Tea garden workers carrying the day's pluck in sacks along an estate road at dusk, hills falling away behind

Signature journey · 6 nights

The Planter's Week

Six nights on the working side of Darjeeling tea: Makaibari, Glenburn, then the town the planters rode up to.

  • 6nights, private
  • 3bases
  • 2,590 mhighest point
  • ₹1,60,000from, per person, twin share
Price this journey for my dates See the 7 days

In short

Is The Planter's Week right for you?

The Planter's Week is a private six-night tea journey that sleeps inside two working estates before it reaches Darjeeling. From Bagdogra (IXB) it spends two nights inside the Makaibari estate at Kurseong, at Taj Chia Kutir, two at Glenburn Tea Estate above the Rangeet and two at the Windamere in Darjeeling.

Made forcouples and tea lovers, first-time visitors who prefer estates to sightseeing, families with children over 8 and slow travellers who like to walk.

Not for you ifyou want Sikkim's monasteries or Kanchenjunga at close range, choose Kanchenjunga at First Light; if you want tea across two states with more walking, choose The Tea Trail.

<p>Darjeeling tea is picked, withered, rolled and fired within sight of the bushes it came from, and the best way to understand it is to sleep on the estate. This journey stays at two: a heritage bungalow above Kurseong for the first flush country, then a planters' house on the northern slopes where the Kanchenjunga fills the veranda at breakfast.</p><p>Days are unhurried. A walk through the sections with the manager, a tasting of the estate's own grades against a Kurseong neighbour's, a picnic at the river below the garden, and one early start for the mountain. The town of Darjeeling is an afternoon's outing rather than a base, which is how the planters have always treated it.</p>

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
Mar to Apr, Oct to Nov
Avoid
mid June to mid September (monsoon), and December to late February, when plucking stops
Pace
Gentle
Longest drive
About 3 hours, 220 km in all
Highest point
Tiger Hill, 2,590 m
Group
Private, 2 to 6 guests

The route

Why Kurseong comes first

Kurseong comes first because Makaibari is only about 40 km from Bagdogra, so your first evening is spent in a tea garden instead of on Hill Cart Road. The dawn train then lifts you to Ghum, the top of the line, and Glenburn lies an hour below it. Darjeeling comes last: the town reads better after the estates, Tiger Hill needs a bed 11 km away, and Windamere is a three-hour drive from the airport on the final morning.

Sikkim Kanchenjunga 8,586 mJomolhari 7,326 m Bagdogra airport 1 Kurseong · 2 nights 2 Glenburn Tea Estate · 2 nights 3 Darjeeling · 2 nights
your bases, in orderby roadborders not drawn

Where the nights go

Read the place guidesDarjeeling

The shape of the journey

From 126 m to 2,590 m, day by day

You sleep between 900 m and 2,134 m. The highest you go is 2,590 m, on day 6 at Tiger Hill, and you come down again to sleep.

Built around

Kurseong, Glenburn Tea Estate and Darjeeling at their best

  • Three nights in a planters' bungalow on a working estate

  • Tasting with the estate manager, not in a shop

  • A morning in the factory during plucking season

  • The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway from Kurseong, the prettiest stretch

  • Tiger Hill at dawn, or a quieter ridge we prefer

Day by day

Day by day, Kurseong to Darjeeling

The longest drive is day 7, Darjeeling to Bagdogra airport, about 3 hours with stops.

  1. Day 1 · Bagdogra airport Kurseong

    Up the Pankhabari road to Makaibari

    • 40 km, about 1.5 h
    • High point 1,400 m
    • Sleep at 1,400 m
    • Easy
    A road curling through clipped tea bushes on green Darjeeling hills, a few estate houses along the bends

    Your driver is at the arrivals exit at Bagdogra, the Innova Crysta already cooled and a flask of Makaibari tea on the back seat. Beyond Matigara the car leaves the plains for the Pankhabari road, steeper than Hill Cart Road but far quieter, and within the hour the plains are behind you and the first clipped rows of tea begin. It is about 40 km and 90 minutes to Taj Chia Kutir, which stands among Makaibari's own sections at around 1,400 m. We send your ID details to the hotel the week before, so check-in is a signature, and a late lunch is laid for you. The afternoon is for your terrace, the J Wellness Circle spa or the heated indoor pool. Before dinner your guide takes ten minutes to walk you through tomorrow: Makaibari's fields at 07:30, lunch with a family who work the estate, Kurseong after. Both visits were confirmed with the estate and the family three days before you landed.

