History

The renowned hill station, Kalimpong is situated at lesser Himalaya or Mahabharata range in west Bengal state, India. The town is situated at a height of about 1,250 m. this small city is the main headquarters of subdivision of Kalimpong which is a part of Darjeeling district. The mountain division 27 of Indian Army is situated on nearby border of this amazing small city. The Kalimpong town is renowned for its great educational institutions which were basically set up during the British rule in India. The town was a gateway for the business between India and Tibet before China’s takeover to Tibet and ugly war of Sino-Indian.
The town became a small subdivision of district western Duars after the end of war and at the similar year this town was combined with Darjeeling district. Due to the hot weather, the British felt to develop an alternative cool hill station to district Darjeeling so that they can save themselves from the hot summer.

The Kalimpong town is situated near by Jelep La and Nathu La ways which was an old path of trading silk. It was a great benefit to the town and very soon it became a business outpost forexporting and importing wools, food grains and furs between Tibet and India.

After the independence of India in 1947, this small town became a part of west Bengal state, India after Bengal state was partitioned between Pakistan and India. In the year of 1959, when China annexed Tibet, most of the Buddhist monks ran away from Tibet County and set upmonasteries in the town of Kalimpong. Some of Buddhist monks carried important Buddhist scriptures along with them. When in the year of 1962, the Jelepla pass was closed permanently after the ugly Sino-Indian battle interrupted the business between India and Tibet. That was the time when economy of Kalimpong went down. The holy Dalai Lama visited the monasteryof Zang-Dhok Palri-Phodang which is a great place of Buddhist scriptures. 

How To Reach

By Air

The nearest airport is Bagdogra which is located close to Siliguri, only 80 km distance from Kalimpong town. This airdrome is well linked with capital Delhi, Guwahati and Kolkata and its main carriers are including Jet Airways, Air Deccan and Indian Airlines.

By Rail

The nearest railway station for arriving at Kalimpong town is located in new Jalpaiguri, only 77 km distance from Siliguri. The railway station is well linked with all important cities or towns of the country.

By Road

Siliguri is known as the gateway of north- east parts of India. There is daily bus facility available to Kalimpong town from city of Siliguri. The town of Siliguri is well linked with other major cities such as Guwahati, Patna and Kolkata by roads.

Places To Visit

Durpin Dara

The Durpin Dara is situated very near to Kalimpong town, at a height of about 1402 m. visitors can see whole Chola border of Sikkim, Jalapla pass, Darjeeling tiger hill, west Bengal’s plains and Kanchenzonga range.

Mangal Dham Parnami Mandir

This holy Hindu temple is located on the road of Relli. It was inaugurated in the month of Oct. 1993. This holy temple is only one km distance from Kalimpong. This giant temple has a large sized idol of Bhagvan Krishna in prayer area.

Lava

Lava is a worth seeing place while touring to Kampong town as it has great range of orchids in highly dense Jungle , Pine, Juniper and beach. Lava offers only 12 kilometers teak to Rachela and Jalapa located on triple junctions of state Sikkim, Bhutan and Bengal.

Climate And Best Chance To Visit

The best season to visit town of Kalimpong is between the month of March to month of May as well as month of September to month of November.

Summers season (between Marchs to May) are very mild, with an average temperature of 30°C.  From the month of June to month of September is a great monsoon time. Monsoons time provides amazing rainfalls, often causing mud slides making street blockages. The season of winters (from the month of December to month of February) is very cool as well as pleasant with normal temperature of 15°C which often touching a coolest subzero temperature. While the seasons of monsoons as well as winters, the town of Kalimpong is sometimes enveloped by dense fog.

Culture And Language

The languages which are spoken in the Kalimpong town are including Nepali, Lepcha, Tamag, Limbu, Bengali, Hindi and English.

The main centers of culture in the town of Kalimpong are Zang-Dhok-Palri-Phodang and Lepcha museum. The renowned Museum of Lepcha is located only one km distance from this town center displays the important culture of great Lepcha community, the native inhabitants of state Sikkim. The great Zang-Dhok-Palri-Phodong has about 108 amazing volumes of old kangyur and related to old Gelug Buddhism.

Accommodation

Some of popular lodge in the town of Kalimpong are

Fairs And Activities

Some of the renowned festivals are including Holi, Dewali, Dussera, Christmas and great Buddhist fair of Losar. The festival of Losar, meaning New Year is highly celebrated for continuously 15 days including chief celebrations of initial three days. It always comes on similar day as per Chinese Colander.

Many people visit to Kalimpong hill area for getting peace and they always find it. So if you are searching for some exciting activities in the town of Kalimpong hill area then you can trek via lush green grass covered mountains and via amazing tea gardens. Most of these treks may be very tough.

If you don’t want to face this tough way then you can go via sparsely inhabited places beyond the business areas and you would see eye catching sight of Kanchenjuga which would be snow covered.

Hotels

Some popular hotels at Kalimpong town are

Get Around

Four wheelers are very famous means of simple transport, as these vehicles can steer the slopes in the state. In fact, the street sometimes gets blocked in the season of monsoon because of landslides. Within this small town, people normally walked by foot. Local residents use two wheelers, bicycle and cabs for small distances.

Get Out

Rishop

Rishyap, well known as Rishop is a small Himalayan village in the state of west Bengal. It is located 2591 meter above from the sea level, a nice serene village with amazing views of mountains with sow. The sun role as vermillion entire the day. At the time of night, the sky seems lovely and very close.

Lava

The small hamlet Lava is located only 34 km distance from the Kalimpong town. It is situated at district Darjeeling in west Bengal state, India. The average height of the lava is about 7,016 feet. The village of Lava is one of areas in west Bengal state that receive amazing snow in the time of winter.

Shopping

Shopping and purchasing is always a great experience in Kalimpong town. The woodcarving is one of the traditional crafts in this area. A great variety of objects and utilities of art crafts are easily available in the town of Kalimpong. You can pick up any of them during purchasing in the town of Kampong.

The people from Tibet come to the town of Kalimpong along with their amazing handicrafts. The jewellery, woolen garments and noodles of Tibet are very famous among the visitors of Kalimpong town.

And last but not the least, the amazing tea, near by Kalimpong lies in Darjeeling that provides great flavored tea to the world. You can shop for one or more packets of tea while shopping in the town of Kalimpong.

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