Prices, and where they go
What a private journey in the hills costs
Real from-prices across all 41 journeys, what they include and leave out, what moves them, how a family is priced, and where the money goes on a Darjeeling week and a Bhutan week.
In short
How much does a luxury trip to Darjeeling, Sikkim or Bhutan cost?
For two people travelling together, seven private nights in Darjeeling and Sikkim cost from ₹2,80,000 to ₹5,30,000 in all, with houses, car, guides and permits included. A short break starts at ₹1,20,000 for two, and Bhutan journeys at ₹6,50,000 for two for eight nights. We quote per person, twin share, so each journey's from-price is half those figures: in the hills, roughly ₹16,000 to ₹38,000 per person a night.
Every journey, priced
41 journeys, per night and in full
From-prices per person, twin share, from each journey's own page. Sort by any column; the per-night figure is the from-price divided by the nights.
The price ladder
From a weekend to three kingdoms
Every from-price is per person, twin share, in rupees, built from each house's published or best available rate and checked in September 2026. The table above names all 41 journeys; these bands show where each kind sits, and what moves you up or down inside one.
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Short breaks in the Indian hills
₹60,000 to ₹90,000 per person for two to four nights. The low end buys three nights in one Kalimpong house with a car and guide; the high end buys a steam charter shared by four, or four nights over Christmas between Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
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Five to eight nights in Darjeeling and Sikkim
₹90,000 to ₹2,65,000 per person. Homestays at Zuluk, a jungle camp in the Neora Valley and lodges on the Singalila Ridge sit at the bottom; the Elgins and Windamere fill the middle; a full-board suite at Glenburn or a Taj in the Pangthang forest takes you to the top.
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Ten nights in Sikkim
₹1,90,000 to ₹2,25,000 per person, for a private Goecha La trek with its own crew or the whole state from the Teesta to Lachung's Yumthang valley. The trek's nights are mostly in camp, so rooms weigh less in its price than the crew and the trip leader do.
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Bhutan
₹3,25,000 to ₹9,50,000 per person, for six to nine nights. Entering by road through Phuentsholing keeps the bottom of the band low; Drukair flights, lodges priced in dollars and the high valleys of Phobjikha and Bumthang lift the top. The nightly fee is a small part of it, as the Bhutan breakdown below shows.
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Nepal
₹1,30,000 to ₹2,95,000 per person, for three to eight nights. Kathmandu's old cities on their own sit at the bottom; the Everest flight, a Pokhara lodge facing the Annapurnas or the road from Darjeeling over the Mechi raise it. Other passports pay foreigner fares, higher monument fees and a visa on top.
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Two and three kingdoms
₹3,80,000 to ₹5,70,000 per person, for eight to fourteen nights across two or three countries. Each border brings a change of car, a new guide and its own papers, and every one of them is priced into the figure.
In the price
What every price includes
Each journey page lists its own inclusions in full. These are the parts every one of them shares.
- Your houses, with the meals your quote namesEvery night in the houses on your route, usually costed in the lowest room category we would sell, with breakfast and dinner as a rule. Glenburn and several Bhutan lodges include more, and the quote says exactly what.
- A private car and driver every dayIn India, a Toyota Innova Crysta or similar with fuel, tolls, parking and the driver's allowances; in Bhutan and Nepal, a local car and driver. Where Sikkim's rules call for a Sikkim-registered car, the quote names each vehicle and the days it runs.
- Licensed guides on the sightseeing daysLocal guides in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Gangtok and Pelling on the days that need one, and a licensed Bhutanese guide every day you are in Bhutan, as the rules require.
- Permits and the paperwork behind themTsomgo, Nathu La, North Sikkim and Zuluk permits filed through a registered Sikkim operator where your route needs them, Sikkim's ₹50 tourist fee, and help with the e-FRRO permit for foreign guests.
- Entry fees and the experiences listedMonastery, museum and park fees on your route, steam joy ride seats, factory visits and tastings, home-cooked lunches and anything else the day-by-day plan promises you.