    The momentSomewhere above Pankhabari the plains fall away behind the car and the first flat-topped tea bushes crowd the road.

    InsiderMakaibari sits on the Pankhabari road below Kurseong, so this way up never touches Kurseong bazaar and its traffic.

    If the weather turnsIf slips close the Pankhabari road, we come up by Rohini or by Hill Cart Road through Tindharia; your driver checks all three the morning you land.

    Meals
    Lunch, Dinner

  2. Day 2 · Kurseong

    A morning in Makaibari, an afternoon in Kurseong

    • 15 km, about 1 h
    • High point 1,500 m
    • Sleep at 1,400 m
    • Moderate
    A tea plucker with a cane basket on her back picking leaf from flat topped bushes in Darjeeling

    At 07:30 your guide and a member of Makaibari's garden staff walk you down from the hotel into the sections. In March and April the pluckers are taking first flush, in May the second, in October and November the autumn flush, and whichever it is you try it yourself for twenty minutes, under instruction: two leaves and a bud, and nothing more. By 09:00 the factory is at full work, and the tasting afterwards lays the season's grades in a row. At 12:30 lunch is in the home of a family who work the estate and host guests through Makaibari's homestay scheme: usually rice, dal, a green from their garden, a sharp pickle and a last cup of their tea. At 15:00 the car climbs to Giddapahar and the house of Sarat Chandra Bose, where his brother Subhas was held under house arrest for seven months in 1936; it is now a small museum, and we check that it is open before we set out. Back at Chia Kutir by 17:00 for the spa or the pool.

    The momentLunch at a Makaibari family's table, with the slope they work in plain view through the open door.

    InsiderThe homestay family chooses its own menu. Tell us about allergies, not preferences: the point is to eat what that kitchen cooks on that day.

    If the weather turnsIn heavy rain the paths turn slippery, so we reverse the day: factory and museum first, the garden walk when it clears, lunch unchanged.

    Meals
    Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  3. Day 3 · Kurseong Glenburn Tea Estate

    The dawn train to Ghum, then tea in the fields at Glenburn

    • 27 km, about 1.5 h
    • High point 2,258 m
    • Sleep at 900 m
    • Easy
    The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway winding through the hills

    You leave the hotel at 06:05 with a breakfast box the kitchen packed last night, and at 06:30 the passenger train carries you up from Kurseong to Ghum in first class, your guide beside you and your bags going round by road. The car is waiting in the station yard at Ghum. From there it is 22 km and about an hour down the Peshok road, the final stretch on the estate's own rough track, and more than 1,000 m lower than the station where you stepped down. Brunch is laid on the Burra Bungalow's front verandah, and the Planters' Suite opens straight off it: a Spanish mahogany four-poster, a fire, and a sit-out looking across the Simbong valley to the hills of Sikkim. At 16:00 an estate guide takes you down between the rows to a weighment shed, where leaf is weighed on its way to the factory, and pours your tea there from a tray of porcelain cups. Dinner at 20:00 at one long table with your hosts.

    The momentGhum station at 08:30: 2,258 m, the top of the line, and from here every road of your week runs downhill.

    InsiderLocals call the garden Kimble. If a signboard confuses you on the Peshok road, Kimble is the word to use, and someone will point you down the hill.

    If the weather turnsThe railway can cancel a service after rain or for track work. We check with Kurseong station the evening before; if it is off, the car drives you up beside the line.

