Lachung 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 just finished a six day trip to sikkim , which included visit and stay in gangtok, lachung and pelling . Stay provided in gangtok and pelling (udaan group of hotel) was comfortable , however the hotel stay in lachung ( divine elite zong hotel ) was very average without even basic amenities like electricity . On the day of pelling visit we requested the cab to be sent early as we wanted to cover char dham as well , still they sent the cab two hours late and also a smaller vehicle when i had specifically requested to be given bigger vehicle on all days . because of which we missed sight seeing in pelling . Despite their shortcoming the local agent ( Rapti ) demanded extra payment at the end of the day and threatened us that she will not send the cab for our airport drop the next day . it was very difficult for us as pelling is not a place to get alternate cab easily . And i had to contact their manager at the head office to sort out the issue , i am thankful to mr surath mukherjee for the same . the cab given to lachung was very dirty also .destination was wonderful , trip was good however this incident with the local agent left a bitter taste in our experience .

I think Travel agency should be more transparent and inform travellers in advance about the local road conditons. Somethings were not informed in advance 1. Lachung road conditions and closure timings from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm for civilians. 2. Not sending the car as per pre agreed in last day. 3. Daily changing the cab inspite of advance booking. 4. Cab interchange in mid way of the route. Nathula Pass Visit, Tsongmo Lake, Baba Mandir, Ravangla Buddha Park, Zero Point Lachung

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I have used Travel Triangle many times for package booking but my experience with Trip 2 Hills is not at all good. Below are the points: 1. After locking the quote, they refused to provide hotels and room category discussed. The reason shared was rates have increased. They should have checked before finalising the quote with the Guest 2. On site experience with the travel agent was not at all good - They were not transparent at all and provided wrong information in the voucher 3. In the voucher locations were marked based on different weather - For ex. Valley of Flowers is not really valley of flowers but a valley of snow at this time of the year (should have guided the guest to pick up some other location) 4. Usually, it is travel agent's responsibility to pick guest and make proper arrangements to make them reach to the destination. Due to land slide (which we had no clue) they asked for additional money (no where in the voucher it was stated) 5. Locations to visit usually are pre-paid and tickets are managed by the travel agent - that is what I have always used with Travel Triangle but this was totally opposite. Every location I was supposed to buy tickets 6. We cancelled the Lachung trip midway - Driver continuously harassed us that he will drop us in midway as Trip 2 Hill is not paying them entire amount due to mid way cancellation. They have not returned anything to us. 7. Due to mid trip cancellation I requested them to book a hotel for one additional night in Gangtok, they provided me a hotel which is very far off and had never served guests before (we were their first client to serve dinner, they had no proper arrangement for Breakfast even). Overall very bad experience working with Trip 2 Hill

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.

Below are the points which were not taken care of properly and could have been dealt in a much better way. 1. We did not have a good experience in terms of vehicle provided to us. We were promised to be given Xylo/Innova but we got Scorpio for 3 days that too without a carrier. We had booking for 6 people but we had to keep all our luggage in the back seat and had to adjust in the middle seat.... 2. When we called Trip2Hills(Niraj &Kriti) regarding the wrong vehicle sent they immediately stopped picking our calls. There was no response from their side, even though we tried contacting them multiple times.We even called travel triangle(Yogesh & Baldev) they said that they cannot do anything with the wrong vehicle sent and we have to adjust and go to Lachen and Lachung for next 3 days.. 3. There was no one accountable and no one took the responsibility of whatever happened rather it was us 5 people who had to do all the adjustments irrespective of paying the full amount of 6 people. 4. Again on the last day we were given Xylo which was in a very bad condition and even the driver was not driving the vehicle properly. We were feeling very unsafe with him. And our fear turned into reality when the gear box got broken in the middle of road, on a very inclined slope. Thankfully, there was a mechanic nearby who repaired our vehicle which took around 1 hour. We were not able to go for sight seeing in Darjeeling as a lot a time got wasted in vehicle repair.It took around 6 hours to reach Darjeeling from Gangtok. Our trip could have been much better if we did not faced above issues. This was the first experience with travel triangle for us and we are now skeptical to book and plan future holidays with them.

Everything went well . All drivers were on time . Everything was as per itinerary. Travel Agent is also very responding whenever needed . Best thing was Lachung tour and Baba mandir tour .

Overall good experience, well planned and organized by Trip 2 Hills. Sikkim: Gangtok, lachung, Pelling : Hotels were very good , covered all planned places, cab facility was good. Overall awesome experience in Sikkim. Darjeeling : Missed to visit all panned places in Darjeeling due to Hotel location and heavy traffic. if known about traffic, i could have avoided Darjeeling and could have spent more time in Sikkim. Overall our family enjoyed this trip and thanks to Trip 2 Hills.

We had a great experience in our Sikkim trip . All the hotels checkin and check out were very smooth . Ms . Ayesha was very helpful. We had faced issues with our Driver Mohan and asked Ms. Ayesha to change him . She changed the driver next day and trip went very well as per our plan. Travel triangle supportive Mr. Baldev was very helpful and provides solutions to our queries. Didn’t face any problem in our trip except our driver Mr. Mohan .food in the hotels was very good and tasty Lachung is very beautiful place one should definitely visit this place . Our driver Mr. Lepcha was very joyful and very good person. He was driver as well as tour guide and our photographer. He made our Lachung travel memorable. Hotel and food in the Lachung was very good .

The hotel accomodation in Gangtok is not up to mark as desired. There was no ventilation in the room, no windows in one room. Hotel in Lachung was excellent. Cab driver for Nathula Pass was rude and for Lachung was less responsive. Excellent