- Bhutan's SDF at the Indian rateEvery Bhutan from-price already carries the fee at the Indian rate, paid with your entry permit, so it is never added to your quote later. The table further down gives every age and passport.
- Support 24x7 while you travelSomeone who knows your route answers at any hour you are on the road. Both breakdowns below show what that support and the design behind it cost inside the price, rather than leaving you to guess.
Not in the price
What you pay separately
Each item is either your own choice or something a house, an airline or a government charges directly. Your quote names the ones we know about for your dates.
| Not in the price | Who charges it | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Flights into the hills and home | The airline | We book them on request and time them around the first and last drives |
| Travel insurance | Your insurer | Cover for cancellation, medical care and evacuation, as our terms ask, naming the highest point you will reach |
| Tips | You, at the end | Never expected on the day; the usual ranges are in Before you travel |
| Drinks, spa, laundry and room service | Each house | At its own rates, except where a house such as Glenburn folds soft drinks and laundry into its tariff |
| Add-ons you choose | As quoted | Helicopters, extra nights, rafting, ponies at Taktsang, an optional Nathu La day, and anything marked as an add-on on a journey page |
| Festive supplements | The house | Windamere's 25 percent on 24, 25, 26 and 31 December, Glenburn's Christmas and New Year supplements, the MAYFAIR's Christmas Eve gala dinner |
| Fires, heaters and cameras | Some houses and monuments | A charge for a lit fire or a room heater in some old hill houses, and camera fees at some monuments and museums |
| Foreign passport differences | Bhutan, Nepal and their airlines | In Bhutan the SDF difference and the US$40 visa; in Nepal a visa from US$30, foreigner fares and higher monument fees |
The levers
What moves the price
Two journeys on the same map can differ by lakhs. These are the choices that do it, with real figures from our own costings.
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Season
Peak weeks cost more. Gangtey Lodge charges its peak rate from 15 September to 30 November, and November at Six Senses adds about ₹95,000 per person to The Cranes of Phobjikha. December departures of Two Kingdoms come to about ₹5,00,000 instead of ₹5,30,000.
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The room
Most from-prices use the lowest room we would sell, and a few, such as Kanchenjunga, Face to Face, use a suite by design. A Premium Suite at the Elgin Nor-Khill or a Valley View Room at COMO Uma Paro moves the figure, and we price each option before you choose.
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The houses
The house is the biggest lever. The Cranes of Phobjikha is ₹8,25,000 with Six Senses Gangtey and a Pemako pool villa, and about ₹4,45,000 on the same route with Gangtey Lodge and COMO Uma Punakha.
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Party size
A car, a guide or a charter costs the same for two as for six. The Toy Train Weekend is ₹85,000 each for four sharing the steam charter and ₹1,20,000 each for two, and Goecha La for four comes to roughly ₹1,20,000 to ₹1,35,000 each.
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Private charters
A private steam train from Kurseong to Darjeeling was ₹80,850 one way on the railway's 2022 card, subject to its approval. A helicopter breakfast at Hotel Everest View starts about US$999 a seat, or about US$4,000 for a helicopter of your own for up to five.
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Flights
Flights sit inside the price only where the journey says so. Drukair from Bagdogra to Paro averaged about ₹18,500 each way in our September 2026 costings; Buddha Air's Everest flight is about NPR 18,000 to 18,600 for Indians and US$235 to US$279 for other passports.
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Your passport
Bhutan and Nepal prices assume Indian nationals. Other passports add the SDF difference and visa, about ₹62,600 on a seven-night Bhutan journey, and in Nepal about ₹18,000 more in fares and fees on Kathmandu, Pokhara and the Annapurnas.
Families
How we price a family
Every from-price assumes two adults sharing one room and one car. A family changes three things: who shares a room, how far the car and guide are shared, and a few age rules at the borders. The figures below come from our own journey costings.
