Arrival and departure
How to get to Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan
Where to land, how long each road takes from Bagdogra, which flights to book on arrival and departure days, and what happens from the moment you walk out of the terminal.
In short
How do you get to Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan?
Fly to Bagdogra (IXB), the airport for the Darjeeling hills, which has direct flights from Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and other Indian cities. From there Darjeeling and Kalimpong are about 3 hours by road, Gangtok 4.5 to 5 and Pelling 5 to 6. For Bhutan, fly into Paro or drive 162 km to Phuentsholing; for Nepal, cross at Kakarbhitta and fly from Bhadrapur. Pakyong, Sikkim's own airport, had no scheduled flights in September 2026.
Where you arrive
Six ways into the hills
Nearly every journey starts at Bagdogra. The others matter when you are coming by train, starting in Bhutan or Nepal, or short of time on the Sikkim road.
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Bagdogra airport, IXB
The gateway for almost every journey, 126 m above sea level near Siliguri. IndiGo, Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet fly in direct from about a dozen Indian cities, with nonstops from Delhi through the day. Drukair links it with Paro and Bangkok, the airport's only international flights.
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New Jalpaiguri railway station, NJP
The main station for the hills, about 20 km from Bagdogra and 70 km from Darjeeling or Kalimpong. The Vande Bharat from Howrah arrives in the early afternoon six days a week, and the overnight Darjeeling Mail from Sealdah soon after dawn; the times are under Coming by train below.
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Paro, Bhutan, PBH
Bhutan's international airport, served by Drukair and Bhutan Airlines from Delhi, Kolkata, Bagdogra, Guwahati, Kathmandu, Bangkok and beyond. Landings happen in daylight and good visibility only, so we never plan a tight connection on either side of it.
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Kathmandu, and Bhadrapur on the border
Tribhuvan airport has nonstop flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. From the hills, drive 22 km from Bagdogra to the Mechi bridge at Kakarbhitta, then 21 km to Bhadrapur for a 45-minute flight to Kathmandu. No flight runs direct from Bagdogra.
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The Gangtok helicopter
When the Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation is flying, Bagdogra to Burtuk heliport in Gangtok takes 30 to 35 minutes instead of 4.5 hours. The November 2025 fare was ₹3,100 a seat with one 7 kg bag free; larger cases follow by car.
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Pakyong airport: no flights for now
Sikkim's airport, about 31 km from Gangtok, has had no scheduled service since June 2024, and none was on sale in September 2026 despite talk of a restart. If a booking site offers Pakyong, check with us before you pay.
From Europe, America or Asia
Flying in from abroad
No long-haul flight lands at Bagdogra, so guests from overseas change planes once, in Delhi, Kolkata or Bangkok. Airlines and times below were checked on 20 September 2026 and change by season.
- Through DelhiAir India, British Airways and IndiGo fly nonstop from London Heathrow; IndiGo's flight was listed at about 11 hours. Delhi to Bagdogra takes about two hours, with nonstops on IndiGo, Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet through the day, so Delhi suits guests from Britain, Europe and North America.
- Through KolkataEmirates through Dubai, Qatar Airways through Doha, Etihad through Abu Dhabi and Singapore Airlines through Singapore all fly into Kolkata. The last leg to Bagdogra is the shortest on offer, about 50 minutes, on Air India, Air India Express or IndiGo.
- Through Bangkok, straight to BagdograDrukair flies Bangkok to Bagdogra on Tuesdays and Saturdays in its October 2026 timetable, leaving at 07:30 and landing at 09:10, and back on Mondays and Fridays. Bagdogra accepts e-Visa arrivals, so you clear immigration there and can be in Darjeeling or Kalimpong by mid afternoon.
- Your Indian visa comes firstApply online for the Indian e-Tourist visa before you pay for flights you cannot change. The 30-day e-Tourist visa allows more than one entry, which matters if you go on to Bhutan or Nepal and fly back into India. Foreign guests bound for Sikkim also need its online permit, set out on Permits and visas.
