Women plucking tea at Makaibari tea plantation, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India, Asia

Getty Images/LOOK

Makaibari

Top choice in West Bengal


If you like tea, you should visit this celebrated organic and biodynamic Darjeeling tea estate. Walk-in visits to the processing factory, with huge sorting and drying machines, typically last 30 to 45 minutes (mornings before 9am are the best time to see the production process). For a more in-depth experience, reserve a day ahead through Makaibari Homestays for a day tour, which includes a factory visit, a plantation walk with tea plucking, lunch in a local homestay, and tea tasting.

The estate is 3km southwest of Kurseong station down Pankhabari Rd, and 1km past Cochrane Place. It's a pleasantish walk down (traffic can be irritating) and an uphill walk back. En route, the partly overgrown St Andrew's Cemetery has poignant reminders of the colonial tea-planter era. Local vans will take you either way for ₹20 (shared) or ₹200 'reserved' (all to yourself/ves). In town, they start from St Andrew's Church, 250m down Pankhabari Rd from the station.

A shop at the factory gate sells Makaibari's prized teas (Silver Tips Imperial, the finest, costs ₹3500 per 100g!). Makaibari runs a homestay and volunteer programme from a separate office 150m down the road. Volunteers can find placements in teaching, health and community projects in March, April, May, October and November. A minimum two-week commitment is requested. Ask for Nayan Lama (if he's not in the office, ask at the factory-gate shop).

Another possibility here is early-morning birdwatching tours (₹500 for one or two people, plus ₹200 for each extra person). More than half the Makaibari estate is forested and there's a sizeable population of hornbills, among other birds (and some rarely spotted leopards).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby West Bengal attractions

1. Ambootia Tea Estate

1.33 MILES

The organic and biodynamic Ambootia Tea Estate, down in the valley on Kurseong's west side, welcomes visitors to its aromatic factory and is a good…

2. Tiger Hill

9.43 MILES

To watch the dawn light break over a spectacular 250km stretch of Himalayan horizon, including Everest (8848m), Khangchendzonga (8598m) and two more of…

3. Yiga Choeling Gompa

10.23 MILES

Yiga Choeling Gompa, the Darjeeling area's most famous monastery, founded in 1850, houses up to 40 monks of the Gelugpa school. The serene temple has…

4. Ghum Museum

10.26 MILES

This museum inside Ghum station has a collection of memorabilia and photos from the bygone days of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. In an outer courtyard…

5. Guru Sakya Gompa

10.3 MILES

This fortress-style Sakya-school monastery, established in 1909 and with a big new temple consecrated in 2015, conducts prayer sessions between 5.30am and…

6. Samten Choeling Gompa

10.5 MILES

The active Tibetan-style Samten Choeling Gompa has the largest Buddha statue in West Bengal, a chorten containing the ashes of the German Buddhist mystic…

7. Batasia Loop

10.84 MILES

If you’re travelling on the toy train, look out for this famous railway loop that goes around an open-air war memorial, erected in honour of the brave…

8. Druk Sangag Choeling Gompa

11.31 MILES

About half way along the road between Darjeeling and Ghum is the huge Druk Sangak Choeling Gompa, inaugurated by the Dalai Lama in 1993. Known for its…