Calcutta - Bangladesh - Sikkim - Kathmandu

dear all,

I have three weeks in September - October this year. I have been several times to India, but never to Calcutta. I was wondering if anyone has experience with travelling from Calcutta to Bangladesh to Sikkim to Kathmandu. Is this doable in 3 weeks and it is recommended to do? Any advice is welcome.

thanks,
Frank

I was wondering if anyone has experience with travelling from Calcutta to Bangladesh to Sikkim to Kathmandu. Is this doable in 3 weeks and it is recommended to do? Any advice is welcome.

Do-able, but that's a rush job. How do you plan to allocate your time? Where in BD would you plan to visit? Where in Sikkim?

I've been to Kolkata but not to Bangladesh. I think it's doable depending on how much time you want to spend everywhere, and what you want to do.

I think you can fly direct to Kathmandu from Dhaka. But you'll not be able to reach Kathmandu directly from Sikkim. The Himalayas are too high there for roads into Nepal. If you want Nepal after Sikkim, you'd need to go back south at least as far as Bagdogra (near Siliguri) and fly to Kathmandu via Delhi.

hello Frank, I am familiar enough with these places (am travelling by motorbike in Sikkim at present). I f you have only 3 weeks, you'd be best to shelve Bangladesh (hopefully you can get there another time) as all types of travel in these countries will take much longer than you're used to (even air travel !). I'm surprised you wouldn't know this, having been several times in India. It's natural to travel north from Kolkata to Sikkim, you can get the permit easily in Siliguri (a pleasant city to stay for a night or two, despite what LP says, just go to the Sikkim transport office, they have a tourism dept office there. And you can catch a bus to Gangtok there, or a jeep from the road outside.(Hill Cart Rd, it's also the main road for Darjeeling.) Foreigners can only cross into Sikkim via the two crossing points north of Siliguri, Melli and Rangpo. So to get back to Darjeeling from North or East or West Sikkim you have to go round that way, then you can get a jeep down to Bagdogra airport and fly to Kathmandu.(via New Delhi) Certainly you've picked remarkable places to visit - the roads are rough (mostly) and steep in Sikkim, jeep tours north and east from Gangtok will be your best options there, probably.Everyone should visit Kolkata and Kathmandu once in their lives ! Best of luck.

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