- One ticket, or a night betweenOn a single through ticket your bags follow you. On separate tickets you clear immigration and customs in Delhi or Kolkata, collect your bags and check in again, so leave a wide gap. If the long flight lands at night or at dawn, a night near the airport means the first mountain road is driven fresh.
- Ending in BhutanDrukair's October 2026 timetable flies Paro to Delhi every morning at 09:40, landing at 11:30. Paro flies only in daylight and good visibility, so leave the rest of that day free before a flight home, or sleep a night in Delhi. Drukair also flies Paro to Bangkok.
On the road
Drive times from Bagdogra
Hours are for a private car in good conditions with one short stop. Monsoon slides and festival traffic add time, and we check the road each morning before we set off.
| From Bagdogra to | Distance | Time by car | The road |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kurseong and Makaibari | 37 to 42 km | 1 to 1.5 hours | Rohini Road; Taj Chia Kutir is about 70 minutes from arrivals |
| Darjeeling | 70 km | About 3 hours | Rohini Road and Kurseong, or Pankhabari or NH110 by Tindharia |
| Glenburn Tea Estate | 85 km | About 3 hours | Up the Teesta and the Peshok road; the estate's own car can meet you |
| Kalimpong | 80 km | About 3 hours | NH10 up the Teesta gorge from Sevoke, then 16 km of climbing |
| Gangtok | 124 km | 4.5 to 5 hours | NH10 through the Rangpo checkpost; by Gorubathan when NH10 shuts |
| Ravangla | 128 km | 4.5 to 5 hours | The Teesta valley, the Melli checkpost and Namchi |
| Pelling | 135 km | 5 to 6 hours | Melli, Jorethang and Legship; through Darjeeling if NH10 closes |
| Yuksom | 169 km | About 6.5 hours | On beyond Pelling to the trailhead for Goecha La |
| Lachung, North Sikkim | About 245 km | Two days | A night in Gangtok, then about 6 hours north by permit vehicle |
| Kakarbhitta, Nepal border | 22 km | Under an hour | Panitanki on the Indian bank, then across the Mechi bridge |
| Bhadrapur airport, Nepal | 43 km | About 1.5 hours | Includes the border; then a 45-minute flight to Kathmandu |
| Phuentsholing, Bhutan border | 162 km | About 4.5 hours | Through the Dooars to the Jaigaon gate; Thimphu is 5 to 6 hours on |
Booking your flights
The best flights for arrival and departure days
Most arrival days are decided by one thing: how far your first house is from the runway. Book your flights inside these windows and the roads stay calm.
- Land by 11:30 for SikkimGangtok is 4.5 to 5 hours away and Pelling 5 to 6, so a late-morning landing arrives by late afternoon. In the short days of December and January, when dusk comes around 17:00, choose an earlier flight or spend the first night lower down.
- An afternoon landing suits the near hillsDarjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and Glenburn are all within about 3 hours, so a landing into the early afternoon still reaches the house for tea or dinner.
- Leaving from Darjeeling, Kalimpong or GlenburnBook a flight home from 13:00. The car leaves at about 08:00 to 08:30 and reaches Bagdogra near 11:30, with time in hand.
- Leaving from GangtokA 13:00 flight means leaving Gangtok at 07:00. Choose one at 15:30 or later and the car can go after breakfast, at about 09:00.
- Leaving from Pelling, Ravangla or YuksomBook after 14:00. The drive takes 5 to 6 hours, so the car leaves between 06:00 and 07:00 and you reach the airport around midday.
- Add slack in the monsoonFrom June to September keep half a day between the road and any flight out of Bagdogra, or spend the last night lower down, closer to the plains.
- Paro flies in daylight onlyIn October and November 2026 Drukair lands from Bagdogra at 11:00 on Tuesdays and Saturdays and flies back at 16:20 on Mondays and Fridays; the Delhi flight leaves Paro at 09:40. Days change by month.
