The Old Silk Route in East Sikkim — the historical trade road from Kalimpong through Aritar, Zuluk, Nathang, Kupup and Jelepla Pass to Lhasa — is now one of the quietest and most photographed circuits in the Eastern Himalayas. The six-day version covers Aritar, Zuluk, Thambi View Point, Lungthung, Nathang Valley, Kupup, Baba Mandir and Tsomgo Lake, ending in Gangtok. We have run this loop since 2018 and refined the pacing year by year. This is the version we sell today — with the stops that earn their place and the ones we now skip.
The route at a glance
- Day 1 — Bagdogra / NJP arrival → Aritar (Lampokhri Lake), 110 km, 5 hours
- Day 2 — Aritar → Zuluk, 36 km, 2.5 hours, via Padamchen and Lingtam
- Day 3 — Zuluk → Thambi View Point at dawn → Lungthung → Nathang Valley, 28 km, 3 hours
- Day 4 — Nathang → Kupup → Baba Mandir → Tsomgo Lake → Gangtok, 110 km, 5.5 hours
- Day 5 — Gangtok local (Rumtek, MG Marg, monasteries) or buffer for weather
- Day 6 — Gangtok → Bagdogra / NJP, 5 hours, departure
Day 1 — Arrival to Aritar
Pickup at Bagdogra airport or New Jalpaiguri railway station by 11 a.m. The route runs NH-10 along the Teesta to Rangpo, then breaks east through Rorathang and Rongli. The ILP process at Rongli takes 30 to 45 minutes — bring patience and photocopies. From Rongli it is another 35 km uphill to Aritar via Rolep. Total drive: 5 hours including the permit stop and a lunch break at Rangpo.
Aritar (1,500 m) sits beside Lampokhri Lake, a small natural lake with a paved walking circuit. Late afternoon arrival, easy walk around the lake (about 45 minutes), early dinner. Aritar is your acclimatisation node — by tomorrow you are gaining serious altitude. Stay at Aritar Lake Resort or Aritar Eco Resort; both around ₹3,200–4,500 per double room in season.
Day 2 — Aritar to Zuluk via the climb
Leisurely 9 a.m. start. The road climbs through Padamchen (a small village with one of the better tea shops on the route — try the local thukpa) and Lingtam, then begins the serious ascent. By 11 a.m. you are above the treeline of pine and entering rhododendron-and-magnolia country. The hairpins start in earnest after Lingtam.
Lunch en route at any of the small roadside dhabas — these are army-supplier kitchens and the food is hot, fresh and basic. By 1 p.m. you reach Zuluk (2,900 m). Zuluk is a working army township of about 700 residents on a hill flank — narrow lanes, prayer-flag-strung houses, one dirt-track main road. The village itself takes 30 minutes to walk end-to-end. Most homestays here are family-run — Annapurna, Yangchen, Snow Lion — at ₹2,800–3,800 per double room with all meals.
Afternoon at Zuluk: rest, acclimatise, walk the village, photograph the prayer flags above the army quarters. Dinner is whatever the homestay is cooking, served family-style around a single dining table. Early sleep — tomorrow you are up at 4 a.m. for Thambi.
Day 3 — Thambi sunrise, Lungthung, Nathang
Wake at 4:00 a.m. Vehicle out by 4:30. The drive from Zuluk to Thambi View Point (3,200 m) is 8 km of switchback, about 25 minutes. You arrive in pitch dark. Park, dress warm — December and January Thambi can be -6°C at dawn — and walk 100 metres to the viewing platform on the western edge.
What you wait for: the sun clearing the Kanchenjunga massif. On a clear morning between October and April, you see Kanchenjunga and the entire main range glow pink at about 5:50 a.m. for roughly 12 minutes, then turn white. The famous shot — the 32 hairpins of the Zuluk road snaking up to you with Kanchenjunga in the distance — is taken from the platform on the southern side. On a misty morning you see nothing. Roughly 6 out of 10 mornings in the October–November window are clear; the success rate drops to 4 out of 10 in March and 2 out of 10 in mid-monsoon. This is why we run this route October to March.
After Thambi, back to Zuluk for breakfast and pack-up. Onward by 9 a.m. through Lungthung (3,500 m, another viewpoint, photo stop), then Tukla Pass at 3,950 m. The road levels out and you enter the high-altitude plateau of Nathang Valley (4,100 m).
Afternoon at Nathang: gentle walk in the valley, photograph the seasonal Kalapokhri (black lake) if it has water, visit the small Nathang Buddhist gompa. By 5 p.m. the temperature is dropping and you retreat to the bukhari. Dinner is daal, rice, momos. Early sleep again.
Day 4 — Nathang to Gangtok via Kupup, Baba Mandir and Tsomgo
The big driving day — and the most spectacular. Wake at 6 a.m., leave by 7:30 after breakfast. The road climbs further out of Nathang and crosses Kupup Lake at 4,200 m (also called Bitan Cho — the lake the Sikkimese say is shaped like an elephant's foot when seen from above). Photo stop, 15 minutes.
Onward to Baba Harbhajan Singh Mandir at 3,930 m — the army shrine honouring the soldier whose ghost is said to still patrol the border. Whatever you make of the story, the temple is genuine, the army caretakers serve free tea and parshad, and the climb up the steps from the road takes about 10 minutes. Allow 45 minutes here.
From Baba Mandir the road drops to Tsomgo (Changu) Lake at 3,780 m. Tsomgo is the most touristed stop on the entire circuit and on the route between Nathang and Gangtok it is unavoidable — but it is also genuinely beautiful, especially in late October and November when the surrounding ridges have first snow. Yak rides, instant maggi noodles in cup form, photo souvenir shops — Tsomgo at 11 a.m. is more carnival than wilderness. Spend an hour, photograph, move on.
From Tsomgo it is 38 km down to Gangtok via the same Nathula road. You arrive Gangtok by 3 p.m. Check into hotel — Summit Golden Crescent, Denzong Regency or Mayfair depending on tier, ₹6,500 to ₹22,000 per night — and the rest of the day is yours. MG Marg evening walk is the easy choice.
Day 5 — Gangtok rest day
The buffer day. Half our guests use it for Rumtek Monastery at dawn (see our separate post on Rumtek), Tashi Viewpoint, the ropeway and MG Marg shopping. The other half use it to sit — the previous three days of high-altitude driving are tiring in ways guests do not anticipate. Both choices are correct. If weather has scrubbed any of Day 3 (Thambi sunrise) or Day 4 (Tsomgo, often closed in heavy snow), the buffer absorbs the slip. This is why six days, not five.
Day 6 — Departure
Leisurely Gangtok breakfast. 9 a.m. departure for Bagdogra (afternoon flights) or NJP (Rajdhani 12:40 p.m. or Mahanada at 2:40 p.m.). The drive is the reverse of Day 1 — NH-10 along the Teesta, 5 hours with one stop at Rangpo for tea.
When to run this route
October to mid-November is our prime window — clear Thambi sunrises, open roads, first snow on the ridges around Nathang, autumn light. March to mid-May is the second-best window with the bonus of rhododendrons in bloom along the lower stretches (Padamchen to Lingtam). Late December and January work for snow chasers — Nathang regularly gets fresh snow in this window — but the temperatures are brutal and the road past Tukla can be closed for days. Mid-May to mid-September is monsoon: the route is officially open but landslides between Rongli and Aritar make it unreliable. We do not run Old Silk Route trips in July or August.
