Must-see attractions in Sikkim

  • Buddha Park

    Sikkim

    With a breathtaking backdrop of Himalayan peaks, the gigantic, 41m-tall Buddha statue is one of Sikkim's most iconic sights. Finished in 2013, it's…

  • Resum Gompa

    Sikkim

    This wobbly old temple is a peaceful, half-forgotten delight with appealingly naive paintings and an incredible 360-degree mountain panorama. There's no…

  • Norbugang Park

    Sikkim

    All aflutter with prayer flags, the Norbugang 'coronation park' is a historic woodland garden containing a small temple, a huge prayer wheel, a chorten…

  • Samdruptse

    Sikkim

    Visible for miles, this 45m-high statue of Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) is painted in shimmering copper and gilt and sits on a lotus plinth high above…

  • Namgyal Institute of Tibetology

    Gangtok

    The NIT's 1958 core building feels like a Tibetan fantasy palace, with corner towers, colourful mural frontage and a forest-glade setting. The main hall…

  • Char Dham

    Sikkim

    This unmissable feast of colour is a remarkable Hindu religious theme park crowning Solophuk hilltop, 5km southwest of Namchi. It brings together replicas…

  • Tsuklakhang

    Gangtok

    Gangtok's 'royal' monastery has a very impressive centrepiece temple whose superb interior incorporates a pair of carved dragon columns flanking the main…

  • Rumtek, Tibetan prayer wheels

    Rumtek Gompa

    Sikkim

    Rumtek is Sikkim's most spiritually significant monastery complex. It's essentially a self-contained village with a colourful main prayer hall that was…

  • Pemayangtse Gompa

    Sikkim

    One of Sikkim’s oldest and most significant Nyingmapa monasteries, Pemayangtse (literally ‘Perfect Sublime Lotus’) is 500m off the Geyzing road – turn…

  • Silnon Gompa

    Sikkim

    Like Tashiding Gompa way, way below, Silnon (see-non) was founded by Ngadhak Sempo Chempo. Its fairly modest central temple has a spectacular backdrop of…

  • Tashiding Gompa

    Sikkim

    The ridge between Ralang and Yuksom ends with an upturned promontory (1450m) on which sits the multibuilding complex of Tashiding Gompa, an important…

  • Ganesh Tok

    Gangtok

    If you're visiting the zoo, whose ticket booth is 50m away, it's well worth stopping at this viewpoint tower to survey a vast sweep of cityscape: notice…

  • Dubdi Gompa

    Sikkim

    Said to be Sikkim’s oldest still-functioning monastery, this compact, peaceful gompa is beautifully set in tended gardens on the ridge above Yuksom, with…

  • Lingdum Gompa

    Sikkim

    Layered amid peaceful forests, Lingdum Gompa is arguably the most photogenic monastery in the Gangtok area. Its centrepiece is a large, attractive…

  • Sanghak Choeling Gompa

    Sikkim

    Near the foot of the vast new Chenrezig Statue, this monastery complex is a contrastingly calm, meditative place with fabulous views, with seven stone…

  • Rabdentse

    Sikkim

    A few partially rebuilt wall stubs are all that remain of the palace complex at Rabdentse, which was Sikkim's royal capital from 1670 until it was sacked…

  • Rinchenpong Monastery

    Sikkim

    Built in the 1730s and set on a flat field surrounded by monks' quarters, Sanaienchi Gompa's main three-level prayer house has a real sense of age. Even…

  • Chorten 'Forest'

    Sikkim

    At the southern end of the Tashiding Gompa complex, this unusual compound contains a 2008 dharma bell, two giant Kashmir cypress trees and a series of…

  • Himalayan Zoological Park

    Gangtok

    Among India's best-maintained zoos, this lushly forested park occupies an entire hillside. The star attractions are Sikkim's animal emblems, the red…

  • Palchen Choeling Monastery

    Sikkim

    A spectacular feast of coloured walls and gilded roofs, this 1995 monastery temple is set in a wide courtyard with swastika-patterned tiling and contains…

  • Chenrezig Statue

    Sikkim

    Officially unveiled in November 2018, this huge, four-armed statue of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) sits around 500m beyond the attractive little Sanghak…

  • Phamrong Falls

    Sikkim

    The most dramatic of four waterfalls between Yuksom and Tashiding, the Phamrong's powerful flow fires itself through a high, green notch then crashes down…

  • Helipad

    Sikkim

    Just 10 minutes' stroll from Upper Pelling's Zero Point junction, the helipad is about the best viewpoint around, with almost 360-degree views.

  • Tashi Tenka

    Sikkim

    When Yuksom was Sikkim’s capital, a royal palace complex known as Tashi Tenka sat on a ridge to the south of town. Essentially nothing remains, but the…

  • Yangthang Rinpoche Statue

    Sikkim

    Just outside Norbugang's south wall, this giant, seated statue-shrine commemorates Lhatsun Chempo's 20th-century 'reincarnation'. Seen from Tashi Tenka,…

  • Mani Hall

    Sikkim

    Right in the village centre, this unique creation is a glass-walled, templelike building enclosing 18 oversized prayer wheels in two close-packed rows.

  • Tashi Viewpoint

    Gangtok

    When clouds lift, Gangtok's best glimpses of Khangchendzonga are from this roadside knoll at the junction of routes to Mangan and Nathu La, around 7km…

  • Kathok Wodsalling Gompa

    Sikkim

    This relatively new gompa, accessed opposite Hotel Tashi Gang, features an impressively stern statue of Guru Padmasambhava.

  • Lachung Gompa

    Sikkim

    Lachung's small but colourful monastery has a two-storey prayer hall with twin metal dragons above a porch containing a pair of extra-heavy prayer wheels.

  • Enchey Gompa

    Gangtok

    On the city's northern outskirts, approached through rustling conifers, Enchey is a small but appealing Nyingma-Buddhist monastery that is, in a sense,…

  • Ngadak Gompa

    Sikkim

    The Ngadak gompa's large 2014 prayer hall contains some of the richest new monastery paintings in Sikkim. Beside it is the ruinous, unpainted shell of a…

  • Yungdrung Kundrakling

    Sikkim

    Beside the main Legship road, 5.5km from central Ravangla, very modest Yungdrung Kundrakling is one of only two Bon monasteries in India.

  • Flower Exhibition Centre

    Gangtok

    Flower-wise it's less exciting than many a British garden-centre shop, but a visit to this small, covered collection of potted plants is perversely…

  • Drakar Tashiding

    Sikkim

    If you're visiting Tashiding Gompa, a minor 'extra' sight is this tiny prayer cave, accessed via 250m of mossy stairs down to a small, tin-roofed hut…

  • Old Rumtek Gompa

    Sikkim

    Old Rumtek Gompa is an oasis of peace, 1.5km beyond Rumtek proper. Originally founded in 1734 but thoroughly rebuilt, the prayer hall has an intensely…

  • Gurung Monastery

    Sikkim

    Well-proportioned and with a distinctively golden-russet-coloured facade, this new gompa sits on the nose of the Rinchenpong ridge, adding a distinctive…

  • Temi Organic Tea Factory

    Sikkim

    Set at 1720m, with groomed green mazes of terraces rising above, this 1969 factory complex processes Sikkim's most famous teas.

  • TV Tower

    Gangtok

    Useful orientation point.

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