- Allow three hours at KathmanduFor an international flight from Tribhuvan, leave three hours ahead even when the hotel is a short drive away: the departure hall is small and the security queues are hard to predict.
- Names and ID must matchBook every ticket in the exact name on the ID you will carry. Indian guests flying to or from Nepal need a passport or original voter ID; Aadhaar, PAN cards and driving licences are refused.
- Three clocksBhutan runs 30 minutes ahead of India and Nepal 15 minutes ahead. Every flight time we give you inside those countries is local time.
Arrival day
What happens when you land
From the moment your flight is booked to the moment you reach the house, this is how an arrival day runs.
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When you book
Send us your flight numbers
Once your flights are booked, send us the numbers and the names on the tickets. We plan each drive around them, and on the evening before you land we check the schedule and the road, so the day is set before you board.
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At your first Indian airport
Immigration, if you fly in from abroad
Foreign guests clear Indian immigration at their first airport in India, usually Delhi or Kolkata, then fly on as domestic passengers. Drukair passengers from Paro or Bangkok clear it at Bagdogra itself.
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As you walk out
Your driver at arrivals
Your driver waits at the arrivals exit, not inside the hall, with the car, cold water and a snack, and room for luggage, a child seat or a folded wheelchair if you asked. The same driver stays with you as far as the rules allow; Sikkim and Bhutan require their own registered cars for some days.
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Leaving the airport
The first stretch of road
The car heads through Siliguri to the foothills on whichever road up is open that morning. If anyone feels the bends, there is ginger in the car, the front seat is theirs, and the driver takes the hairpins slowly.
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About halfway
A stop on the way up
We break every long drive: tea at Kurseong on the Darjeeling road, or a riverside stop on the Teesta on the way to Kalimpong or Gangtok. If you land at midday, lunch is planned before you arrive.
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Rangpo or Melli
The Sikkim border
At the Rangpo or Melli checkpost the driver shows the vehicle papers. Foreign and OCI guests show the Sikkim permit printed from e-FRRO, and Indian guests carry photo ID. Sikkim's ₹50 tourist fee is collected later, at your hotel.
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Before dark
Arrival at the house
The driver sends your arrival time ahead from the car so the house is ready for you, with tea or dinner waiting. We aim to have you in before dark, which in December and January means leaving the airport by early afternoon.
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Departure day
The drive back down
On the last day we time the road to your flight, leave extra room in the monsoon, and follow the flight from Darjeeling until you are in the air.
Landslides and diversions
When a road closes on arrival or departure day
Landslides are the one thing here nobody can timetable, and arrival and departure days are where they hurt. Every main road up from Bagdogra has a second way round, so on arrival day a closure usually means a longer drive rather than a lost night, as long as you land by late morning.
Departure day is the one that bites, because a flight will not wait at a police barrier. That is why the flight windows above are stricter after Gangtok or Pelling, and stricter again from June to September. If a closure does land on the morning you fly, your driver's dawn report gives us the hours to work with, and what a changed ticket or an extra night costs is set out in the booking terms on How it works.
Which diversion belongs to which road is set out under On the road, with the rest of how we drive in the rains; what the rains did to these roads in 2026 is under When to go.
By rail
Coming by train
Rail works well from Kolkata. The Vande Bharat Express leaves Howrah at 05:55 and reaches New Jalpaiguri at 13:30, six days a week, in air-conditioned chair cars, and the Darjeeling Mail leaves Sealdah late in the evening and arrives at about 07:50, early enough for a full first day. From Delhi the Rajdhani takes about 20 hours, against a nonstop flight of about two, so most Delhi guests fly.
New Jalpaiguri sits about 20 km east of Bagdogra, so the road from there matches the one from the airport: about 70 km to Darjeeling or Kalimpong, and about 120 km to Gangtok. Your driver meets you at the station exit.
The toy train's line does begin down on the plains, but the full climb is slow and services can be cancelled after heavy rain. We drive you up and put you on its best stretch, higher on the hill between Kurseong, Ghum and Darjeeling.
