Best time to visit Darjeeling

India · South Asia

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Darjeeling

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Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Good for

Hiking Nov–Dec · fair Jan–Mar, Oct

Go in Oct or Nov — 18C max, 12 rainy days. Dec is the next best.

Plan this trip

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Flights

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Where to stay

Things to do

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Things to do in Darjeeling

Tiger Hill Ideal to visit early morning when the first rays of the sun kiss the Kangchenjunga mountain and give it a golden colour.
Ghum Monastery This is one of the oldest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Darjeeling.
Batasia Loop A place where the legendary toy train makes a loop around the Gorkha War Memorial.
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park It has a good collection of the more charismatic animals found in the Himalayan region, including leopards, a rare Bengal tiger, and red pandas.
Raj Bhavan Summer residence
Happy Valley Tea Estate Quite a hike from the centre, Darjeeling's second oldest tea estate is open for visitors.
Darjeeling Ropeway A 5 km long ropeway (aerial lift) consisting of 16 cars and plies between the North Point and Singla, on the banks of the Ramman River.

Tours and tickets in Darjeeling

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Darjeeling), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	10°	6d	75%	9.4h	ok	10C max, 6 rainy days
Feb	12°	10d	80%	9.4h	ok	12C max, 10 rainy days
Mar	15°	13d	78%	9.9h	ok	15C max, 13 rainy days
Apr	18°	16d	79%	10.4h	okbusy	busier than usual
May	19°	24d	85%	10.0h	avoid	monsoon: 24 rainy days, 257mm
Jun	20°	27d	91%	8.7h	avoid	monsoon: 27 rainy days, 489mm
Jul	20°	28d	92%	7.2h	avoid	monsoon: 28 rainy days, 664mm
Aug	20°	26d	91%	7.4h	avoid	monsoon: 26 rainy days, 549mm
Sep	20°	22d	89%	8.4h	avoid	monsoon: 22 rainy days, 448mm
Oct	18°	12d	82%	9.5h	sweet spot	18C max, 12 rainy days
Nov	15°	6d	76%	9.5h	sweet spot	15C max, 6 rainy days
Dec	12°	5d	76%	9.3h	ok	12C max, 5 rainy days

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at the town: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in May and June; quietest in August and September.

Then and now

Darjeeling's July days now average 20.2°C, 0.7°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 2 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	10.5°	11.9°	15.7°	18.5°	19.3°	20.4°	19.5°	20.1°	19.2°	17.7°	14.6°	11.9°
2017–26	10.4°	11.6°	14.9°	17.7°	18.7°	20.0°	20.2°	20.4°	19.8°	17.8°	14.6°	11.6°
Change	-0.1°	-0.4°	-0.8°	-0.9°	-0.6°	-0.4°	+0.7°	+0.4°	+0.6°	+0.1°	+0.0°	-0.3°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

Fly into Siliguri (IXB), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to Siliguri.

The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.

How far Darjeeling is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type C and D plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Indian rupee. UK Foreign Office: avoid all travel to parts. Everything for India: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Cards are taken at larger hotels, chain stores and many restaurants; small shops and family-run businesses rarely take them, so carry some cash.
Tipping — Not traditional; up to 10% is usual only in smarter restaurants. Taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers do not expect a tip.

Getting around Darjeeling

Apps — Rides: Ola, Rapido, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp. The apps also book auto-rickshaws, and bike taxis where these are allowed.

Darjeeling is a small town, and the salubrious climate means walks around town are an extremely enjoyable means of getting around. For longer trips, taxis are available in stands near the entrance to the supermarket. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Darjeeling, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — 112 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (29)

Darjeeling in pictures

View of Darjeeling 01 — i

Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

View of Darjeeling 02 — i

Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rock Garden, Darjeeling at mist — i

Joydeep, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tea plantation Darjeeling — i

Joydeep, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rongtong Darjeeling 2 — i

Ganesh Mohan T, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Darjeeling is like

Darjeeling (Nepali: दार्जिलिङ Dārjiling, Bengali: দার্জিলিং Dārjiling) is a hill station in the northern region of West Bengal. It used to be a lovely Victorian town built among the Himalayan foothills, the remnants of which are still visible around the Chowrasta. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Bose Institute. Happy Valley Tea Estate, Pamphawati Gurungni Rd (walk north along Hill Cart Rd for 2 km, then walk down the hill at the sign). More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Darjeeling is one of the oldest hill stations in India, and has plenty of options, both for those seeking a lazy getaway from the hot plains, as well as nature enthusiasts and adrenaline junkies. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: The nearest international airport is Bagdogra (IXB IATA) in Siliguri, 96 km from Darjeeling town. There are flights from Bangkok, Paro and to most major cities in India. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe: There has been a surge of tourists visiting Darjeeling in the last few years. But since the establishment of the new government in 2011, the political stability has been restored and life came back to normal. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Darjeeling, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Darjeeling

Also in India

Nearby

Kind of place

Mountains

Darjeeling is in India, South Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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