Bagdogra Family Packages

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.

We had a great trip and would highly recommend the agent. We have shared our feedback regarding the cab agent in India, one responsible for the drive back from Phutsholing to Bagdogra. They are an unprofessional bunch. Rest we had no such issues and Dorji the owner of the travel agency was prompt, helpful and very professional.

We booked the cab services of Bina Travels from Travel Triangle for our trip to Sikkim and Darjeeling. The entire process was smooth and we could compare the price from 2 different travel agents and then settle for one. All cabs and drivers were good except for the first driver who rode us from Bagdogra to Gangtok. He requested us to also take his mother in the car and we were hesitant initially but then agreed. That was a mistake. In-between she became little unwell and when we reached Gangtok, the driver didn't even give us a helping hand to keep the heavy suit cases down. All his attention was on his mother. One BiG request to TT is that please make it a rule to the drivers to not insert anyone else in the cabs. Even for our Darjeeling trip, the driver brought his kid son. We feel very sensitive not to agree to this when they request us. So it is better to make a rule to all tour agents on this front.

The return from phuentsholing to bagdogra driver kept speaking on phone a lot of times during the trip which is unsafe. The driver as such was polite and accomodative but felt unsafe Hospitallity of Bhutanese guide and driver. Hassle free agents. Ease of payments. No tension throughout the journey

Tour Guide and Driver both were very good. Hotels were ok. Communication with the driver was not satisfactory since once reaching Bagdogra airport, we had to call agent multiple times to get driver pickup.