    Meals
    Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  4. Day 4 · Glenburn Tea Estate

    Glenburn's factory, from the scale to the cup

    • 10 km, about 1 h
    • High point 900 m
    • Sleep at 900 m
    • Moderate
    Tea slopes falling to a village of tin roofed houses in a forested valley near Sonada, Darjeeling

    Bed tea comes at the hour you set last night, 06:30 if you like, then breakfast in the Morning Room. The factory works in the morning, and you go through it while it runs, with the estate manager, his assistant or a senior guide. You follow the leaf in the order it travels. It comes in from the fields and is weighed. It is spread in long withering troughs, where air is blown through it overnight until it is soft enough to roll. The rollers twist it without breaking it, rupturing the cells so the juices meet the air. It is laid out to oxidise and darkens towards copper, then the dryers fire it down to about 2 per cent moisture, and the sorting machines shake it into grades. The tasting room ends the morning: one estate's leaf made four ways, black, green, oolong and white, brewed side by side in white cups, with the wet leaf shown beside each one. Pick the cup you like best; it goes into your flask on Tiger Hill. Lunch at the bungalow, then an empty afternoon. Anglers can go down to the Rangeet with the estate's ghillie, for trout from October and mahseer in April and May, at extra cost. Tea-leaf pakoras on the verandah at 17:00, a fire lit in your suite, and dinner at the long table.

    The momentThe tasting table: one estate's leaf made four ways, and the cup you choose to carry up to Tiger Hill.

    InsiderGlenburn's factory makes tea only from the end of February to the end of November. Outside those months the machines stand still, which is why this week runs in spring and autumn.

    If the weather turnsIf rain sets in, the afternoon stays on the verandah and the fishing waits; the factory and the tasting are indoors whatever the weather.

    Meals
    Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  5. Day 5 · Glenburn Tea Estate Darjeeling

    The pluckers' morning, the Lebong races, a merchant's cups

    • 33 km, about 1.5 h
    • High point 2,250 m
    • Sleep at 2,134 m
    • Easy
    Street lamps glowing through thick fog above signs on a Darjeeling street at night

    At 09:00 a guide takes you out to whichever section the pluckers are working that morning, so you see yesterday's factory from the other end, then back past the estate shop for the tea you chose. Lunch is early, on the Simbong Garden Terrace. At 12:00 the car climbs out of the valley, 28 km and about 75 minutes to Darjeeling, with a detour to Lebong, where the old race ground still lies on its shelf and Glenburn's horses once crossed the valley every Sunday to run. Check in at Windamere by 14:00. At 15:00 your guide walks you down Laden La Road to Nathmull's, tea merchants since 1931, with the Makaibari and Glenburn teas you chose. We have asked for them to be brewed beside the merchant's own lots from other gardens and the same season: what the estate makes, set against what the town sells. Afternoon tea at Windamere is at 16:30; we book it ahead, as the house does not include it in the room rate. At dusk, walk along the Mall to the old Planters' Club on Nehru Road.

    The momentAt the door of the old Planters' Club, founded in 1868, stand two oxygen cylinders from the 1924 British Everest expedition.

    InsiderAsk for a Colonial Tea Planters Suite at the Windamere, in Ada Villa or the Annexe. The Annexe rooms are the ones the hotel lists with fireplaces.

    If the weather turnsIf Nathmull's is closed, the tasting moves to the morning of day six, or to Happy Valley's tasting room 3 km below the Mall on a day its factory is open.

    Meals
    Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

  6. Day 6 · Darjeeling

    Tiger Hill with a flask, the packets on Nehru Road

    • 25 km, about 1 h
    • High point 2,590 m
    • Sleep at 2,134 m
    • Easy
    Kanchenjunga catching first light above a band of pink cloud, seen from Tiger Hill near Darjeeling

    Tiger Hill at first light: your driver collected the car's token yesterday afternoon, and your guide calls it off at 03:30 if the sky says cloud. If it is clear, the car leaves Windamere at 04:00, and at the top your guide pours a flask brewed from the Glenburn tea you chose at the tasting as the range takes the light. It is several degrees colder up there than in town, so wear the down jacket. Come straight down for breakfast at Windamere at 08:00, then sleep. In the afternoon walk down Nehru Road to Golden Tips, tea sellers since 1933, whose shop stands opposite Glenary's, and read the packets the way the trade does: the garden's name, the flush, and the Darjeeling mark, a woman in profile holding two leaves and a bud, which only tea from the district's 87 recognised estates may carry. Your last dinner is at Windamere, and your driver loads the car tonight so tomorrow starts calmly.

