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After much research and discussion, we decided to do a Sikkim Darjeeling family trip in April. I decided to use travel triangle to find good quotes and finally went with an 8 day/7-night package from an agent called Dream Destinations/Sikkim Hills Travels. I specifically asked for a good comfortable SUV since we will be spending a lot of time on the road. I also requested that the hotels be 3 or 4 stars with deluxe rooms since there were kids and elderly. I also asked 100 times about travelling during elections. I was assured that everything will be taken care of and there was nothing to worry about. Here is our experience Hotels - The first hotel we stayed was Mandarva in Gangtok and it was good and just what we asked for. Clean, neat and good breakfast. We also had a lovely view of the city from our window. Unfortunately, it was in a residential area with no hotels or anything else nearby. It was too far from the shops/restaurants like MG Marg. In Sikkim, the sun sets by 5.30 pm and in the summer, it also rains heavily in the evening. So, taking a taxi and going out in the wet, dark hilly area is not really an easy option. So, we asked for a hotel that was close to MG Marg. They changed it to Pearl Retreat which was an older/ok ok hotel. However, they were kind and accommodative of my request to keep food ready on a day when we got stranded and returned pretty late. The worst hotel we stayed was a place called ‘Daksha’ in Pelling (Naming and Shaming here very intentionally). It was dirty, unhygienic and chaotic with clueless staff and run like a hostel forget deluxe standards here. Basic was also so terrible. We found out bed linen had hair, dirt marks and dust all over. They gave us a room without dusting, same old linen and a wet bathroom. Also, on the 3rd floor and no lift. I didn’t even want to stay there for 1 night! The other hotels were passable or okay. Cab and Driver – Spending a minimum of 4-5 hours in the car is unavoidable in Sikkim. As per our request we were given a nice SUV (a XUV 700 with sun roof) The car was comfortable most of the time and our driver was also a young local who drove really well and carefully in the mountain roads. However, on day 3, while returning to Gangtok from Lachung, the vehicle had some challenges with pickup/driving up the hill and we got delayed very badly. We had been awake from 6 am that morning visiting Zero point/Yamthang valley which were at high elevation and 3 of us had altitude sickness and had not eaten anything for hours. We found that the driver and the travel agents were more interested in sorting their vehicle rather than helping us figure out a way to get to Gangtok. I finally had to intervene ask for another vehicle to pick us up. Keep in mind, Sikkim is sparsely populated. The place we were stuck had no humans, lights and it was raining making the roads very muddy and dangerous. We got back late to the hotel after spending nearly 16 hours that day in the car with a very sick child. A nightmarish night ride where I was hoping and praying my child doesn’t get severe dehydration. Our driver for Darjeeling local sightseeing was another local driver and he refused to come to our hotel (Taksa Retreat) and wanted us to climb up the road. We explained to him that my mom and child were tired after climbing and walking so much every day. He was very reluctant, unhappy and had to be coerced by the travel agent to pick us up at the lobby. Our last leg of the journey was travel to Bagdogra from Darjeeling. Our flight was at 2.45 pm and we left Darjeeling at 10 am. It was the last day of election campaigning in WB and there were 2 massive political rallies at Darjeeling District and Siliguri. Neither us nor our driver had any clue about this. We got redirected by the police and paramilitary personnel multiple times and we had to take different diversions in the hills. Then as if the cup of woe has not run over, our SUV got a flat tire. By them time we repaired it and reached the airport, the staff refused to board us as they had closed the gates. But this is what disappointed me the most - I had requested our driver to wait for few mins after dropping us, in case I need help with getting dropped at a hotel. We were 3 women alone in an unfamiliar place and I was getting stressed about the possible options/safety in case we miss the flight. Our driver chose to leave, and he gave my number to a random driver in the taxi stand to help us. This guy was with us for a whole week, and we treated him well, but I guess he was in a hurry to go back to Gangtok rather than worry about people whose trip and tips are done. Luckily, the taxi driver turned out to be a nice person and dropped us at the hotel as requested. He mentioned that most taxis/drivers cancelled their trips to Darjeeling because of the political rallies. They also informed their clients who wanted to leave Darjeeling to leave early in the morning to avoid road closures and diversions. I really wish our Driver/Travel agent had done some check on this and updated us. Travel Agent – As soon as we landed, our travel agent mentioned that they had made some changes in our itinerary and that instead of Nathula Pass, we will be doing Yumthang Valley first. We were okay with that since we knew that traveling in Sikkim means being flexible and being okay with unpredictability. However, this seemed to be only applicable for tourists and not the travel agents. I requested that we post pone Nathula pass for a day after our nightmarish road travel back from Lachung and since everyone was sick. They expected us to do 2 consecutive days of heavy road trips to high altitudes. They made a huge fuss about cancelling and changing hotel plans and basically put all the extra charges on us. The manager Mr. Deepak was extremely rude and told me “You are already getting so much personalized services for the money you paid”. I really think that the package (which was hotels + ground Transport + personalised service) was not value for money especially the hotel accommodations. Not to mention the goof ups in getting permits to Northern Sikkim. My name was conveniently left out of the permit, and we could go only because of the military personnel being accommodative. (So much for personalized service!) However, Mr. Abhishek Thapa who was my SPOC and coordinated the whole trip for me was always polite, helpful and checked in on us morning and evening every day. I really appreciate that he was able to keep his composure and help us in the best way he can. May be in couple of months, all that has happened might become an interesting titbit/travel anecdote to share with others. But right now, I am quite bugged and feel very unhappy that we had to get so distressed during the holiday, especially at the end of it. Not to mention the extra money that we had to shell out again for tickets and accommodation. As for the travel agent/package we took – I am not so sure. I would have liked to give them the benefit of doubt, but in my interactions with them, I sensed that they were more interested in making their profit than worry about the customer’s well-being or experience.