Reviews: Round the corner Tavels: This was one of the agents who quoted based on my initial query for Sikkim trip on Travel triangle. Initially I was not too sure of the locations to be visited so changed the itinerary a few times. While other agents kept providing me random itienaries on their own, rather than my requests, Mr. Amol from Round the Corner (RTC) frequently communicated with me to design an itinerary which was confortable and covered major locations while providing adequate rest beteen different travels. It must be noted that the hill roads and times indicated by google maps are grossly wrong - atleast in sikkim. The roads Google shows often are not motorable and times indicated are short by 2 hours. Trust the Driver and no one else. We had planned for Bagdogra-Gangtok-Lachen-Lachung-Gangtok-Pelling-Bagdogra. Just 2 weeks before our trip, there was a Dam burst in upper Sikkim and major floods. After waiting for a few days to assess the situation, He called and we decided to change the itinerary to leave out the flood affected Lachen/Lachung and added Darjeeling instead. Once the trip started, his colleague - Mr Progess Bhujel took over the coordination. He would call daily to check how we were doing, provide detailed plan for the next day, send driver details and also share tips about local attractions to see. On his own he would also arrange call to hotel at the destination city so that we could pre-order our dinner while were still in the car. This way we would have dinner ready by the time we reach the hotel, since most hotels stop taking orders by 8:30. Such care! The hotels provided by them were very good. They were no-frills hotel but the rooms and maintenance was excellent!. In Gangtok the room had a view of the entire valley. In Pelling Kanchanjunga was clearly visible from the room balcony from very close. We could see Sunrise over the peak right from our bed !, the same was the case with the hotel in Darjeeling. Excellent choice of rooms! Since we were travelling with kids he was more concerned about them getting motion sickness than were, but thanks to half tablet of 'Avomine' in the morning, neither my wife not kids had any problems. For the trip to Nathula pass, permits have to be made. He asked us to send a copy of our documents a week before the trip. So the permits were all prepared and ready when we came. So when we went to Nathula, the driver just stopped for 10 minutes at the permit office, picked up our permits and we were on our way - while we could see several other tourists and cars waiting anxiously and lining up for theirs. Good planning by RTC! I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the Drivers and cars changed with each leg of the journey. I feel this was actually good - because this way the driver was not away from his home for too long and in some cases could go to his home at night after dropping us off at the hotel. The drivers and cars provided were also very good. The roads are narrow and curvy and ofen have space for only one vehicle. The drivers were polite, very experienced and would not show any sign of road-rage/un necessary overtaking. Instead would halt some distace away from the narrow spots to allow the vehicles coming in opposite direction to pass, infact even got down to help other drivers stuck on the road. We saw this civilized driving in most divers in Sikkim - which is a stark contrast to the crazy driving in Mumbai. In one leg of our trip we had to go from Gangtok-Namchi-Ravangla-Pelling. While most of the roads in Sikkim are quite good and well mainted, The one from Ravangla to Pelling is bad and almost a big crater and landslide ridden dirt road right at the edge of the cliff. By the time we left from Ravangla it was already dark (it gets dark by 5:30 PM), but the driver was extremely skilled and drove through that road with great skill and even helped a fellow driver change his tire on the way! Hotel Reviews: Gangtok-Alpine Hill retreat. The Hotel is a simple, clean and well maintained hotel with a decent restaurant. The room provided had an excellent view of the entire Gangtok Valley. The staff was very attentive and courteous. The common areas were very aesthetically decorated and gave a feel of the Tibetian vibe. The Hotel is on a quite road a bit away from the main city center, but is still fairly well connected. Gangtok city itself is very beautiful with lots of tourist attractions. I will not list the attractions here - you can see them in other blogs. The city has well maintained roads and is very clean. Pelling - Rufina Palm Bliss: The Hotel is a simple, clean and well maintained hotel with a decent restaurant. The room provided had an excellent view of Mt. Kanchanjunga from our room balcony from very close. It seemed not more than 50-60 km from there!. We could see Sunrise over the peak right from our bed! Pelling is a tourist city full of Hotels and restaurants, still very well maintained and clean. Darjeeling - Sumitel Suites: This hotel is actually a part of mall by the same name. Its rooms, restaurant, lobby etc are spread across various floors of the mall. The Hotel is a simple, clean and well maintained hotel with a decent restaurant. The room provided had an excellent view of Mt. Kanchanjunga. Darjeeling city by itself was bit of a turn-off, possibly because we were coming from Pelling Sikkim which was gorgeous!. Darjeeling has narrow roads, excessive traffic, one way roads, haphazard construction and occasional piles of trash. The famous 'Toy train' was the biggest turn off for me. It was exhorbitant - Rs 1000 or 1500 per person depending on whether you choose Diesel or Steam engine. Frankly it doesn't matter. while inside the train you don't see the engine, and several trains travel together, so you can always take photos with steam engine of another train at the stops. Strongly recommend advance booking through IRCTC, else you may not get it at all - over the counter. The Train would surely have been excellent in olden days as it could travel along the mountain edges - BUT now there is rampant construction on either side of the railway track, so the Mountain/valley is hardly visible, there are shops almost touching the track. Sadly the Toy train experience has been reduced to a Kolkata Tram. Avoidable. We did not do the ropeway, possibly that may be better. The 'Tea garden' visit was just a 100 m walk on a trail littered with packets of eatables and some tourists taking photos in local costumes. For most other attractions, the parking is far off/ or have no parking, so one has to walk long distances - so not suitable for older parents. the attractions themselves are very good though, especially the Zoo and montaineering institute, tiger point.

Thank you for everything you guys have done to make it happen...... thank you We have successfully completed our tour and reached bagdogra Thank you for everything you guys have done to make it happen...... thank you We have successfully completed our tour and reached bagdogra

We had a very nice arrangement done by Anand from Jeremy travels.. highly recommended.. Right from the booking to the execution it was spot on.. I had sent my wife and sister on this trip and Anand made sure I was informed at every stage about their safety which was very important. Anand is so proactive that even when we had issues with the driver in Darjeeling he ensured that the driver was changed the next day for the drop from Darjeeling to Bagdogra airport. The driver at Gangtok was really excellent and very patient with my wife and Sister and ensured they had the best experience all the way till Darjeeling. Overall highly recommended considering that everything was seemless in an unknown territory. The journey with the driver at Gangtok Sikkim and the beautiful hotels.

