Sittong

  Most of the travellers are confused about the fact that Sittong is a Single Village which has upper and lower places named Upper Sittong and lower Sittong respectively, but this is not true . Sittong is a fairly large area which comprises of three Panchayats and each Panchayat has several villages. Actually Sittong is a cluster of villages located in Darjeeling District and part of Kurseong Sub-division which is known as Sittong Khasmahal. Altitude of Sittong varies, different villages have different altitudes.  Sittong has become famous among tourists as it is the heart of the orange-growing countryside of Darjeeling hills, but has managed to keep itself serene and most of the villages are untouched by vices of modern tourism. You will get different types of accommodation such as hotels like homestays to real homestays in different villages with all the basic amenities that are enough for the nature lovers. The place is also quite close to NJP / Bagdogra arrival point wh...

Sittong geographically covers a large area in three Gram Panchayats. All the villages within these three gram panchayats are – Sittong-I: It has geographical area of 628 hectares. It has several villages in it such as Mana Hills, Ghalaytar, Sebjey Busty, Tham, Panch Pokhri etc. Sittong-II: Different villages under Sittong-II are: Mamring, Mahaldiram, Toryok, Gumba Gaon popularly known as Jogighat. Sittong-III: It comprises of villages such as Latpanchar, Ahaldara, Shelpu Khashmahal, Bara Sittong, Lonku, Rolak, Six Mile, Mongpu etc.

The altitude of Sittong varies from place to place, the height of Sittong is roughly between 2100 feet and 6000 feet depending on its geographical location. There is also a variation in the weather conditions and temperature here according to the altitude, for example, the temperature in the lower altitude places to the higher altitude places differs by about 3-4 degrees. Sometimes it can be up to 5 degrees.

  As mentioned earlier, Sittong is spread over a large geographical area. So to explore the entire Sittong you need to spend at least 3-4 days here or you have to visit Sittong 2 to 3 times. Shelpu: Main attraction of the area is the orange orchards, in fact Sittong is called the "Land of Oranges" so you can visit the orange groves by collecting tickets at the Shelpu area. But the actual time to see Orange is from December to January month. Ahaldara: Another beautiful destination is Ahaldara view point, which is located on the top of Shelpu Hill. From this top you can enjoy 360 degree view. On one side you can see the snow covered Kanchanjangha, a long stretch of mountains, including a rock that looks like Poet Rabidranath Tagore, and has been named as Tagore Rock. From the Ahaldara view point you can enjoy the flowing Teesta river, Darjeeling hills, Mongpu hills, Kurseong hills, even Takdah and Tinchule can be seen. It all depends on the weather conditions. Here you ...

You can visit Sittong all year round. Most of the year is comfortable if you choose to stay little higher at 5000 feet or above. But the best time is mid-March to mid-June (less cold) and mid-September to March (more cold). However, during the monsoon, another beauty of the mountain can be seen, the lush green hills remain covered in fog and mist that creates exotic landscapes. If you want to see oranges, you should go in December-January.

You can stay in any homestay of your choice. But remember one thing if you want to stay in real Homestay and enjoy mountain village, want to know about the agro-tourism property you can choose the Lamas Homestay - Sittong situated in an untouched village Lamagaon, Mamring Sittong-II, above 5400 feet. Visit Link for Direct Booking: https://www.lamashomestay.in