- Children in your roomPriced from each house's own extra-child rate once we know their ages, never at the adult from-price. At Glenburn a child of 3 to 12 costs ₹5,000 a night plus GST in the parents' suite and under-3s stay free; the Windamere lets children up to five stay free with their parents.
- A family room insteadOn The Hills with Children the from-price is per adult, and a family room replaces the heritage room. Each child's share is that room upgrade plus train seats and entries, about ₹20,000 per child in our costing before our design and support share, quoted with your dates.
- A room of your ownA grandparent in a separate room, or anyone travelling alone, pays for the whole room rather than half of it, less any lower single rate the house publishes. A solo guest also carries the car and guide alone, which is why the per-person figure rises most for one.
- Cars and guides go furtherThey cost the same for two as for six. Three Generations is costed for six guests in three rooms with two cars at ₹1,50,000 each; the same journey for two adults with one car comes to about ₹1,65,000 each.
- Ages at the bordersBhutan's nightly fee is nil under 6 and half from 6 to 11, as the table below shows; Sikkim's ₹50 tourist fee applies from age five; and Tsomgo and North Sikkim permits are issued only for children over five, so the youngest spend that morning in Gangtok.
One journey, opened up
Where the money goes on The First Time
Our eight-night journey through Gangtok, Pelling and Darjeeling, from the costing behind its September 2026 from-price of ₹1,75,000 per person, twin share. Four fifths goes to houses, cars, guides, kitchens, fees and tax; one fifth is our design, service and support.
| What the money pays for | Per person | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 8 nights at The Elgin Nor-Khill, The Elgin Mount Pandim and Windamere, half board | ₹70,500 | 40.5% |
| 18% GST on those rooms | ₹12,690 | 7.3% |
| Allowance for 2026-27 room rates, not yet published by the houses (8%) | ₹6,655 | 3.8% |
| Two private cars with drivers from the hills, the Tsomgo permit vehicle and its permit | ₹32,500 | 18.7% |
| Licensed local guides on five days | ₹7,500 | 4.3% |
| Lunches, a Sikkimese home-cook lunch, a tea tasting and afternoon tea | ₹6,500 | 3.7% |
| Sikkim's tourist fee, entry fees and a steam joy ride seat | ₹3,000 | 1.7% |
| Design, service and 24x7 support: 25% on the costs above | ₹34,836 | 20.0% |
| Total per person, quoted as ₹1,75,000 | ₹1,74,181 | 100% |
Bhutan's nightly fee
Bhutan's SDF, explained
Bhutan charges a Sustainable Development Fee for every night a visitor spends in the country. The US$100 rate is half its standing US$200 fee, a discount granted for four years to 31 August 2027 and not certain to be renewed. At ₹96 to the dollar it is about ₹9,600 a night, eight times the Indian rate.
| Traveller | Per night | Seven nights | Also needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian national, adult | ₹1,200 | ₹8,400 | Entry permit; passport or voter ID, no visa |
| Indian national, child 6 to 11 | ₹600 | ₹4,200 | Birth certificate or passport |
| Any child under 6 | Nil | Nil | Documents as for their nationality |
| Other nationalities, adult | US$100 | US$700, about ₹67,200 | US$40 visa, applied online |
| Other nationalities, child 6 to 11 | US$50 | US$350 | US$40 visa, applied online |
| Day visit to Phuentsholing or another border town | Nil | Not applicable | Stay inside the border-town zone, which in Phuentsholing ends at the Rinchending checkpost, and no longer than 24 hours; the waiver runs to August 2027 |
A Bhutan week, opened up
Where the money goes on Bhutan: The Western Valleys
Six nights flying Drukair from Bagdogra, from the costing behind its September 2026 from-price of ₹4,55,000 per person, twin share, at ₹96 to the dollar. The nightly fee is ₹7,200 of it; the lodges, priced in dollars, are nearly half. Shares are rounded.