Questions
Getting here, answered straight
Which airport serves Darjeeling, and which cities fly there?
Bagdogra (IXB), near Siliguri, about 70 km and 3 hours by road from Darjeeling. It has direct flights from Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and several other Indian cities, and Drukair flights to Paro and Bangkok. Pakyong, near Gangtok, is closer to Sikkim but had no scheduled flights in September 2026, so Bagdogra serves Sikkim as well.
Should I fly to Bagdogra or take the train to New Jalpaiguri?
Fly, unless you are coming from Kolkata. Bagdogra and New Jalpaiguri are about 20 km apart, so the drive into the hills is the same from either. From Kolkata the Vande Bharat reaches NJP at 13:30 and the overnight Darjeeling Mail at about 07:50, both convenient. From Delhi the Rajdhani takes about 20 hours, while a nonstop flight takes about two.
Road or helicopter from Bagdogra to Gangtok?
The road, for most guests: 124 km and 4.5 to 5 hours on NH10, along the Teesta through Sevoke and the Rangpo checkpost, with a stop by the river. The helicopter turns that into 30 to 35 minutes when the Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation is flying it, at the fare and baggage allowance given above. It flies in clear weather only, so we plan the day as a road day and treat the seats as a bonus: if the flight does not go, you drive, and the morning is already long enough for it.
Are there flights to Pakyong airport in 2026?
Not at the moment. Pakyong, about 31 km from Gangtok, lost its last scheduled service in June 2024, and no flights were on sale in September 2026, although the state has been talking to airlines about a restart. Cloud and poor visibility have grounded it before. We route every Sikkim journey through Bagdogra and recheck Pakyong before each booking.
Which days does Drukair fly between Bagdogra and Paro?
In October and November 2026, Bagdogra to Paro on Tuesdays and Saturdays, taking off at 09:40 and landing at 11:00 Bhutan time after about 50 minutes, and Paro to Bagdogra on Mondays and Fridays at 16:20. The days change month by month, so we read the timetable for your dates. The alternative is 162 km by road to Phuentsholing, about 4.5 hours, and Thimphu the next day.
How long does Darjeeling to Kathmandu take by road and air?
A full day: allow seven to eight hours door to door. Drive about 90 km and three and a half hours down to the Mechi bridge at Panitanki, cross into Nepal at Kakarbhitta, continue 21 km to Bhadrapur, and fly 45 minutes to Kathmandu. A mid-afternoon flight leaves room for a slow border. There is no direct flight from Bagdogra to Kathmandu; the papers for each passport are on Permits and visas.
Can foreign visitors land at Bagdogra on an e-Visa?
Yes. Bagdogra is one of India's designated e-Visa arrival airports, which matters most on Drukair's flights from Bangkok and Paro. Most long-haul travellers land first in Delhi or Kolkata, clear immigration there and fly on to Bagdogra as domestic passengers. Foreign guests going on into Sikkim also need its online Restricted Area Permit before they reach the state border.