    The momentA cup of the Glenburn leaf you chose, poured on Tiger Hill as the snows go from rose to white.

    InsiderPour the flask only when the summits turn rose. Before dawn at 2,590 m a cup cools in minutes, and the light is what the tea is for.

    If the weather turnsIf the sky is shut at 03:30, we let you sleep and walk you to Chowrasta at 07:00; on a clear day the range shows from town too.

    Meals
    Breakfast, Dinner

  7. Day 7 · Darjeeling Bagdogra airport

    Down through Kurseong to Bagdogra

    • 70 km, about 3 h
    • High point 2,258 m
    • Easy
    The hill road near Kurseong running beside the narrow toy train line under monsoon cloud

    Breakfast at 07:30 with the bags already in the car. You leave Windamere at 08:30, which puts you at Bagdogra by about 11:30 for flights from 13:00, with time in hand for the traffic at Ghum and Kurseong. The road runs down through Sonada and past Kurseong station, where the week's train began, then drops to the plains by whichever road your driver found clearest at 07:00. If you want a last tea stop, tell us the night before and we will have your order packed and waiting in Kurseong. Your guide rides to the airport, checks your flight on the way and sees you to the terminal door, and our team stays on the phone until you have boarded.

    The momentKurseong station slides past the window, where your train pulled out at 06:30 on the third morning.

    InsiderCarry the week's tea in your cabin bag: whole leaf crushes easily in the hold, and a broken leaf brews a harsher cup.

    If the weather turnsIf a slip blocks one road, your driver switches to Pankhabari, Rohini or Tindharia. For a flight before 12:00, we suggest the last night nearer the airport.

    Tonight
    Homeward
    Meals
    Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, three houses

Taj Chia Kutir Resort & Spa, Darjeeling, Glenburn Tea Estate and Windamere Hotel. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

  1. A single tall tree standing in a Darjeeling tea garden, with a mown path running between the clipped tea bushes
    Darjeeling tea country, the hills the resort's terraces stand in.Soumya Banerjee / Unsplash
    2 nights

    Taj Chia Kutir Resort & Spa, Darjeeling

    Kurseong

    Inside the Makaibari estate, so the fields begin at your door; a spa and heated pool for the first night up from the plains.

    Ask for A Luxury Room facing the valley or the tea garden, with breakfast and dinner

  2. The Burra Bungalow at Glenburn Tea Estate, its green roof above a lawn set with white garden umbrellas and tables
    The Burra Bungalow at Glenburn, with the lawn laid for tea.A. J. T. Johnsingh, WWF-India and NCF, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
    2 nights

    Glenburn Tea Estate

    Glenburn Tea Estate

    A working estate since 1859, eight suites in two restored planters' bungalows, meals, guides and the tea tour included.

    Ask for The Planters' Suite in the Burra Bungalow: four-poster, fireplace, private verandah towards Sikkim

    • WarmthTwo of the four suites in the Burra Bungalow have fireplaces.
    • BathroomThree of the four Burra Bungalow bathrooms have free standing bathtubs and all four have a walk in rain shower; the Water Lily Bungalow bathrooms have antique free standing bathtubs.
  3. The Windamere Hotel in Darjeeling seen from its terraced garden, with white painted railings and the hotel signboard
    Windamere from its garden on Observatory Hill.P.K.Niyogi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
    2 nights

    Windamere Hotel

    Darjeeling

    Built as Ada Villa and run as a boarding house for planters; on Observatory Hill above Chowrasta, with fires and old rooms.

