Planned at the foot of the hills
Tell us the season and the people, and we will draw the journey
Start with the five-question planner, a call or a WhatsApp message. A travel designer who knows these roads reads it, asks what matters, and draws a private journey around your dates and your party.
In short
How do I plan a private luxury trip to Darjeeling, Sikkim or Bhutan?
Tell us four things: your dates or season, who is travelling, the passports they hold and the pace you enjoy. Use the planner on this page, call +91 86178 24110, or write on WhatsApp or email. A travel designer asks the questions that shape the route, such as who finds stairs hard and which flights you already hold, and then sends a day-by-day plan priced for your dates.
Design your journey
Five questions, two minutes
Answer what you know and skip what you do not. As you choose, the journeys that fit appear beside you. A designer in the hills replies within 24 hours with a first sketch and a straight price.
Four ways to begin
Begin however suits you
Each of these reaches the same small team in Darjeeling district, and your designer reads the whole thread before replying, whichever way it came in. Choose whichever suits the way you like to talk.
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The planner on this page
Five short steps: when, who, where, the style of travel you like, and how to reach you. Journeys that fit appear beside you as you answer, and your choices reach a designer with your own note.
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Call us
+91 86178 24110, the same line our travelling guests use 24x7. Good for a quick question about dates or a permit, or for a party that includes grandparents or very small children.
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WhatsApp
Write to the same number on WhatsApp. Voice notes are welcome, and it becomes the easiest line to us once you are on the road, because WhatsApp still works over hotel wifi where mobile signal fails.
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Email
[email protected] suits a longer brief: a milestone birthday, a medical note, a list of places you have already seen, or the flights you have booked.
What happens next
What happens after you send it
Four short stages stand between a first message and a confirmed journey. The whole sequence, from permits to the drive home, is set out on How it works.
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Within 24 hours
A designer reads it and replies
The designer who will plan your journey comes back with a few questions: flights you hold, who finds stairs hard, what you have seen before, and whether anyone's passport changes the route. Many guests find a short call quickest; writing works too.
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Once we know the party
A day-by-day draft
A route for your dates, written out day by day and one price per person, in a form you can forward to whoever else is coming. Where a house is full or your month makes a road unreliable, the draft says so and names what we would use instead. How it works sets out the whole sequence and what each stage contains.
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Before you confirm
Change anything, at no cost
Swap a house, add a night, drop the 04:00 sunrise. Each revised quote lists every house, drive, guide and permit on its own line, with the date each rate was checked, so you can compare one version with the next. How it works shows a sample layout.
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Your decision
Confirm when it is right
A deposit of normally 30 percent and our written confirmation set the journey going: houses, cars, permits and railway seats are then booked in your name. How it works sets out the balance, refunds and what happens if plans change.
Timing
How far ahead to plan
Most of the hills can be arranged at a few weeks' notice. These are the exceptions, where rooms, seats or permits decide the date you should write to us.
| If you want | Write to us | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Tihar or Christmas this year, 2026 | Now | Tihar runs from 7 to 11 November 2026 and heritage rooms go first; the designer tells you plainly which houses still have rooms for your dates |
| Paro Tshechu, in March or April | 9 to 12 months ahead | The valley books up for the dances; we ask for rooms as soon as the lunar dates are published |
| Bhutan in October, November or spring | 6 months or more | The lodge rooms guests ask for most go first in these seasons |
| Christmas in Darjeeling and Kalimpong | By September | Heritage rooms are few: the MAYFAIR in Kalimpong has seven and a suite in its original building, every one with a fireplace |
| Tihar week in the hills | By June | Holiday traffic from the plains fills the good houses in Diwali week |
| A tea estate in peak season | 3 months or more | Glenburn has eight suites in all and takes full payment 30 days before arrival |
| Initials embroidered on Glenburn pillowcases | 3 months ahead | The estate asks for three months' notice |
| The steam joy ride on a set day | Before the 60-day mark | Indian Railways opens seats 60 days before travel, and we book the day they open |
| Sikkim for foreign or OCI guests | About a month ahead | The Restricted Area Permit is issued only online, through e-FRRO, about 30 days before you reach the state |
| Bhutan on an Indian passport | Scans about 6 weeks out | We file the entry permit and the nightly fee from clear scans of your ID |
| The Goecha La trek | Scans 30 days out | Permits, crew, a doctor's fitness note and insurance to 5,000 m |
| Travel inside 45 days | Any time | Often possible; the journey is then paid in full at confirmation |
Why these dates fill
Three mornings worth writing early for
Each of these is a single week or a single train, not a season, and the rooms and seats around it go long before the rest of the year.
