Kalimpong travel guide

Set in beautiful wooded mountain scenery with an unhurried air about it, Kalimpong was a meeting point of the once ‘Three Closed Lands’ on the trade route to Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal. Away from the crowded and scruffy centre near the motor stand, the town becomes more spaced out as mountain roads wind up the hillsides leading to monasteries, mission schools and orchid nurseries. Some say that the name is derived from pong (stronghold) of kalon (king’s minister), or from kalibong, a plant fibre.

From Darjeeling, the 51-km journey (2½ hours) is through beautiful scenery. The road winds down through tea estates and then descends to 250 m at Tista where it crosses the river on a ‘new’ concrete bridge. ‘Lovers’ Meet’ and ‘View Point’ give superb views of the Rangit and Tista rivers.