It was a great experience to spend the vacation time with my family. Thanks much for the organizers to have a great itinerary and professional driver who took care of our needs. However, it would have been great if the organizers could have made some pro-active suggestions in few plans. For example: I had to tell them to include the ferry experience to Alibag from Mumbai as the initial plan they had made did not involve the ferry - but the on-road trip to Alibag. These small things matter.

I booked my trip with Kushark from 9th to 15th Feb 2024, while overall itinerary was good & customized, cabs & drivers were really good, but was not at all happy with following: 1. Hotel Selection for Singapore (J8 hotel), you literally dont have any option for breakfast in Veg unless you want to have only bread, they dontr even provide warm milk (this is never recommended) 2. Timings for excursions should have been better, we lost good amount of time and had to rush because of that in Singapore. For eg Universal Studios timings are from 10AM to 8PM, but our pick up from hotel was 11 & return pickup was 7:15; unnecessarily we lost 3 hours and had to miss rides. Similarly for MBS non peak hours entry is till 4/4.30; but our pick up was arranged at 2:45 and got dropped there at 3:15 and due to queue we entered thr at 4:45 and again had to rush & finish it is very quickly. I would mention Ankush (from Kushark) for his quick turnaround before & during the trip for queries & information; which was very helpful. Thansk!

Tour was good and satisfied with the service from mr.sagar.

My parents went for this trip on their 35th anniversary and they loved every bit of it. The team on ground, trip coordinators and the booking agents were superb. Amrita from booking team was extremely courteous and was very responsive and helpful. Great team.

Well planned. Stream side hotel is not worth staying if you are travelling with family. Honest suggestion to get it off your list if you care for your customers. Never seen such rude hotel manager and staff. All other hotels were very good. Car and Driver was perfect

Tour was good but we faced problems at some places. There was a timing issue as we were picked/dropped with a gap of 2-2 hours from the actual time. At MBS my child was enrolled as infant which was incorrect and I had to purchase ticket on the spot. I was charged 5000 extra for last day cab after finalyzing the package amount. Cruise experience was good.

Your was arranged well. Cabs were in good condition. Hotel room in port Blair was good but the properties in havelock and Neil were very under maintained.washrooms were stinky and broken .

Very professionally organised from the Accommodation to Itinerary. Had a memorable trip!!

The hotel in Paris and Rome were pretty bad. Paris : Room size was so small that movement around bed hit the leg. Rome: the hotel was not habitable , there were mosquitoes in the reception area and in the room balcony. Switzerland: Interlaken hotel upgrade was best Luzern and Zurich , hotels were decent. Switzerland, Luzern: was the best memorable place