A once in a life time experience! Stay at a Darjeeling Tea Estate with Secret Retreats and enjoy a two (2) night stay in a suite at the Glenburn Tea Estate, Darjeeling, India.

The best hotels in Darjeeling aren’t your typical hotels, but Darjeeling tea plantations. During your stay at a Darjeeling tea estate with Secret Retreats, take advantage of the fresh mountain air, peaceful tea fields and let the slow pace of local life unwind and relax you. Staying right on the grounds of a working tea plantation that has been owned by local tea planters for generations allows for an added level of authenticity and historical charm throughout your Darjeeling holiday. Away from your heritage bungalow, explore the other rich cultural practices and unique attractions of the region.

Set in the Himalayas on a hillock above the banks of the River Rungeet, this peaceful little tea plantation retreat offers the perfect place in which to discover Darjeeling. Featuring two comfortable, private and beautifully furnished 4-bedroom bungalows, the views of the world’s third largest mountain, Kanchenjunga are magnificent. Owned by tea planters for generations, visitors can tour the working tea estate, enjoy mountain activities, and feast on delightful Indian, Oriental and Western cuisine.

The tea experience that you will get at the Glenburn Tea Estate is unique. You taste the teas, learn about the local community, and see the 4000 families that live there. The genuinely passionate story about Glenburn Tea Estate’s little creation slowly spread and was picked up by the media. They thought it wonderful, and that the experience was real and authentic. Thanks to the praise from visitors, the hotel is now very much a core part of the tea estate. Moreover, Husna-Tara’s strong sense of community makes Glenburn Tea Estate special. The property is not just a physical entity, it is the generations and community of people that are part of it. All the staff and local community are part of what make Glenburn Tea Estate possible.

Naturally, one can’t go to Darjeeling without tasting its eponymous brew. Highlight your Darjeeling tea estate stay by trying the popular tea direct from its source. More than 80 tea gardens carpet the hills around Darjeeling, and you can witness or even participate in the tea harvesting process or take a guided tour around an estate’s factory whether you’re staying at the Darjeeling tea plantation or at other Darjeeling hotels.

The population of Darjeeling is made up of people from India, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, and Nepali is the primary spoken language. It is common to witness Hindu priests and Buddhists monks praying side by side in Mahakal temple, one of many striking Buddhist temples and monasteries in and around the town - which has a predominantly Buddhist population.

Join in the daily prayers for world peace at the Japanese Peace Pagoda, built under the guidance of a Japanese Buddhist monk or if, it’s due to be a clear day, set out in the morning to pay homage to nature and head up Tiger Hill to watch the sunrise light up the snowy peaks of Mount Kanchenjunga
and Mount Everest beyond.

As mentioned above, one of the region’s most popular attractions is the iconic Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which was completed by the British in 1881 and has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Known locally as the toy train due to its small scale (2ft gauge) it runs from New Jalpaiguri on the valley floor at just 100m above sea level to Darjeeling at 2,200m above sea level, quite a climb!

These are just a few of the many things to see and do in Darjeeling.