| What the money pays for | Per person | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 6 nights at Le Méridien Thimphu, Dhensa Resort in Punakha and Taj Paro Resort & Spa, with breakfast and taxes, and dinner at Le Méridien | ₹2,13,120 | 46.8% |
| A Bhutanese car and driver, and a licensed guide, for seven days | ₹57,750 | 12.7% |
| Drukair, Bagdogra to Paro and back | ₹37,000 | 8.1% |
| Sustainable Development Fee, 6 nights at ₹1,200 | ₹7,200 | 1.6% |
| Monument fees, Taktsang included | ₹11,000 | 2.4% |
| Lunches every day, and dinners at Dhensa and the Taj | ₹25,500 | 5.6% |
| A massage, a stupa-making workshop, ponies kept ready for Taktsang and a local SIM | ₹12,500 | 2.7% |
| Design, service and 24x7 support: 25% on the costs above | ₹91,018 | 20.0% |
| Total per person, quoted as ₹4,55,000 | ₹4,55,088 | 100% |
| With Le Méridien Paro Riverfront in place of the Taj | Total about ₹3,75,000 | The same week, a simpler last house |
| On a passport other than Indian: SDF at US$100 a night and the US$40 visa | About ₹54,200 more | Charged by Bhutan, not by us |
Paying for it
Deposit, balance and refunds
Planning costs nothing, and the deposit, the balance, each house's cancellation terms and what happens when a road or a flight fails are set out once, on How it works.
The small print, in full
Taxes, currency and Bhutan and Nepal
From-prices are in Indian rupees, per person, twin share, and include the GST hotels charge on rooms: 18 percent on rooms above ₹7,500 a night and 5 percent at or below it since 22 September 2025.
If you are an Indian resident, a package that takes you into Bhutan or Nepal can count as an overseas tour package, and tax is then collected at source on it. Since 1 April 2026 the rate is a flat 2 percent of the package, down from the old 5 and 20 percent slabs. TCS is an advance collection, not a fee: you claim it against your income tax, or as a refund, when you file your return. We confirm how it applies when we quote.
Many lodges in Bhutan and Nepal price in US dollars. The rupee stood at about ₹96 to the dollar on 19 September 2026, and each quote converts at the rate on its own date; the last question below explains what happens on the day you confirm.
Questions
What it costs, answered straight
What does a night cost in a heritage house and on a tea estate?
Reckon on about ₹20,000 per person a night, twin share, in heritage houses such as the Elgin hotels and Windamere, and up to about ₹38,000 a night on a full-board tea estate such as Glenburn, where the meals, the estate walks and a tasting sit inside the tariff. Both figures carry the private car, the guides, the permits and the entry fees as well, not the room alone. The table on this page gives the per-night figure for every journey, so you can weigh three nights in one house against eight across three. Flights to Bagdogra are extra.
What separates a ₹3,25,000 Bhutan week from a ₹9,50,000 one?
The houses, the way in, and how far east you go. From the Hills into Bhutan drives up from Bagdogra and crosses at Phuentsholing, and gives eight nights from ₹3,25,000 per person, twin share, with the one-way seat home from Paro inside the price. Bhutan: Into the Heart starts at Paro airport, runs nine nights and carries on past Trongsa to Bumthang, from ₹9,50,000, and its lodges set that figure: a Gangtey Lodge suite is about US$1,250 a night in autumn, half board, and an Amankora suite in Bumthang about US$2,600 with all meals. Its flights to and from Paro sit outside the price, and a Drukair seat from Bagdogra runs about ₹18,500 each way. The nightly fee is the same on both and a small part of each, as the two breakdowns above show.
What is Bhutan's SDF for Indian tourists in 2026?
₹1,200 per adult per night, paid with the online entry permit; Indian nationals need no visa. Children pay less or nothing according to age, and other nationalities pay the dollar rate plus a US$40 visa. The table on this page gives every age and passport, and the date the dollar rate runs to. Our Bhutan prices already include the Indian rate, so it is not added to your quote later.
