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  • Gangtok City Tour: Exploring the most bustling place of Sikkim
  • Gangtok City Tour
  • 7 best places to visit in Gangtok
  • Gangtok City Tour: Exploring the most bustling place of Sikkim
  • Gangtok-Sikkim
  • Gangtok-Sikkim
Gangtok
A view of M G Marg, Gangtok

Gangtok – The Best Hill Station 

(Stay at Cherry’s Gangtok )

Gangtok – the best hill station in India, serves as the capital of Sikkim, a tiny state stuck in the eastern part of India.

Gangtok – the perfect gateway to exotic Sikkim – is perhaps an apt way to describe Gangtok – a beautiful town located at more than an altitude of more than 5500 feet.

With Mount Kanchenjunga in the backdrop, Gangtok may look like any other Himalayan hill station. But better delve deeper into it and there you start seeing the difference.

Gangtok has emerged as one of the most popular destinations for tourists in India in the last decade or so.

With a population of simple and loving people, Gangtok will make you fall for it.  No wonder there is hardly any parallel of the pace at which Gangtok has emerged as one of the favourites for tourists. Offering a cool climate, Gangtok has a number  of attractions, right within the city limits and outside it.

Gangtok
A view from Tashi View Point, Gangtok

Attractions of Gangtok

(Stay at Cherry’s Gangtok)

Banjhakri Waterfalls & Tashi View Point

Banjhakri waterfalls is a great natural attraction of Gangtok. It is quite amazing to see such a nice waterfall almost within town limits. There is a small amusement park here as well for locals and visitors to enjoy.

Tashi View Point is a nice place to get a good view of Mount Kanchenjunga from Gangtok.

Lake Tsomgo & Nathula Pass

(Stay at Cherry’s Gangtok )

Taking permission from authorities using an approved agency, one can visit Lake Tsomgo, a Himalayan glacial lake, often referred to as Changgu by the locals. Located at a high altitude of  more than 12300 feet, Lake Tsomgo or Changgu, is some 40km from Gangtok. It may sound less but it is a drive of more than two hours. The lake surface reflects different colours with change of season and is held in great reverence by the local Sikkimese people.

Gangtok
Nathula Pass

The latest addition to the beauty of Lake Tsomgo has been the installation of cable cars. These were installed there in 2017. People can go to even higher altitudes using this and enjoy a great view.

With special permission, tourists can go further higher to visit to Nathu La Pass, a mountain pass which connects Sikkim with Tibet. It was once a region of active trade between the two regions as it connected to the old silk route.

Since 2006, trade ties through this Pass has been restored. Nathu La is located at an altitude of 14450 feet above sea level.

Buddhist Monasteries

(Stay at Cherry’s Gangtok)

Gangtok is also home to some of very nice looking monasteries.

The most beautiful and perhaps the most significant one is Rumtek Monastery, the biggest monastery in Sikkim. This monastery belongs to Karma Kagyu lineage. It houses many sacred objects within the monastery complex.  One of the most magnificent of these is the Golden Stupa, which contains the precious relics of His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa.

Opposite that building is the shedra, or college, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies.

Gangtok
Rumtek Monastery

Besides this, one can also visit Enchey Monastery, which was built in 1909. This monastery belongs to the Nyingma order of Vajrayana Buddhism. Besides its religious importance and a great place for tourists to explore more details about Buddhism, this monastery also offers some great scenic views.

Ganesh Tok & Hanuman Tok

(Stay at Cherry’s Gangtok)

Ganesh Tok and Hanuman Tok are two other places of great religious importance. They are Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Ganesha and Lord Hanuman respectively.

Hanuman Tok, which was established in 1952, is maintained by Indian Army resident units and contributions made by local people. Situated at a distance of around 9km from main Gangtok city, Hanuman Tok is located at an altitude of more than 7000 feet. It offers some great views of Mount Kanchenjunga and Lukshyama – the royal graveyard with stupas and chortens where the royal family members of Sikkim have been cremated.

Gangtok
Entrance to Ganesh Tok, Gangtok

Ganesh Tok is also quite popular among tourists as well as locals. Situated at some 7km from Gangtok town, the temple is located at an altitude of 6500 feet. This temple also offers great views of Mount Kanchenjunga and Gangtok town.

Other Attractions

(Stay at Cherry’s Gangtok)

Gangtok Zoo, close by, has a good collection of animals from the Himalayan regions.

Tourists should make it a point to visit Namgyal Institute of Tibetology to understand more about Tibetan Buddhism and its cultural influence on Sikkim and other areas. It library has some rich and rare collections.

Gangtok Flower Exhibition

Gangtok
Tourists at Flower Exhibition, Gangtok

Gangtok Flower Exhibition is an attraction which must not be missed. If you are lucky to visit at the time of blooming of orchids and other flowers, the whole place looks just awesome. Deorali Orchid Sanctuary is also one of the best places to visit for orchids.

There is all likelihood you would not have seen so huge varieties of orchids anywhere else. No wonder, orchid is also the state flower of Sikkim. Every year during May an annual flower show is organized here and there is a big display of orchids and native Sikkimese flowers.

Experience Sikkim Cuisines

Last, but not the least, everyone visiting Gangtok must enjoy the different kinds of cuisines on offer here. Sikkim cuisines are delicious and should be tried by everyone visiting Gangtok. The cuisines, in general, are a blend of Tibetan, Nepalese and Lepcha dishes.

Some of the most popular dishes of Sikkim are momo (dumplings); thukpa (a kind of noodle soup of Tibetan origin); phagshapa (a strip of pork fat that is stewed with dry chillies and radish); sha phaley (Bread stuffed with ground beef and cabbage) and gundruk ( a leafy dish of Nepalese origin that is completely vegan and is made out of some leaves of mustard, cabbage or radish).