Darjeeling – The Real Queen of the Hills

Called the ‘Queen of hill stations’ Darjeeling is a scenic valley situated in the north eastern Himalayan ranges of India. It was part of the state of Sikkim before it was handed over to the East India Company by the king of Sikkim in 1835. This hill station became part of the state of West Bengal after the Indian Union was formed post independence, demarcating state boundaries on linguistic lines. This beautiful hill resort has been the choice of millions of tourists till commercial exploitation started gaining ground here, ecologically damaging its surroundings. However this pristine place still offers the discerning tourist everything that satisfies his senses and his purse.

The best way to approach Darjeeling is taking the train from Silguri. This ride is enjoyable for people of all ages, especially children as this train looks and feels like a toy train and the meandering slopes on either side of the ride simply enchants the visitor with its sheer splendor. There are many sights in Darjeeling, like the tiger hill, which is situated at 2590 meters above mean sea level and offers a tremendous view of the sunrise above the Kanchenjunga mountain peak. This one view is enough to take the breath away of the tourist making him want to come again for another sight. Darjeeling also has the highest railway station in the world in a place called Ghoom, which is just two kilometers away from the town. The whole place is littered with parks and lakes; some of the well known ones is Padmaja Naidu Zoological Park and the Snehchal Lake. The other must see places are the Batasia Loop, Dhirdham Temple, tensing Norgay Mountaineering Institute and Lloyd’s gardens.

Darjeeling is well connected by roads to all major towns and one can take a flight to Kolkata or Bagdodra, from where you can connect by road to the valley. The climate varies from 0 degrees centigrade in winter to a pleasant 22 degrees in summer. The people here are very friendly and the languages spoken are Bengali and Nepali, though one can get by with Hindi and English, as is the case with all tourist spots in India. Accommodation is plenty in Darjeeling suiting all budgets and lot of tour operators offer decent packages to the visitor. Go to Darjeeling to savor its beauty and relax savoring a hot glass of the famous Darjeeling tea.

Author – writer baba