Kurseong, the 'land of the white orchid', is a hill town at about 1,460 metres, midway on the road and toy-train line between Siliguri and Darjeeling. It is milder and quieter than Darjeeling, surrounded by famous tea estates such as Makaibari and Castleton. Eagle's Crag viewpoint, old schools and a museum to Subhas Chandra Bose are its sights.

Chowrasta is the open square at the top of Darjeeling's ridge, where four roads meet and the Mall begins. Closed to vehicles, it is ringed by old bookshops, tea rooms and curio stores, with benches facing the mountains and ponies for hire. Bands play on the stage in season, and the level Mall Road walk around Observatory Hill starts here.

Observatory Hill, behind Chowrasta, is the place where Darjeeling began. A Buddhist monastery stood here before the present Mahakal Temple, which is unusual in being served by a Hindu priest and a Buddhist lama side by side. The summit is thick with prayer flags and bells. A short climb from the Mall leads up; monkeys are numerous.

Tiger Hill, at about 2,590 metres, is the highest point near Darjeeling and famous for its sunrise. On a clear morning the first light turns the snows of Kangchenjunga pink and gold, and Mount Everest is just visible in the distance. Jeeps leave town around 4 am, and vehicle numbers are limited by permit. October to December and March to April give the clearest views.

Ghoom Monastery, or Yiga Choeling, was founded in 1850 and is the oldest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Darjeeling area. It belongs to the Gelug school and is known for its statue of Maitreya Buddha about 4.5 metres high. The prayer hall holds old manuscripts and thangkas. It lies just below Ghum station, about eight kilometres from Darjeeling.

The Batasia Loop is a spiral of track below Ghum where the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway doubles back over itself to lose height. Built in 1919, it encloses a landscaped garden with a war memorial to Gorkha soldiers. The toy train stops here for ten minutes, and on clear days Kangchenjunga and the town of Darjeeling are in full view.

The Peace Pagoda in Darjeeling was built by the Japanese Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji and inaugurated in 1992. The white stupa, set on a hillside among pines, carries four gilded statues of the Buddha and carved panels of his life. A Japanese temple beside it holds drumming prayers morning and evening. The terrace looks out to Kangchenjunga.

The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute was founded in Darjeeling in 1954, the year after Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary climbed Everest; Tenzing was its first director of field training and is cremated in the grounds. Its museum displays equipment from early Everest expeditions, relief models of the Himalaya and mountain flora and fauna. It shares an entrance with the zoo.

The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling, opened in 1958, is the highest-altitude zoo in India. It specialises in Himalayan species and is known worldwide for its captive breeding of red pandas, snow leopards and Tibetan wolves. The hillside enclosures are set among oak and conifer forest. It is closed on Thursdays.

Happy Valley, established in 1854, is one of the oldest tea estates in Darjeeling and the closest to town, on a steep slope below the Mall. Visitors can walk among the bushes and take a short guided tour of the factory to see withering, rolling, fermenting and sorting, followed by a tasting. The plucking season runs from March to November.

Darjeeling station is the upper terminus of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the narrow-gauge 'toy train' opened in 1881 and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vintage steam locomotives still haul the short joyride to Ghum, the highest station in India, via the Batasia Loop. The station at about 2,070 metres has a small museum corner and views across the valley.

Deolo Hill, at about 1,700 metres, is the highest point of Kalimpong. A landscaped park and a tourist lodge occupy the summit, with views of the Teesta valley, the Relli valley and, on clear mornings, Kangchenjunga. Paragliding and pony rides are offered. It is about five kilometres from the town centre.

Durpin Monastery, properly Zang Dhok Palri Phodang, stands on Durpin Hill at Kalimpong and was consecrated by the Dalai Lama in 1976. It holds rare Tibetan scriptures brought out of Tibet in 1959, and its upper floor has a three-dimensional mandala. Wall paintings cover the prayer hall. The terrace overlooks the town and the Teesta valley.

Lava is a small village at about 2,100 metres on the edge of Neora Valley National Park, 32 km from Kalimpong. Its Kagyu Thekchen Ling Monastery, with a large prayer hall and monks' quarters, stands on a spur above the bazaar. Mist-filled fir and pine forest surrounds the village, which is a base for birdwatching and for walks to Rishyap and Lolegaon.

The Coronation Bridge spans the Teesta River at Sevoke, about 20 km from Siliguri. Completed in 1941 and named for the coronation of King George VI, it is a graceful single-arch reinforced concrete bridge fixed to the rock on either side. Locally it is called Bagh Pool after the tiger statues at one entrance. The viewpoint looks down on the green river in its gorge.

Bengal Safari, on the outskirts of Siliguri in the Mahananda forest, opened in 2016 as North Bengal's first open-air safari park. Bus safaris pass through large enclosures for tigers, leopards, bears and herbivores, and there are aviaries and a crocodile area. It is a convenient half-day outing for families. Closed on Mondays.