Sikkim
Beside the main Legship road, 5.5km from central Ravangla, very modest Yungdrung Kundrakling is one of only two Bon monasteries in India.
Animistic in nature, Bon preceded Buddhism in Tibet but has since been largely subsumed by it. Temples of both traditions feature direction guardians at the door and inside you'll find similar statuary, albeit with Tonpa Shenrab in the place of the Buddha. Bon prayer wheels are turned anticlockwise.
29.21 MILES
If you like tea, you should visit this celebrated organic and biodynamic Darjeeling tea estate. Walk-in visits to the processing factory, with huge…
17.14 MILES
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, known affectionately as the toy train, made its first journey along its precipice-topping, 2ft-wide tracks in 1881 and…
23.52 MILES
Singalila National Park covers the Indian side of the scenic Singalila Ridge, the Darjeeling region's finest trekking area, along the India–Nepal border…
3.04 MILES
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…
5.19 MILES
This wobbly old temple is a peaceful, half-forgotten delight with appealingly naive paintings and an incredible 360-degree mountain panorama. There's no…
9.59 MILES
All aflutter with prayer flags, the Norbugang 'coronation park' is a historic woodland garden containing a small temple, a huge prayer wheel, a chorten…
7.38 MILES
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
16.83 MILES
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…
2.96 MILES
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…
3.02 MILES
The ridge between Ralang and Yuksom ends with an upturned promontory (1450m) on which sits the multibuilding complex of Tashiding Gompa, an important…
3.04 MILES
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…
3.15 MILES
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…
3.44 MILES
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…
4.34 MILES
Well-proportioned and with a distinctively golden-russet-coloured facade, this new gompa sits on the nose of the Rinchenpong ridge, adding a distinctive…
5.02 MILES
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…
5.06 MILES
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…