Darjeeling

A hilltop 11 kilometres south of town, visited to watch dawn paint Kangchenjunga pink. Everest is a faint speck on a clear day; jeeps climb in convoy through the dark before sunrise, so book a seat through your lodging the day before.

A 610-millimetre narrow-gauge mountain line opened in 1881 and inscribed by UNESCO in 1999. It squeezes along right beside the road traffic, and the steam joy rides between Darjeeling and Ghum have few seats, so reserve ahead.

A spiral where the railway loops a full circle to shed height, with a memorial to fallen Gorkha soldiers in the garden at its heart. Near Ghum station, it is where the joy ride halts briefly, and Kangchenjunga rises beyond the rails on clear days.

A zoo devoted to high-altitude animals, known for its breeding work with snow leopards and red pandas. It shares a gate with the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, so a single ticket gets you into both; it is closed every Thursday.

Founded in 1954, the year after the first ascent of Everest in 1953, with Tenzing Norgay as its first director of field training. A museum holds expedition gear, and a memorial on a knoll inside the grounds marks the spot where he was cremated.

A tea estate within walking distance below town, opened in 1854. The factory shows leaf being withered, rolled and dried, though the machines only turn during the picking months from March to November.

A shrine crowning Observatory Hill above Chowrasta, where a Hindu priest and a Buddhist lama share one altar. Prayer flags hang thick overhead, and monkeys snatch whatever food is in hand, so zip bags shut before climbing.

A pedestrian square on the ridge that cars cannot enter, so in the evening residents sit on its benches facing the mountains. An old bookshop and pony handlers wait at its edge, and the Mall road circling the hill makes for a short stroll.

A Gelug Tibetan Buddhist monastery founded in 1850 near Ghum station, home to a large Maitreya. Ghum is the highest station on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, so a visit slots neatly into a train trip.

A white peace pagoda finished in 1992 on the Jalapahar slopes, ringed by gilded reliefs of the Buddha's life. In the Japanese temple just below, monks drum and chant in the early morning and again each evening; anyone may step in, take a drumstick and join.

A botanic garden laid out in 1878 on land given by the banker William Lloyd, terraced down the slope below the market. Its glasshouse holds Himalayan orchids, and cherry and rhododendron bloom in season. The uphill return to the market takes some puff.

A workshop settlement set up by Tibetan refugees who crossed over after the Dalai Lama's exile in 1959. Inside the workrooms you can watch wool spun, dyed and knotted into carpets by hand. Carpets ordered here are shipped abroad some months later.

A park in a valley a long hairpin drive below town, its terraced gardens following a waterfall down through the rocks. Local families crowd it at weekends. Given the gradient, most people hire a jeep and pair it with Ganga Maya Park nearby.

A highland lake a couple of hours' drive west of Darjeeling, ringed by pine forest and tea estates. Cross the rainbow-painted footbridge to walk the loop, or rent a rowing boat. The route heads toward the Nepal border, winding down past tea bushes.

The top of the Singalila ridge on the Nepal border, West Bengal's highest point. Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu stand in one panorama, said to be four of the world's five highest peaks. Trek for days from Maneybhanjan or ride an old Land Rover.

A Nyingma monastery that stood on Observatory Hill until 1879, when it was rebuilt where it stands now. Old murals cover the chapel walls, and Kangchenjunga rises behind its roof. It is reached by walking down the slope from Chowrasta.