Sumiksha Homestay Sillery Gaon

Sumiksha Homestay is a family-run homestay in Sillery Gaon, a small village at about 6,000 ft in Kalimpong district, close to Pedong and about 23 km from Kalimpong town. It has five rooms for up to 20 guests, home-cooked meals, and a short walk to the viewpoints that look out over Kanchenjunga and the Teesta valley.

Sillery Gaon is still a village first and a tourist spot second. Places to stay are almost all homestays, the road in is gravel through the forest, and the evenings are spent around a bonfire rather than in a market. If that is what you are looking for, a homestay in Sillery Gaon is one of the quietest ways to see the Kalimpong hills.

The homestay has five bedrooms and can sleep up to 20 guests across the house, which makes it a good fit for larger families and groups of friends. The room open for booking with us is the Deluxe Quad Room, for up to four guests, at ₹1,500 per person. Tell us your group size and we will work out the best arrangement of rooms.

Free parking and free Wi-Fi are available. The property suits couples, families and senior citizens.

Meals are cooked at home and charged separately from the room. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, evening tea and snacks are all available, in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian versions. Most guests take all their meals at the homestay, so let us know your preferences when you book.

Sillery Gaon sits on a ridge with the Reshi river below, Sikkim across the valley and Kanchenjunga to the north on clear days. Most sights are a walk or a short drive away:

• Ramitey Dara — a viewpoint at about 6,400 ft, roughly 2 km from the village, with views of Kanchenjunga and the long bends of the Teesta river.
• Tinchuley viewpoint — a steep half-hour climb for a wide Himalayan view.
• Damsang Fort — about 3 km away; only ruins remain of the old Lepcha fort, captured by the British in 1864.
• Silent Valley — about 3 km away, a meadow ringed by pines that turns into a small pond in the monsoon.
• Sangchen Dorjee Monastery — in nearby Pedong, an old monastery from the days of Bhutanese rule.

At the homestay you can go birdwatching, take village walks through the cinchona and forest slopes, and end the day around a bonfire. Sillery Gaon is also a natural first or last night on a trip along the Old Silk Route towards Aritar and Zuluk.

Sillery Gaon is about 96 km from NJP railway station via Kalimpong, roughly three and a half hours by car, and about 101 km from Bagdogra airport. From Kalimpong, the road runs out along Rishi Road to Algarah and then towards Pedong. About 3 km before Pedong, just past Bish Mile, a gravel road branches off for the last 4.7 km to the village. This stretch is narrow, winding and bumpy, so a higher vehicle such as a Bolero, Sumo or Scorpio is the sensible choice. The homestay is at 20th Mile, near Lotus Academy School.

There is no direct shared jeep from Siliguri; travellers on a budget can take a shared jeep to Kalimpong, then one towards Pedong, and ask us to arrange the pickup for the last stretch.

March to June and October to November bring the clearest skies and the best mountain views. December to February is beautiful but properly cold, so pack warm layers. July to September is the wettest period, with low cloud and leeches on the trails, and is best avoided.

• Check-in from 12 PM, check-out by 10 AM
• Five rooms, up to 20 guests in total
• Meals available, veg and non-veg, charged separately
• Power supply in Sillery Gaon is unreliable; carry a torch and power bank, and ask us about generator hours
• The last 4.7 km is a gravel road; let us know your arrival time
• Free parking and free Wi-Fi
• Please check with us before bringing pets