Lightpacking Darjeeling: Three Days by Bike to the Nepal Border

We did not come to Darjeeling to ride bikes. Julie and I were here for a seven-day hiking trek. Then I bruised my heel, hiking hurt, and we postponed it.

Biking, it turned out, felt great. So I started looking for bike rentals and researching where to ride, and that is how I found Urgen Sherpa, who runs a bike shop just up the road in Ghum. Luckily he was available, and stoked to put together a solid plan for us. A few days later we were pedaling and hiking west until India ran out — in a village where Nepal is literally the other side of the street.

We are calling it lightpacking: bikes and daypacks, with a homestay bed and a wood stove at the end of the day instead of a tent. Here is the route, the numbers from our GPS, and how it all unfolded.

Getting There: Bagdogra to Darjeeling

We landed in Bagdogra with a rental car reserved. A light failure on the car ended that plan, so we took a taxi instead: ₹3,500 from the airport to Darjeeling.

That taxi turned out to be a massive blessing. Parking in Darjeeling would have been a pain in the butt, and not having a car forced us to find another way to get around. That way turned out to be bikes, and this entire trip unfolded in front of us because of it.

On the drive up we passed signed elephant zones butted right up against the tea plantations. That image stuck with me for the rest of the trip — more on it below.

Darjeeling: A Hill Town That Won Us Over

Darjeeling is a cute town, and most of the tourism here is domestic. The views are the headline. On a clear morning Kangchenjunga, the third-highest mountain on Earth, just sits there above the rooftops.

Our Guide: Urgen Sherpa

In 2008 Urgen rode a bike from Manali to Ladakh, and somewhere on that ride he got the idea that he would open a bike shop one day. Five years later, in Ghum, he did.

The retail side of the shop had a massive boom during Covid and has slowed to a trickle since, so he is back to focusing on rentals and tours. Lucky for us.

The bikes he set us up with were in great shape: tuned well, lightweight, and perfect for this mix of road and dirt.

The Route: Darjeeling to the Nepal Border

Both rides started in Ghum, a few miles up the road from Darjeeling at about 7,400 feet. Day 1 was a 19-mile loop through Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary. Day 2 headed west: 23 miles to the village of Dhotrey, where we left the bikes and hiked 3.3 miles up to Tonglu, a ridge-top stop just shy of 10,000 feet on the Nepal border.

• Day 1: Senchal loop
• Day 2: Ghum to Dhotrey
• Day 2: hike to Tonglu

Day 1: The Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary Loop

19 miles (30.6 km) • 1,355 ft of climbing • high point 7,771 ft

The weather was absolutely incredible. It literally could not have been any better: imagine 70 degrees and sunny with no wind. Just perfect.

From Ghum we rolled through town alongside the toy-train tracks and into Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary, where the road turns to forest doubletrack under enormous conifers.

Then the trees open up and the Himalaya is just there, lined up along the horizon.

Our turnaround was a small village full of homestays. Lunch was the breakfast we had packed at the hotel that morning, eaten at one of the homestays with Kangchenjunga right in front of us.

We finished the day back in Ghum with a stop at one of the town’s monasteries.

Day 2: Ghum to Dhotrey, With Nepal Across the Street

23 miles (37 km) by bike • 2,963 ft of climbing • then 3.3 miles and 1,670 ft on foot

The first 15 kilometers out of Ghum had some traffic. After that, practically nothing. The road tips into jungle: super lush, with massive ferns hanging off every bank.

The Land Rover Village

Then comes what we started calling the Land Rover village, where vintage Land Rovers still work the mountain roads. It sits right on the border. Nepal is the other side of the street.

From there the road climbs toward Dhotrey through more forest, and the climbing felt really amazing. Almost all of it was very pedalable and super mellow. I guess we are used to the steep climbs of the San Juan Mountains back home.

There are red pandas in the woods around Dhotrey.

The Hike to Tonglu

We left the bikes in Dhotrey and walked the rest: 3.3 miles and 1,670 feet up, on stone paths and mossy steps through the forest. A local dog fell in with us early on and stuck around.

Wildlife count for the day: one owl, and one pile of leopard poop on the trail.

A Night at 10,000 Feet

Our homestay in Tonglu sits right on the ridge. The man who runs it is 55 and has been doing it for more than 30 years. Up here, he told us, it used to snow all the time. Not anymore.

There is a dog and a cat in the house. The cat spent the evening in our laps by the fire.

Day 3: Rain, a Window, and a Change of Plans

The forecast said rain after 4 PM. We woke up to it at 4:30 AM.

It was mostly a drizzle, but enough that when a window opened at 7 we made a dash for Dhotrey. We got there mostly dry around 8:30 and figured we could grab the bikes and ride back — maybe the forecast would turn out to be right after all. Then, while we were getting the bikes ready and drinking tea, the rain came back with no sign of letting up.

Urgen, Julie and I decided that driving back was our best option. I had forgotten my rain jacket and had been fighting a head cold, so four-plus hours in a cold rain did not sound like a great idea.

We were all super bummed. We were also grateful: it was supposed to rain all week, and it held off until Thursday. We got multiple days of epic weather first.

What We Loved About Darjeeling

• No hustle. Nobody was selling to us.
• What looks like a real middle class. We did not see the extremes — children begging and BMWs on the same block — that I see in other parts of India.
• Traffic, but not rash traffic.
• Mostly very clean.
• The toy train. It runs right along the road and it is impossibly cute. Julie and I rode it from Ghum to Darjeeling — Urgen hooked us up.
• Not a single cow. Which also means no cow poop.

The Part I Am Still Chewing On

I felt guilTEA drinking tea here. It is not hard to see that all of these plantations are the result of deforestation. I have been feeling the same way about my coffee and what it costs the rainforest.

Those elephant zones on the drive up sit right next to the tea. It makes me wonder who has the right to survive off the land. We use it for an enhanced experience; tea is not necessary for our existence. But then, couldn’t you say that about almost anything?

Is it that we consume too much, or that there are too many of us? Or is it what we consume, and how we consume it?

Maybe it should just cost more: its real ecological cost.

One Gear Shout-Out

The Osprey Fairview 40 travel pack was our suitcase for this whole trip, and it even became our bikepacking pack for the night in Tonglu. This thing is awesome: it is light, and it carries as a duffel or as a backpack.

If You Go

• Getting there: Fly into Bagdogra (IXB). Our taxi from the airport to Darjeeling was ₹3,500, and we were glad not to have a car in town.
• When we went: Late October. About 70 degrees and sunny on the riding days, with rain arriving at the end of the week.
• Guide and bikes: Book direct with Urgen Sherpa, who runs bike rentals and tours out of his shop in Ghum. Find his shop on Google and use the phone number on the listing. WhatsApp is best.
• Permits: None needed.
• The riding: Forest doubletrack, gravel and quiet pavement, 19 to 23 miles a day between roughly 6,500 and 8,400 feet. The climbs are mellow and very pedalable.
• The hike: Dhotrey to Tonglu, 3.3 miles and 1,670 feet up, topping out at 9,978 feet.
• Pack: Layers for a night at 10,000 feet, and a rain jacket. Learn from me.
• Have a plan B: When the weather turned, we could drive back with the bikes. Build that option into your trip.