Sikkim being a popular tourist destination most of us plan the trip in winters when there is lot of snow to play around or in summer to cool the heels away from sweltering Indian summers.
If I recommend Sikkim in monsoons most of you would scoff at the idea. It rains, weather packs up anytime and of course fear of landslides. But if you are ready to brave all this, Sikkim offers splendid views, great waterfalls and a lush green flowery carpet all around.
First thing first. Don’t plan this if you are short in number of days for vacation. Patience is what you need :-
Landslide – wait in your vehicle.
Weather packs up – stay indoors.
Rains – just open the damn umbrella.
The pro for this trip would be:-
You would avoid the heavy traffic of Gangtok, which is really bad in winters when tourist throng this place in huge numbers.
Easy availability of permit for protected areas like Nathula.
No que for showing the permit at the check post (it takes up to 2 hours in peak season)
No waiting period at Nathula.
Low rates of hotels and hired vehicles.
Having few days extra for monsoon trip is always good and gives you luxury to change the plan as required. If you are lucky, you would be greeted with good weather, that means clear sky in the day and rains in the evening, which is the norm in hills.
I planned the visit in early August (well truthfully, I got leave only in August) and by this time heavy rains were over, land slides had taken place and Sikkim was cut off from the rest of the country for around two days in late July. This emboldened me further and I hoped it won’t happen again anytime soon.
I landed at Bagdogra on 01 Aug (Pekyang airport was shut down). It was sunny, hot and humid there. Gangtok is around 124 km form Bagdogra and the place was cool and nice.
It would take around two days to visit places in Gangtok. Some of the places of interest are:-
Bakthang waterfall
Rumtek monastery
Tashi view point (one has a chance to see Kanchenjunga if weather is clear which might happen soon after rains)
Plant conservatory
Himalayan zoological park
Ganesh Tok
Hanuman Tok
Deorali Ropeway
Enchey monastery
and of course MG market
Bakthang waterfall
Himalayan Leopard at the Zoological Park
The Green and the Blues of monsoons
The trip to Nathula, Changu or Tsomgo lake and Baba Harbhajan Mandir is wonderful in monsoons. The mountains are green and have beautiful flower cover at places. Numerous waterfalls enroute make it an exciting journey.
Changu or Tsomgo lake
Flowers in the wild
Baba Harbhajan Shrine
View of Chinese side at Nathu la
There seems to be no reason to fear a trip to Sikkim in monsoons. Only point for consideration is to have few days extra in case you need to tweak the itinerary.
mountain life 