    Ask for A Colonial Suite in the Annexe with breakfast and dinner; we ask for the fire laid by 18:00

Price and what it covers

from₹1,60,000

per person, twin share, two guests travelling together. How our prices are built

About £1,250 or US$1,670 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 own Innova Crysta or similar and a hill driver for all seven days; fuel, tolls, parking and his stay are covered
  • Two nights at Taj Chia Kutir (Luxury Room, breakfast and dinner) and two at Windamere (Colonial Suite, breakfast and dinner)
  • Two nights at Glenburn Tea Estate with all meals, tea, coffee and juice, and laundry
  • Glenburn's factory tour and tasting, tea in a weighment shed, and estate walks with its guides
  • A morning at Makaibari with the garden staff, the factory, a tasting and lunch in a homestay household
  • First-class seats on the 06:30 Kurseong to Ghum passenger train, booked as soon as the railway opens them
  • Tiger Hill vehicle token, Senchal entry and viewing pavilion tickets, with a flask of estate tea at the top
  • The Giddapahar museum, Lebong on the way into Darjeeling, and a merchant's tasting at Nathmull's
  • Afternoon tea at Windamere and a late lunch at the Taj on arrival
  • Local guides in Kurseong and Darjeeling, a meeting at the Bagdogra arrivals exit, and our team on call 24x7 while you travel

Not included

  • Flights to and from Bagdogra (we can book them for you)
  • Travel insurance with medical cover
  • Tips for drivers, guides and house staff
  • Alcohol and bar bills; Glenburn also charges for packaged mineral water
  • Spa treatments at the Taj, massages and fishing at Glenburn
  • Lunch on day 6 in Darjeeling, and Christmas or New Year supplements
  • Tea and other purchases

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

  • A night at the Glenburn LodgeSwap one bungalow night for the two-room lodge on the Rangeet at about 245 m: lanterns, a bonfire, dinner by the water.
  • Fishing the RangeetTrout from early October, mahseer best in April and May, with the estate's ghillie and basic tackle; keen anglers bring their own flies.
  • Walk up to DarjeelingOn day 5, a guided hike of 4 to 6 hours from Glenburn through Badamtam and Ging to Lebong, with the jeep on call.
  • Tagore's house at MungpooA right turn at 3rd Mile on the Peshok road leads to Rabindra Bhavan, where Tagore stayed four times between 1938 and 1940, among cinchona planted from 1864. Open 09:00 to 16:00, closed on Sundays; it fits the day 3 or day 5 drive.
  • The Mirik road and the Nepal borderA day from Darjeeling: Simana's view over Nepal, the Gopaldhara garden's roadside stall that brews its tea in glass cups, then Sumendu Lake at Mirik and its 80 m footbridge.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifIf you want Sikkim's monasteries or Kanchenjunga at close range, choose Kanchenjunga at First Light; if you want tea across two states with more walking, choose The Tea Trail.

  1. Papers: this route stays in West Bengal and needs no permit. Indian guests carry photo ID; foreign guests an Indian visa. Send ID or passport copies 30 days ahead, because the train is booked in your names. More at /plan/permits-and-visas/.
  2. Clothing: March to May brings days of 16 to 19 °C in Darjeeling and cool nights; October and November are clearer and sharper. Glenburn, at 985 m, is milder. Pack layers, a rain shell and a down jacket for Tiger Hill.
  3. Shoes: tea-field paths are steep and loose. Bring walking shoes with real grip, and sandals if you plan to fish the Rangeet.
  4. Altitude: you sleep no higher than 2,134 m and stand at 2,590 m on Tiger Hill. Our altitude rules are at /plan/before-you-travel/#altitude-rules.
  5. Money: all three houses take cards. Carry small notes for village shops, tea you buy in Kurseong, and the homestay family if you wish to leave something. ATMs are in Kurseong and Darjeeling, none at Glenburn.
  6. Signal: mobile coverage holds along most of the route and the estate reports good reception at Glenburn; its Wi-Fi reaches only parts of the bungalows.
  7. Children and parents: Glenburn charges for children from 3 to 12; the Planters' Suite opens off the front verandah, while the Water Lily suites are reached by steps. Every walk can be shortened or driven.
  8. Tipping: our suggested amounts are at /plan/before-you-travel/#tipping.

Questions

Five questions about The Planter's Week

Ask on WhatsApp
Why two estates and then the Windamere?