Are flights included in the price?
Flights to the hills are not, unless a journey page says so; we book them on request and time the road around them. Flights inside a journey often are: Drukair from Bagdogra on Bhutan: The Western Valleys, Buddha Air from Bhadrapur to Kathmandu, the Everest flight and Nepal's domestic hops. Each journey page lists exactly what is in and what is out.
Why does a private journey cost more than a package tour?
Because the parts differ. Our prices are built on rooms in heritage houses, lodges and working estates, a private car and driver every day, licensed guides on every sightseeing day, and a team who answers while you travel. About a fifth of the price pays for that design and support, as both breakdowns on this page show; the rest goes to the houses, drivers, guides and permits named in your quote.
Does the price change with the exchange rate?
Only until you confirm. Many Bhutan and Nepal lodges price in US dollars, so a quote can move with the rupee before you say yes; the dollar bought about ₹96 on 19 September 2026. On the day you confirm we fix the rate, and from then on the currency no longer moves your rupee total, whatever the dollar does.
Sources we checked for this page (20)
- The Elgin Nor-Khill 2025-26 rates: Deluxe Double MAP ₹17,000, GST extra
- The Elgin Mount Pandim 2025-26 rates: Deluxe Cottage MAP ₹18,000, GST extra
- Windamere tariff to 31 March 2026: Superior MAP ₹18,000, 18% tax
- Windamere 25 percent surcharge on 24, 25, 26 and 31 December; children up to five free in parents' room
- SDF US$100 per night until 31 August 2027; half for children 6 to 12
- SDF for Indian nationals ₹1,200 a night; children from 6 until 12 pay ₹600; under 6 exempt
- Bhutan visa US$40, applied online
- Department of Tourism FAQ (re-read 20 September 2026): children from 6 until their 12th birthday pay half the SDF and under-6s pay none; tourists visiting Samtse, Phuentsholing, Gelephu and Samdrupjongkhar for 24 hours need not pay SDF from 2 June 2026 until August 2027 if they stay inside the designated border-town zones
- Sikkim ₹50 tourist fee from 14 March 2025 for tourists aged five and over, collected at the accommodation
- Budget 2026-27: TCS on overseas tour packages cut to 2 percent from 1 April 2026, with the ₹10 lakh threshold removed (second source)
- Gangtey Lodge peak season 15 September to 30 November 2026
- Zhiwaling Heritage 2026 peak rates, regular rate in December
- TCS on overseas tour programme packages cut to a flat 2 percent from 1 April 2026, creditable against income tax
- Hotel rooms up to ₹7,500 a night at 5 percent GST from 22 September 2025; tour operator services at 5 percent without input tax credit
- Nepal tourist visa US$30 for 15 days, US$50 for 30, US$125 for 90
- Buddha Air Everest Experience fares and weather refunds
- US dollar at about ₹96 (95.99) on 19 September 2026, re-read 20 September 2026; some journey costings use this rate and others ₹88 (see flags)
- Department of Tourism announcement, re-read 20 September 2026: the US$100 SDF is a 50 percent discount on the standing US$200 rate, in effect from 1 September 2023 for four years to 31 August 2027, with half rates for children 6 to 12 and the 24-hour border-town waiver continuing
- Department of Tourism FAQ, re-read 20 September 2026: SDF US$100 a night for adults from every country except India, US$50 for children from 6 until their 12th birthday, nil under 6; Nu 1,200 per night for Indian nationals showing a passport or voter ID and Nu 600 for children 6 to 11; the border-town waiver applies only inside the designated zone, which ends at the Rinchending checkpost in Phuentsholing, and cannot be combined with other SDF incentives
- US dollar at ₹95.99 on the API's 19 September 2026 reading, re-checked 20 September 2026
Checked September 2026. We confirm every rule, fee and flight again for your dates.
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