Trekking to Sandakphu - Exploring the Best of the Eastern Himalayas from Darjeeling

Sandakphu is a favorite trekking destination from Darjeeling, located in the Eastern Himalayas. Unlike other trekking destination, a trek to Sandakphu is less time consuming, easy and awesome. This article here gives the detail about the track towards Sandakphu, for how to reach this trekking spot and various other details about Sandakphu.

The trek to Sandakphu is indeed the best and the most well known from Darjeeling, as it takes less time and is filled with fun. This trek allows trekkers to view the best sights of the Himalayas, especially the Kanchanjunga, Mount Everest and other Himalayan mountain peaks in Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan.

Hugs to Nature - Sandakphu

When starting from Darjeeling, it is best to leave early from Darjeeling to Maneybhanjyang, from where the real trek to Sandakphu begins, which is about 26 kilometres by road. It is advisable to take transport to Sukhiapokhari from Darjeeling, as transport to this place from Darjeeling is available in plenty and then one can take a jeep or bus to Maneybhanjyang from here, which is about 4 kilometres from this place, or one may even start trekking to Maneybhanjyang from Sukhiapokhari itself. It takes nearly about an hour to reach Sukhiapokhari from Darjeeling and another half an hour to reach Maneybhanjyang driving.

One can have breakfast at Maneybhanjyang or even hire a guide if one thinks he needs one. The first destination from Maneybhanjyang is Tonglu. The journey to Tonglu, which is on the way to Sandakphu, is a very steep climb upto a place called Meghma which is 7 kilometres away, which takes about 3.5 hours of trekking. One can refresh oneself in a tea house available at Meghma with hot tea and snacks, and sometimes, even accomodation is available here. This place, Meghma has a few houses, a monastery and a stupa, making it a small village. It is another 2 kilometres of trekking from Meghma to reach Tonglu.

Huts on the way to Sandakphu

Tonglu, which is also known as Tumling locally, is located at a height of 3070 metres from the sea level, in the Singalila range, which is at the western side of Darjeeling. If lucky, a clear fine day in Tonglu enables one to see the beautiful valleys of Nepal, the plains of North Bengal with the Teesta river flowing on the east and the Kosi river on the west. A trekkers hut is available at Tonglu, where one can accommodate themselves to rest after the long trek and prepare for the next day's trek.

The trek of the next day heads towards Gairibas (2621 metres) requiring to walk downhill. It is 9 kilometres distance from Tonglu and takes about 2 hours to cover the journey. From Gairibas, one will head towards Kalipokhri (3170 metres), which is a 6 kilometres climb through the beautiful rhododendron forests, taking about 3 hours time walking. One can stop at Kalipokhri for tea and snacks. The name Kalipokri literally means 'black pond' named due to the presence of a black pond here. From Kalipokhri, Sandakphu is a very steep climb of about 8 kilometres which takes about 2-3 hours to complete.

Sandakphu is located at a height of 3636 metres from the sea level, which is 58 kilometres from Darjeeling town. Sandakphu is surrounded by hills whose slopes are covered with beautiful red rhododendron trees. Furthermore it is surrounded by huge snowy Himalayan mountains, including the mighty Kanchenjunga (8598 metres) and Pandim (6691 metres). Even the Everest group of mountains can be seen at the far west, with Mt. Makalu, and Chamlang (7317 metres) located west towards Nepal.

The best time for visiting Sandakphu is from April to June as during this time, Rhododendron and other flowers bloom and cover the forests in these hills and one may even witness snowfall. There are various hotels and trekkers hut available in Sandakphu where trekkers can accommodate themselves. There are many restaurants available too where one can enjoy coffee, tea, and various Tibetan and Indian dishes. One must surely try yak meat and wines made from Rhododendron flowers while in Sandakphu.

After staying a day or two at Sandakphu, one may return to Maneybhanjyang via the same route or by trekking down hill from Shrikhola to Rimbick and then to Maneybhanjyang.