Sources we checked for this page (35)
- Bagdogra airport: IXB, 126 m, civil enclave at an Air Force station; airlines IndiGo, Air India Express, Akasa Air, SpiceJet and Drukair; evening flights since 2013
- More than ten daily nonstop flights Delhi to Bagdogra, about 2 hours 5 minutes
- Bagdogra is a designated airport for e-Visa entry
- Bagdogra to Darjeeling about 70 km and 3 hours; Rohini, Pankhabari and Tindharia routes
- Bagdogra to Gangtok 124.5 km, about 4 hours; NJP 125 km
- STDC helicopter Gangtok to Bagdogra ₹3,100 one way from November 2025, one 7 kg bag free, Burtuk heliport, about 30 to 35 minutes
- Pakyong airport: no scheduled commercial flights in operation or open for booking; zero movements 2025-26
- Pakyong services suspended in June 2024 owing to bad weather and poor visibility
- Paro: daylight visual operations only; Drukair and Bhutan Airlines destinations
- Drukair October 2026: KB131 Bagdogra 09:40 to Paro 11:00 on Tuesdays and Saturdays; KB130 Paro to Bagdogra on Mondays and Fridays
- Bhadrapur to Kathmandu 45-minute flight, five Buddha Air flights a day
- Kakarbhitta 21.5 km from Bagdogra airport and 21 km from Bhadrapur airport
- Indians flying between India and Nepal need a passport or original voter ID; Aadhaar, PAN and driving licences not accepted
- Nepal visa on arrival available at Kakarbhitta: US$30 for 15 days
- Vande Bharat 22301: Howrah 05:55 to New Jalpaiguri 13:30, six days a week
- Rajdhani 12424: New Delhi 16:20 to New Jalpaiguri 12:30, about 20 hours
- Darjeeling Mail 12343 from Sealdah reaches New Jalpaiguri at 07:50
- NH10 blocked by landslides at Sevoke on 27 June 2026; traffic diverted via Gorubathan
- Rohini Road severely damaged in the October 2025 landslides
- June 2026 Mahanadi landslide cut NH110 between Siliguri and Kurseong
- Foreign nationals obtain the Sikkim RAP only online through e-FRRO from January 2026; OCI cardholders treated as foreign nationals
- Sikkim ₹50 tourist fee from March 2025, collected at the accommodation
- Road distances from Bagdogra and New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Gangtok, Pelling, Kakarbhitta and Bhadrapur recomputed September 2026
- Glenburn is 3 hours from Bagdogra and 1 hour 15 minutes from Darjeeling
- Drukair October 2026 timetable re-read 20 September 2026: KB131 Bagdogra 09:40 to Paro 11:00 on Tuesdays and Saturdays; KB130 Paro 16:20 to Bagdogra 16:35 on Mondays and Fridays; KB200 Paro to Delhi 09:40 daily
- Bagdogra to Ravangla 128.3 km by OSRM routing (checked 20 September 2026)
- Pakyong: restarts announced for October 2024 and March to April 2025 did not happen; landslides damaged the airport's boundary wall in August 2026
- Delhi to London Heathrow: Air India, British Airways and IndiGo in the airlines and destinations table (read 20 September 2026)
- London to New Delhi: IndiGo nonstop listed at 10 h 55 min; New Delhi to London nonstop 11 h 30 min (read 20 September 2026)
- Kolkata international airlines: Emirates (Dubai), Qatar Airways (Doha), Etihad (Abu Dhabi), Singapore Airlines (Singapore), Thai and others (Bangkok) (read 20 September 2026)
- Kolkata to Bagdogra nonstop from 50 minutes on Air India, Air India Express and IndiGo (read 20 September 2026)
- Bagdogra airlines: Air India Express, Akasa Air, IndiGo, SpiceJet; Drukair to Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi and Paro (read 20 September 2026)
- Drukair October 2026 timetable, re-read 20 September 2026: KB131 Bangkok 07:30 to Bagdogra 09:10, then Bagdogra 09:40 to Paro 11:00, on Tuesdays and Saturdays; KB130 Paro 16:20 to Bagdogra 16:35, then Bagdogra 17:15 to Bangkok 22:00, on Mondays and Fridays; KB200 Paro 09:40 to Delhi 11:30 daily; Paro to Bangkok on several days
- The 30-day e-Tourist visa allows multiple entries; Bagdogra is an e-Visa airport
- Darjeeling to the Mechi bridge about 90 km; leave 07:30, Panitanki by 11:00, 21 km to Bhadrapur, Buddha Air 14:05 to Kathmandu; seven to eight hours door to door
Checked September 2026. We confirm every rule, fee and flight again for your dates.
Plan my journey
Tell us where you are flying from
Send your home city and the dates you have in mind, and the reply sets out the arrival and departure windows for your route, with flights or trains booked if you would like us to.