Pelling Family Packages

Hello All, Our group trip was for 8-9 days and it consisted of elderly men and women ,infants and toddlers as well as middle aged guys with mountain sickness., so it was a given that the trip would be challenging one .However all thanks to Sierra Vacations and specially Kunal Singh ji for the perfect planning and execution of the trip. I remember having dialled Kunal ji several times late in the evening as well as early morning but he was always available and out issues were resolved immediately. All thanks to Renuka ji also for planning the trip early on .A couple of things here and there could have been better but at the end of the day I feel glad to have chosen Kunal ji and Sierra Vacations for our trip .The vehicles provided were good as promised and hotels were cosy.Thanks to the team for making our trip memorable Special to mention the Golden Sunrise and Spa hotel in Pelling is a fantastic one. The service quality and hospitality is awesome .Special thanks to Sheetal and her friend ( cant recall her name)

The arrangement and coordination was good. Arrangement for Nathula visit from Gangtok and same day transfer arrangement to Pelling.

We had booked a trip covering Gangtok, Pelling and Darjeeling through Travel Triangle. The overall experience of the process starting from enquiry to completion of the trip left us quite satisfied. The travel agency allocated to us was very forthcoming in communicating all the required details to us on WhatsApp and was ever ready to clear our unending doubts even after office hours. Special mention must be done of Ms. Ritu who has been leading this interaction. She in her own way convinced us in choosing Jeremy Travels from the available 3 quotes. She was also very upfront in letting us know the extra charges if any that would be involved and what areas are covered during the trip. During the trip, she and her senior Mr. Anand were regularly in touch with us enquiring about the progress and seeking feedback about the hotel, food, driver and other matters relating to our trip. They were also kind enough to upgrade our vehicle class during the stay in Sikkim, keeping in mind the long distances that we had to cover by road. They also adjusted our tour programme on the Darjeeling leg of our journey and offered us alternative sightseeing options, which we gladly accepted. The drivers allocated to us, both at Sikkim (Mr. Passang) and at Darjeeling (Mr. Binay) were of top class and they ensured that we had a comfortable and fulfilling ride with them. Their attitude was very polite, and they also were continuously informing us about the local culture and history. At one of the locations, we had a small issue, which was compensated well by the agency at another location, for which we truly appreciate the gesture. Overall we had a very good experience Thank You team !

We had a great time travelling to pelling, namchi and kalimpong... Overall everything was perfectly managed

I got to know about Back to Holidays through Travel Triangle. My travel coordinator Preeti Sharma has continuously and actively gave all sort of suggestions and flexibility in customising the desired dream package for my Honeymoon. Overall planning and arrangement of my trip was executed properly by her. She has fulfilled all the requests we gave and also answered all our queries. We stayed at Hotel Tashiling Residency (Gangtok) which gave us a splendid view from the terrace view room. At Pelling and Darjeeling we stayed at Udaan hotels which has excellent rooms and also offered us a variety of delicious vegetarian food. Our cab drivers arranged by agency was so kind, patient has a excellent driving skills in those tricky hilly regions. Notably Bidhan Tamang who took us to sight seeing in Gangtok and Pelling was with us for 3 days, very good in communication, friendly, and also very knowledgeable in all local places gave as necessary info and took us to spot on time. He was good in driving also gave lots of suggestions on local cuisine and shopping. Overall it was a very joyous and memorable trip to us. Thanks to Back to Holidays team, Preeti Sharma our tour agent guide, Tamang(s) drivers on various days, and the staffs and members of Udaan hotels (Pelling and Darjeeling).

This was my 4th booking through travel triangle. While no problem was faced from travel triangle, your travel agent, t2h, was not upto the mark. Right after landing, we had to wait at airport for the cab for about 1.5 hrs . Further more, agent (& her further local agent) stopped picking my phone on my enquiry about the cab. On all subsequent days, cab came late every day. Last day, on my return to airport, it was late by about 1 hr.. Cab for first 4 days was very dirty. Last hotel at Darjeeling (hotel seven seas) was very poor. Though our stay at Gangtok & Pelling was satisfactory. Our stay at Pelling was memorable & so was our trip to Nathu La border

The trip was very good. Anand arranged everything perfectly and he was always there for any help. The driver was a young guy and he tried to show us maximum view points that he could. He came late the first day and he came early the remaining days The Hotel at Gangtok, the Palri Boutique was very good in terms of confort and hyegene . The hotel at Pelling , the bluben alpine was also good. We didnt eat the breakfast as we had to move out before the breakfast was ready. The home stay at zuluk was also good with minimum amneties. The food was home cooked and felt superb. The hotel i didnt like the most was the one at Lachung, the Apple vally cottage . The food, the rooms and the bath rooms were below standard. Yuma was the hotel at darjiling. I didnt like that hotel too. The bath rooms were not hyegenic and the room was very congested .

Your arrangements good. Regarding vehicle, my suggestion is that Wagon R is okay for bagdogra to gangtok and darjeeling to bagdogra. But SUV is needed from Gangtok to Pelling and Pelling to Darjeeling considering the road cond

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 .