Because each shows a different side of the trade. Makaibari, at Kurseong, is where you walk the slopes with the garden staff and eat with a family who pluck them; it was the first garden certified organic, in 1988. Glenburn, a working estate since 1859 with eight suites, is where you follow the leaf through the factory to the tasting table. The Windamere began as Ada Villa, a boarding house for planters on contract, and puts you in the town they rode up to.

Which flush will we see, month by month?

At Makaibari in March and April the pluckers are on the first flush, light and pale in the cup; in May the second flush comes in, coppery and fuller; in October and November it is the autumn flush. Glenburn's factory makes tea from the end of February to the end of November. From December the bushes rest and are pruned, and the first flush is not plucked until late February, which is why this week does not run in winter.

Is the 04:00 Tiger Hill start optional?

Yes. Your guide reads the sky at 03:30 and knocks only if the range is likely to show, and if you would rather sleep, tell us the evening before. On a clear day the mountain shows from Chowrasta too, a short walk from the Windamere. Nothing else in the week starts before 06:05, the morning of the Kurseong train. Anyone who finds stairs hard is better in Glenburn's Planters' Suite, which opens off the front verandah.

The Planter's Week or The Tea Trail?

Both begin at Kurseong and stay at Glenburn. The Tea Trail then crosses the Teesta into Sikkim for the Temi garden and simpler rooms at Ravangla, and foreign guests need Sikkim's permit. The Planter's Week stays in West Bengal and ends at the Windamere, with Tiger Hill, a merchant's tasting in town and no permit at all. Choose The Tea Trail for more walking and tea from two states; choose this week for three houses of character.

The Planter's Week or Two Nights on a Tea Estate?

Two Nights on a Tea Estate goes straight from Bagdogra to Glenburn and stays there: one full day in the fields and the factory, then home. The Planter's Week adds a second estate, the dawn train from Kurseong, the town and Tiger Hill over six nights. Choose the short break for a long weekend; choose this week if you want to follow the leaf from the slope to the merchant's counter.

