These are the best places to travel this summer

Sikkim

India Travel Guide

Shop

Get even more with a Lonely Planet guide.

Shop Book
Enlightened Mountain-Lachung

LONELY PLANET’S RECOMMENDED eSIM

Stay connected in Sikkim

with

Saily is an affordable eSIM service that helps you stay connected and secure, anywhere in the world.

Get your eSIM

Overview

Sikkim was its own mountain kingdom till 1975 and still retains a very distinctive personality. The meditative, mural-filled traditional monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism coexist with Hindu shrines of the ever-growing Nepali community, with both religions creating some astonishing latter-day megasculptures to adorn the skyline.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Resum Gompa

    Resum Gompa

    Sikkim

    This wobbly old temple is a peaceful, half-forgotten delight with appealingly naive paintings and an incredible 360-degree mountain panorama. There's no…

  • Norbugang Park

    Norbugang Park

    Sikkim

    All aflutter with prayer flags, the Norbugang 'coronation park' is a historic woodland garden containing a small temple, a huge prayer wheel, a chorten…

  • Samdruptse

    Samdruptse

    Sikkim

    Visible for miles, this 45m-high statue of Padmasambhava (Guru Rimpoche) is painted in shimmering copper and gilt and sits on a lotus plinth high above…

  • Buddha Park

    Buddha Park

    Sikkim

    With a breathtaking backdrop of Himalayan peaks, the gigantic, 41m-tall Buddha statue is one of Sikkim's most iconic sights. Finished in 2013, it's…

  • Char Dham

    Char Dham

    Sikkim

    This unmissable feast of colour is a remarkable Hindu religious theme park crowning Solophuk hilltop, 5km southwest of Namchi. It brings together replicas…

  • Rumtek, Tibetan prayer wheels

    Rumtek Gompa

    Sikkim

    Rumtek is Sikkim's most spiritually significant monastery complex. It's essentially a self-contained village with a colourful main prayer hall that was…

  • Pemayangtse Gompa

    Pemayangtse Gompa

    Sikkim

    One of Sikkim’s oldest and most significant Nyingmapa monasteries, Pemayangtse (literally ‘Perfect Sublime Lotus’) is 500m off the Geyzing road – turn…

  • Silnon Gompa

    Silnon Gompa

    Sikkim

    Like Tashiding Gompa way, way below, Silnon (see-non) was founded by Ngadhak Sempo Chempo. Its fairly modest central temple has a spectacular backdrop of…

Advertisement

Plan with a local

Get a book. Get inspired. Get exploring.

in partnership with getyourguide

Book popular activities in Sikkim

Advertisement