Tiger Hill
Darjeeling
Tiger Hill is located 11km (6.8 miles) from Darjeeling town and above Ghoom. It's the highest point in the Darjeeling area at an altitude of 8482 feet (or 2590 meters). The best season to see the dazzling snow covered peaks as the sun rises is between Mid October to December. March to April is also a good time. For sunrise, you will need to start by 3:30am in the morning so that you reach by 4.15am. Some taxi drivers will insist that you start even earlier. There is a reason why. As you reach close to the summit, particularly during the high season there would be a huge queue of cars lined up. Hundreds of tourists come here every day for the sunrise view during this time. As a result, you may have to walk uphill quite a bit as your vehicle may be parked much below the top. And if the tower-house from where people watch the sunrise gets full by the time you reach, then you will probably need to watch the sunrise standing on a meadow little below the summit. Remember, Darjeeling's weather can change anytime. The fog and the mist play a mystical game here all the time. They can come from nowhere and put a white blanket all around. You can't predict that. In fact, looking at the weather and the sky from Darjeeling Town is almost no indication of how the weather may be at Tiger Hill. Cloud and fog in this area lie at various levels of the mountains; sometimes they may be above you, other times you may be above them. So no one can guarantee a perfect sunrise view from the Tiger Hill. In many occasions, tourists are able to see the sun after it has risen quite a bit in the sky and not when they want to see it rising over the horizon and spreading its multicolor hue on the snow capped peaks. So, be prepared to experience the magical play of the sunrise the way the nature offers you. Just before the sun comes up, the peaks begin to emerge. It’s hard to take your eyes off the dazzling snow peaks of Kanchenjunga that has vive treasure peaks of the snow, the highest of those being 28,169 ft (or 8,586 meters) which is the third highest peak of the world. On a clear day if the mist doesn’t play foul, you can even see the world’s highest peak Mount Everest 29,029 ft ( 8,848 meters) which lies about 225 km away and also the Mount Makalu 27,769 ft ( 8,464 meters). About 135 km away is the Tibet’s Chomol Hari Mountain which is said to be world’s most beautiful peak. And then the sun rises above the horizon a little away from the peaks.
