR Spa Resort & Casino, Gangtok, The Barfung Retreat and Udaan Khang-Chen View Resort & Spa. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

The MAYFAIR below Gangtok after dark, from its fountain court.Yakrita, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

3 nights

MAYFAIR Spa Resort & Casino, Gangtok

Gangtok

48 acres of forest at Ranipool with swings, slides, a play room and family rooms: space to run after a day in the mountains.

Ask for A Family Room, 74 sq m with connecting bedrooms, or a Family Suite for three
The snows above the Ravangla hills, the range this side of Sikkim looks to.Subhrajyoti Paul / Pexels

1 night

The Barfung Retreat

Ravangla

Ravangla has no grand hotel. This is simpler: 11 wood-panelled rooms in three cottages, a bonfire and home cooking.

Ask for A Super Deluxe room for three adults and a child, or the Suite; heaters booked ahead
Khangchendzonga at sunrise, the mountain the resort is built around the view of.Amol Nakve / Pexels

2 nights

Udaan Khang-Chen View Resort & Spa

Pelling

A duplex that sleeps six, a play area, a spa for the parents and the range in the windows. The kitchen is pure vegetarian.

Ask for The Family Duplex with Bathtub, 614 sq ft for up to six guests, heaters booked with the room

Price and what it covers

from₹95,000

per person, twin share; children sharing a family room priced on request. How our prices are built

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

Price my dates

Less time?Rhinos and Tea5 nights More time?Three Generations7 nights

Included

A Sikkim-registered Toyota Innova Crysta or similar for the family, with a driver from the hills who takes the bends slowly; fuel, tolls and parking paid, and the car seats you bring fitted on day 1
The Sikkim-registered permit vehicle for the Tsomgo day, as Sikkim's rules require
Six nights: three at MAYFAIR Spa Resort & Casino, one at The Barfung Retreat and two at Udaan Khang-Chen View, in rooms sized for your family
Breakfast and dinner daily, lunch on days 2, 4, 5 and 6, and breakfast boxes for the last morning
A licensed local guide in Gangtok on days 2 and 3, and in Pelling on day 5
The Tsomgo Lake protected-area permit, filed through a registered Sikkim operator
Entry to the Gangtok zoo, the Gangtok and Tsomgo ropeways, Banjhakri Falls, Buddha Park, the Temi factory when it is running, the skywalk and Pemayangtse
A momo-folding lunch with a Sikkimese home cook in Gangtok
Sikkim's ₹50 tourist fee for each guest aged five and over
Oxygen, blankets, water and snacks in the car on the Tsomgo day, and room heaters booked ahead at Ravangla and Pelling
For foreign passports, the Sikkim permit application prepared with you on e-FRRO
Your driver at the Bagdogra arrivals exit, and a 24x7 line to our team in the hills from landing to take-off

Not included

Domestic and international flights to Bagdogra
Travel insurance with cover for children and for altitude
Yak rides and paid rides at the parks
Lunch on days 1 and 3, taken on the road or at the resort
Tips, left to your judgement
Bar bills, laundry, spa time and the casino
Car seats, which hill taxis do not carry
Nathu La, which we leave out of family journeys

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

Arrive by helicopterBagdogra to Gangtok's Burtuk helipad on the state helicopter, when it runs: about 7 kg of bags each, the rest by road.
Ralang at morning prayerA short detour from Ravangla to the new Ralang monastery, home to hundreds of monks; in November, its Mahakala dance.
A third night at PellingAdd Yuksom, where Sikkim's first king was crowned, and the prayer-wheel jetty at Khecheopalri, and ease the pace.
Finish in DarjeelingTwo more nights in Darjeeling for the steam toy train and the zoo's snow leopards, and a shorter last drive to the airport.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifFamilies with babies or toddlers, or anyone advised against 3,753 m, will do better on The Hills with Children, which stays in Darjeeling and Kalimpong below 2,258 m.

Permit papers: two passport photographs and a copy of photo ID for each adult, and a birth certificate or school ID for each child. Aadhaar is not accepted, so bring a passport, voter ID or driving licence.
Foreign and OCI families: the Sikkim permit is filed on e-FRRO about 30 days before your first night in Sikkim, and Tsomgo takes foreign nationals only in twos or more. The full rule is at /plan/permits-and-visas/.
Car seats: hill taxis do not carry them. Bring a light booster or seat for younger children, and we fit it in the middle row on day 1.
Altitude and children: only children over five are issued Tsomgo permits, so a younger child, five-year-olds included, spends that morning at the resort with one adult. Inhalers travel in the car, not the suitcase; our general altitude rules are at /plan/before-you-travel/#altitude-rules.
Clothes: layers, not one heavy coat. Gangtok afternoons reach 20 °C in October while Tsomgo mornings are bitterly cold, so pack hats, gloves, thick socks, sunglasses and sunscreen for everyone.
Food: Sikkimese cooking is mild until dalle chilli is added, and cooks will leave it out. The Udaan's kitchen at Pelling is pure vegetarian. Tell us about allergies and Jain meals before you fly.
Medicines: paediatric care is in Gangtok, and pharmacies elsewhere are small. Bring a fever reducer, rehydration salts, a motion-sickness remedy and any prescriptions for the whole trip.
Signal and screens: expect gaps on the high roads. Download films and audiobooks before you fly, and pack a small torch for the garden paths at Barfung.

Questions

Five questions about Sikkim for Families

Ask on WhatsApp

Sikkim for Families or The Hills with Children?

Both are six nights for children of about six to fourteen. The Hills with Children stays in Darjeeling and Kalimpong, sleeps no higher than 2,045 m and keeps every drive to about three hours, so it suits a family that wants no high day at all. This one goes further: red pandas at Bulbuley, one short morning at Tsomgo, 3,753 m, for children over five, tea plucking at Temi and a glass skywalk at Pelling, at the cost of a long first and last day on the road.

Can a child of five or younger come on the lake day?

No. The permit office issues Tsomgo permits only to children over five, which rules out a five-year-old as well. One adult keeps the younger child at MAYFAIR that morning, and there it means swings, the play room and the lawns rather than a hotel room. The rest of the family is down from the lake by 10:30 and back for lunch. We leave Nathu La, at 4,310 m, out of family journeys altogether.

Which school holidays suit this journey?

The Dasara and Puja break in October fits well, with skies clearing and the roads drying. Diwali in 2026 falls in Tihar week in the hills, 7 to 11 November, and the good family rooms go early. The spring holidays and early summer, March to May, bring rhododendrons and milder nights, with more haze and afternoon rain by May. Avoid mid June to mid September, when the monsoon closes roads, and January and February, when Tsomgo freezes.

Will the children eat well on this route?

Yes, and mostly things they already know: momos, noodle soups, fried rice, dal and rice, and resort buffets with Indian and continental dishes. On day 2 they fold their own momos with a Sikkimese home cook. Sikkimese food is mild until the round dalle chilli goes in, and cooks will leave it out. At Pelling the Udaan's kitchen is pure vegetarian, so families who eat meat can take one lunch in town. Send allergies before you fly.

How long are the days in the car?

The first and last days are the long ones: about four and a half hours from Bagdogra to the resort, and five to six hours from Pelling back to the airport, which is why the last morning leaves at 06:00 and needs a flight after 14:00. In between, no day has more than about four hours in the car, most have two or three, and we stop about every hour. For the first day, the state helicopter to Gangtok is an option when it flies.

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