Lava-Lolegaon-Rishop-Kalimpong: A complete guide for travel
This article provides a detailed information of places to visit, eat and stay in Lava, Lolegaon, Rishop and Kalimpong. It is a perfect way to flee from the scorching heat of Kolkata during summer vacation. Its a complete package in which you can visit several places within 5 to 6 days.
Lava Lolegaon Rishop Kalimpong
Lolegaon: It is a famous hill station located in North Bengal at an altitude of 1850 m above sea level. It is an ideal place for tourists during summer to enjoy leisurely holiday and to witness the beautiful views of Mount Kanchenjungha. But it can be only be viewed best if visited after monsoon, specially between October to March. During summer, the sky remains overcast with clouds making it hard for the tourists to view the snow-capped peaks. One can travel to Lolegaon both by air and by land. The nearest airport is Bagdogra Airport and the nearest railway station is the New Jalpaiguri Station. After reaching, one can easily hire a taxi or rent a car. Some notable attractions are the Jhandi Dara Sunrise Point and the Canopy Walk. The Jhandi Dara sunrise point is the highest point in Lolegaon. One can catch beautiful glimpses of sunrise over the Kanchenjunga mountains. The Canopy Walk is a hanging foot bridge connected from one tree to another through rope. It is a thrilling experience to cross the swinging bridge from one end to another. Its available in very few places in India. The whole village is covered with dense forest of Cypress trees. For staying overnight, not many options are available because it is a very small village. Some of the accomations available are Hotel Alpine, Hotel Paradise, Hotel Himalayan, Hotel Kanchenjungha, Hotel Swastika, Paradise Plaza and Yankee's Stay. Their rates vary from Rs. 500 to Rs. 800 per night. Some good places to have good food are Sunakhari Resort, Tree-Fern Resort and Hotel Sunrise.
Lava: It is another hill station located at an altitude of 7200 m above sea level at a distance of 101 kms from Siliguri via Kalimpong. For reaching this destination, one needs to avail the same airport and railway station. This place is not populated with too many tourist spots. However, there are some attractions like the gigantic Chhangey Falls and Gumbadara. Chhangey Falls is located 12 kms from lava. Gumbadara is a Tibetian Buddhist Monastery. Several forest department lodges and cottages are available for accommodation.
One bad side for Lava and Lolegaon are that these two places are highly populated with leeches(Jok in Bengali). During monsoon, its advisable not to tread into the forest or near any vegetation because of leeches.
Rishop: It is another small village situated 9 Km uphill from Lava. This hill-station is located at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountain Ranges and experiences snowfall during winter. If one wishes to enjoy the snow, best time to visit is between November to February. This place is comparatively colder than Lava and Lolegaon. One can travel to Rishop by trekking 3 km from Lava. Tiffindara is a sunrise point in Rishop where one gets an excellent view of Mt. Kanchenjungha. Lovely Resort provides good accomodation for tourists and has a restaurant also.
Kalimpong: It is a famous hill station located 50 km east of Darjeeling. It can be reached by flight, train or by bus. It has several attractions like Monastery, Teesta Bazar, Neora National Park, Army Golf Club, etc. It also has several activities to do like river rafting in Teesta River, hiking and trekking. It can be visited any time of the year excluding the monsoon. Monsoons brings severe rainfall causing landslides and road bloackages. "Losar" is a popular Buddist festival celebrated in February for 15 days. It has several hotels and resorts for accomodation like Deki Lodge, Pine View Resort, Wiaba Village Resort, etc.
Have a nice vacation!!