Scope of Service for Travel Triangle/ Trip2Hill – Only providing Taxi for 5 days. Day-1 - Decent Innova Car, Good driver, pleasant trip to Hotel in Gangtok from Bagdogra. Day-2 - Not so great Xylo Car, Not so polite driver, but pleasant trip to Nathulam Pass and Thiago Lake. Driver tried to take us to his known restaurant telling us that there were no shacks nearby when there were many, despite of us repeatedly telling him to stop in between as we were hungry. Then then reluctantly stopped near a shack for us to eat post we pointed one to him asked him to stop in a more affirmative manner. Not a good experience but still didn’t report it to the agent since it was handled before it got worse. Day-3 – Again a Not at all great Xylo, with a polite driver who was not willing to on the AC despite of us requesting him repeatedly. At first he said cannot on AC as it’s a hilly region and it puts a load on the engine when traveling up hill, which was ok with us. When we reached the plains, we again requested him to on the AC as it was burning hot, at this he said there was no AC in the car. This was a bad experience for us as after paying such an amount, don’t expect such bad conditions for travelling. We were all sweaty and sticky by the time we reached Ravangla from Gangtok. I gave a peace of my mind to the lady Neeta in the agency regarding this, since the agency has been sending substandard cheap broken down vehicles to us when we could have gotten Innova’s which are far better vehicles and with better equipment and less body roll for hilly region. Day-4 – Worst Experience in Darjeeling, we missed Tiger hill viewing because of bad weather. Then we started our travel at 9:00 AM (I told the driver, beforehand we will come at 9:00 AM and he was ok with this), we went to Batasia Loop, which was Great, then we went to Zoo, Mountaineering Institute and Bengal Museum of Natural History (all located in the same place). It rained when we were there and we took shelter near a shack, we had our lunch there, bought an umbrella there and then proceeded with the visit. For this we were told that we took extra time by the driver and he on his own decided to skip the other places in our itinerary i.e; Tenzing Rock, Tibetian Refugee Center and Japanese Temple and Tibetan Peace Pagoda and proceeded directly to the Tea garden. I told him we wanted to visit the other places. He then in haste showed us the Tenzing rock from the car without stopping we saw Tenzing rock as we drove by. He kept saying everything closes by 4:00 PM we are late because we spent too much time in other places, then post our pushing agreed to take us to Japanese Temple and Peace Pagoda as it was closer to our hotel. I complained to the agent while with him in the car, they came back as saying no one ever misses any place in our itinerary, how did you miss it. The driver is saying the trip was supposed to start at 8:30 AM, you came at 9:00 AM etc., but I told them he was ok with it. I told him in advance, we will come after breakfast. And they kept saying we can’t do anything now driver is not listening to us. Later the driver, when we are visiting the Tea garden cribbed about us to his known people in the shack. I went there and explained to them and Driver, the situation and requested the driver to complete the Itinerary for which he agreed to take us to the Japanese Temple at least since it was closer to our Hotel. I told the agency, when they asked for money, I paid as they wanted and how much they wanted without any questions. When it came to delivery of Service, why so many nuances and conditions? And why was I not told about the 4:00 PM closure time and driver conditions. If I have paid the agency to take care of my travel, why am I dealing with the driver and his tantrums? And it’s not a small amount, Rs, 42000 for 5 days taxi. Day -5 – I called and I called and texted the agency for the Driver details as I was not sure if it would be the same driver or a different driver, nomrally it has been a different driver each day, they didn't pick my calls or answered my texts. What if I was calling for an emergency or an issue, no call back, no revert, nothing from the agency. Then I called the Driver from the other day and he confirmed. Same Driver, Same vehicle, pleasant trip to Airport The Agencies view was, my final day in Darjeeling so their service is over. Bottom line…. If you have time, do it yourself. Talk to the Taxi providers, Do a little research, fix the prices, set expectations and travel with ease. Because if you have to manage the drivers since you are travelling with them, do it yourself rather than paying extra to a third party who is sitting pretty at a far away location and does nothing to help.

Hi Team, Day 1 - Pick from Bagdogra Airport was good.. driver is professional and polite. Hotel stay@ Tempo Heritage at Gangtok was good.. Polite Staff..neat n clean rooms along with super view.. Food is bit costly Day 2 - Transfer to Lanchung - Cab was ok.. driver was not professional.. bit rude.. and while driving uses phone frequently HotelStay@Rufina was ok.. I had expectation was more from the stay Day 3 - Sightseeing was good Day 4 - Nathula Pass... Cab was neat n clean... But driver was very unprofessional... Not recommended who are travelling with Family Day 5 - Local Sightseeing was good. Transfer to Bagdora.. Driver was polite and cab was neat n clen Hotelstay@Jagat was good.. staff was very supportive and service was super quick Overall trip was very good except some bad experiance with Cab drivers Nathula Pass, Baba Harbajan Singh Temple, Changu Lake, Hanuman Tok... Local Market