Cham at a tshechu: for Paro's, in March or April, write 9 to 12 months aheadNoor din / Pexels 
Tihar in the hills, 7 to 11 November 2026: in other years, write by JuneYogendra Singh / Pexels 
The steam joy ride: seats open 60 days before travelTrishik Bose / Pexels
Your first message
What helps us plan well
A single line is enough to start. These details save a round of questions and change the plan more than most guests expect.
- Dates, or at least the monthA range is fine. Festival weeks, school holidays and the lunar calendar move prices and availability in the hills more than the day of the week does.
- Everyone's passport or citizenshipIndian, foreign and OCI guests follow different rules in Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal; in Bhutan alone the nightly fee is ₹1,200 for an Indian adult and US$100 for most others. Told early, we route the journey so nobody waits at a checkpost.
- Ages, and who finds stairs hardTsomgo and North Sikkim permits are issued only for children over five, and some heritage cottages sit down steep paths. Knowing this, we choose rooms near the lift or the dining room.
- Health notes that matter at heightHeart or lung conditions, pregnancy and asthma change how we plan days above 3,000 m. A single line is enough; we never ask for more than we need.
- How you like to spend a dayOne sight and a long lunch, or dawn starts and walks? Pace decides how many houses you use and how long each drive runs.
- Diet and celebrationsVegetarian, Jain, no chilli, allergies, a birthday or an anniversary. Every kitchen on the route is briefed in writing before you arrive, from a Taj dining room to a farmhouse kitchen in the Paro valley.
- Flights you already holdSend flight numbers and times. The road is planned around them, and long mountain drives are kept away from tight departures at Bagdogra and Paro.
The planning guides
Plan with the facts
Eight guides answer what guests usually phone us to ask. Each was checked in September 2026 against official and local sources, and says so wherever the rules move.
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How it works
Every step from the first message to the drive home, a sample quote laid out line by line, when you pay, and what happens if a road, a flight or a permit fails.
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When to go
Month by month across six destinations, with festivals, tea flushes, rhododendrons, cranes and the clearest weeks for Kanchenjunga.
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What it costs
Every journey's from-price, per night and in full, in one sortable table; how children and a single room are priced; and two journeys opened up line by line, our own share included.
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Permits and visas
Who needs what in Darjeeling, Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal, on Indian, foreign and OCI passports, as the rules stand in 2026.
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Getting here
Bagdogra, New Jalpaiguri, Paro and Bhadrapur, drive times from the airport, and the routes in from abroad through Delhi and Kolkata.
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Before you travel
Altitude, food and water, jabs and hospitals, insurance, packing by season, money and SIM cards in three countries, and tipping.
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On the road
Your driver, guides and cars, the vehicle rules in Sikkim and Bhutan, and a border day into Bhutan, hour by hour.
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Questions
Straight answers to the questions that cut across the guides, from how many nights a first visit needs to which journeys are built for winter.
Questions
Before you begin, answered straight
Who will actually plan our trip?
A travel designer from our own small team, working from our office at Salbari, on Ambhadhura Road in Darjeeling district near Siliguri; Darjeeling Trips opened on 18 June 2017. Most journeys are designed by Manish Giri, one of our co-founders. Your designer plans the route, books the houses, briefs the drivers, guides and kitchens, checks which roads are open in the week you travel, and stays in the loop until you are home.
Can you plan for a party larger than six?
Yes. Most of our journeys are private for two to six guests in one car, and larger families travel in two cars, each with its own driver, as Three Generations does for up to nine. Tell us the number early, because heritage houses keep only a handful of rooms in each category: the MAYFAIR in Kalimpong has seven heritage rooms and a suite, and Glenburn eight suites in two bungalows. On the road explains which car goes where.
Do you only sell the journeys shown on the site?
No. The 41 journeys show what works on these roads and what each costs, and many guests start from one and reshape it. We also design from a blank page: a single tea estate, Bhutan after a conference in Delhi, or a week built around a festival. The planner on this page suggests the closest journeys as a starting point.
Can you arrange a journey at short notice?
Often, yes. Darjeeling and Kalimpong need no permits, so a late trip there depends only on rooms and cars. Sikkim needs more time for foreign and OCI guests, whose Restricted Area Permit is filed online through e-FRRO about 30 days before they reach the state, and Bhutan needs an entry permit or a visa; the visa is usually processed within five working days, though peak-season rooms set the real lead time. Journeys confirmed inside 45 days are paid in full at confirmation.