Sources we checked for this itinerary (36)
  1. Glenburn nightly package per room for two, including car from Bagdogra or Darjeeling, all meals and picnics, estate and factory tours, tasting, optional night at the river lodge; children 3 to 12 charged; alcohol and packaged water extra (rates checked with the estate)
  2. Glenburn tea tour in the morning while the factory runs: leaf weighed, then withering, rolling, fermenting, drying and sorting; tasting of black, green, oolong and white teas; field walk with pluckers
  3. The Planters' Suite: Spanish mahogany four-poster, fire, private verandah and sit-out across the Simbong Valley towards Sikkim, rain shower
  4. Glenburn 1 hour 15 minutes from Darjeeling, 3 hours from Bagdogra, last 3 km very bumpy
  5. Glenburn at 3,000 ft, nights not below 7 degrees; production from end of February to end of November; views clearest October to December
  6. Bed tea at a time you choose, breakfast 7 to 11 in the Morning Room, dinner 7.30 to 9.30 pm with hosts, tea-leaf pakoras, Simbong Garden Terrace, guides serving tea in the fields
  7. Shikari Dura village walk best in the afternoon, 2 hours, past the government school
  8. Glenburn Primary School morning assembly at 9 am in Bora Gaon; roof repaired and nursery added with guest contributions
  9. Lebong race course, where Glenburn horses once walked across the valley every Sunday to race
  10. Glenburn Lodge and campsite: two rooms, lanterns, dinner by the river, bonfire; campsite at 800 ft
  11. Hike between Glenburn and Darjeeling via Badamtam, Ging and Lebong, 4 to 6 hours
  12. Fishing on the Rangeet from early October to about March for trout; mahseer best in April, May and early June; ghillie and basic tackle supplied; bring own flies and spinners
  13. Glenburn Wi-Fi only in certain areas; mobile reception good; board games cabinet on the front verandah outside the Planters' Suite
  14. Glenburn established 1859, known locally as Kimble after first manager Kimble Murray; 27.08 N 88.34 E
  15. Taj Chia Kutir inside Makaibari Tea Estate, reviews to September 2026, Luxury Room valley view, Makaibari tea tasting (rates checked for 2026)
  16. Taj Chia Kutir: J Wellness Circle spa, indoor heated pool, about 36 km from Bagdogra (archived December 2025)
  17. Makaibari 3 km from Kurseong on the Pankhabari route; homestays run by worker families; factory tours and tasting
  18. Makaibari homestay programme hosted by Gorkha tea workers; first certified organic garden, 1988
  19. Castleton and Ambootia do not offer public tours; Eagle's Crag viewpoint; Kurseong 1,483 m
  20. Giddapahar: Subhas Chandra Bose under house arrest for 7 months in 1936 in Sarat Chandra Bose's house, now a museum
  21. Train 52587 Kurseong 06:30, Tung 07:03, Sonada 07:46, Ghum 08:30, Darjeeling 09:05, daily, first class available
  22. Windamere built as Ada Villa in 1841, a boarding house for tea planters on contract from the late 1880s, on Observatory Hill
  23. Windamere 2025-26 tariff: Colonial Suite with breakfast and dinner; afternoon tea not included, bookable in advance (rates checked with the hotel)
  24. Windamere Colonial Tea Planters Suites at Ada Villa and Annexe; Annexe rooms with fireplaces
  25. Planters' Club founded 1868; Mallory's 1924 Everest expedition oxygen cylinders displayed at the entrance; reopened as Planter's Heritage on 21 April 2025
  26. Happy Valley: 3 km from Chowk Bazaar on T P Banerjee Road, established 1854, factory 8 am to 4 pm Tuesday to Saturday, closed November to February
  27. Tiger Hill vehicle tokens issued to drivers the previous day; Senchal road
  28. Innova transfers and Darjeeling sightseeing (fares checked for 2026)
  29. Road distances by OSRM (September 2026): Bagdogra to Makaibari about 41 km, Ghum to Glenburn 22 km, Glenburn to Darjeeling 28 km, Darjeeling to Bagdogra 70 km
  30. Darjeeling processing: leaves air-blown overnight to wither, rolled without breaking, oxidised on trays, fired to about 2% moisture, sorted by grade; logo of a woman in profile holding two leaves and a bud; 87 estates recognised by the Tea Board
  31. Nathmull's, established 1931 by Nathmull Sarda, retail shop on Laden La Road, Darjeeling
  32. Golden Tips, established 1933; Darjeeling showroom on Nehru Road opposite Glenary's
  33. Mungpoo: Peshok road from Jorebunglow, right at 3rd Mile, about 31 km from Darjeeling; Tagore stayed four times between 1938 and 1940; cinchona plantations from 1864; Rabindra Bhavan open 09:00 to 16:00, closed Sundays
  34. Darjeeling to Mirik road: Simana viewpoint at the Nepal border, Gopaldhara tea stall serving tea in glass cups
  35. Mirik Lake, also called Sumendu Lake, 1.25 km long, crossed by the 80 m Indreni footbridge
  36. Glenburn production from the end of February to the end of November

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

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Glenburn Tea Estate7

October to December, February to April from₹2,65,000

Part ofSignature journeysTea, kitchens and marketsDarjeeling and Kalimpong

Plan my journey

The Planter's Week, shaped around you

At its best Mar to Apr, Oct to Nov. Tell us your month and who is travelling, and we reply within 24 hours with this journey priced for your dates.

Length
6 nights
From
₹1,60,000 per person
At its best
Mar to Apr, Oct to Nov
Bases
Kurseong, Glenburn Tea Estate, Darjeeling
+91 86178 24110 Message a designer Support 24×7, every day of your journey

AboutThe Planter's Week, 6 nights

With country code if outside India. Either this or email is enough.
Who is coming, the pace you like, the occasion. A sentence is fine.
Add more detail
Their ages help: add them in your note
Permits in Sikkim and fees in Bhutan depend on it
This journey starts at ₹1,60,000 per person. Your band tells us which rooms to price.
Calls from our office, 8am to 9pm IST (GMT+5:30)
Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Gangtok, Pelling, Bhutan, Nepal

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