Gangtok is the capital of Sikkim, a Himalayan state that was an independent kingdom until 1975 and still feels distinct from the rest of India in almost every respect. The city is built along a ridge at around 1,650 metres, the streets run in terraces connected by stairways and a cable car, and on a clear morning Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, fills the northern skyline from the middle of town.
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Sikkim is also one of the cleanest and most orderly places in India. Plastic bags were banned in 1998, well before anywhere else, the state is entirely organic in its agriculture, and MG Marg, the main street, is pedestrianised, swept, and has no spitting and no smoking. Pack for cold, for altitude, and for a permit system that governs everywhere worth going.
What Makes Gangtok Different to Pack For
Altitude in the city and serious altitude above it
Gangtok at 1,650 metres is high enough to be cool but not high enough to cause trouble. The problem is the day trips. Tsomgo Lake is at 3,753 metres and Nathu La at 4,310 metres, and people go from the city to the pass and back in a single day, gaining 2,600 metres in three hours. Altitude sickness on that run is common and occasionally serious.
A merino wool base layer for women is close to essential here. Tsomgo can be below freezing with wind while Gangtok is at 18°C, and you make the transition inside a jeep in a morning.
Permits for almost everywhere interesting
Foreign nationals need an Inner Line Permit to enter Sikkim, issued on arrival at Rangpo or in advance. Beyond that, Tsomgo and Nathu La need a Protected Area Permit arranged through a registered agent with passport photographs and copies, usually a day ahead. Nathu La is closed to foreign nationals entirely; only Indian citizens may go to the border. North Sikkim requires a further permit and a group.
Carry several passport photographs and photocopies of your passport and visa. This is the single most useful administrative thing you can pack.
Monsoon that closes roads
Sikkim gets heavy monsoon rain from June to September and landslides regularly cut the road from Siliguri, which is the only land route in. Delays of a day or more are normal in that season. October to December is the clearest period for mountain views, and March to May is pleasant with rhododendrons.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Gangtok Packing List
Footwear
Closed shoes with grip, and warm ones. Gangtok is built on a slope and the connecting stairways between levels are long, steep and wet much of the year. For the monasteries and any walking, waterproof hiking shoes are the right call: the paths are muddy, the monastery courtyards are slick stone, and at Tsomgo there is snow on the ground from November to April.
Shoes come off at every monastery, so something you can remove easily, and thick socks for cold stone floors.
Clothing
Layers, and more warmth than the latitude suggests. Gangtok runs 4°C to 14°C in winter and 13°C to 25°C in summer. A down or synthetic insulated jacket for the high day trips, a fleece or merino mid layer, and a packable rain jacket that is genuinely waterproof rather than showerproof, because monsoon rain here is relentless.
Modest dress for monasteries: shoulders and knees covered, and a scarf for the head at some. Sikkim is relaxed generally and Gangtok is a young university city, but the monasteries are working religious institutions.
For the high day trips
Gloves, a warm hat and a windproof outer, packed the night before. People do the Tsomgo run in what they wore to breakfast and regret it within an hour. Sunglasses, because snow glare at 3,750 metres is severe, and high factor sunscreen for the same reason.
Altitude and medical
Talk to a doctor about acetazolamide before you travel if you plan on Tsomgo or north Sikkim. Rehydration salts, basic painkillers, and any prescription medication in quantity. Sikkim's pharmacies are good in Gangtok and non existent above it.
Practical
A power bank, because supply is intermittent in bad weather. Cash, since ATMs in Gangtok work but those in the north do not. A cloth bag, because plastic ones do not exist here.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Rumtek Monastery
The largest monastery in Sikkim, 24 kilometres from the city, seat of the Karmapa and the Karma Kagyu lineage in exile, rebuilt in the 1960s as a replica of the original in Tibet. The golden stupa in the reliquary building holds the remains of the sixteenth Karmapa.
Practically: foreign visitors must show their passport and permit at the gate, so carry the physical documents rather than photographs of them. Shoes off inside, no photography in the shrine rooms, and the approach is a steep walk from the road.
Tsomgo Lake and Baba Mandir
A glacial lake at 3,753 metres, frozen from December to April, an hour and a half of switchbacks above the city. Yaks wait at the shore for photographs, which is a tourist trap but a mild one.
Practically: cold, windy and exposed, with thin air that leaves people breathless walking the shoreline path. Hire boots and a coat at the roadside stalls if you have underpacked; they exist for exactly this reason. Do not plan anything strenuous the same day.
MG Marg and the ropeway
The pedestrian main street, with benches, flowers and no vehicles, where the whole city walks in the evening. The Gangtok ropeway runs on three levels and gives the ridge and the valley in about ten minutes.
Practically: flat and easy, which is unusual in this city. The ropeway is short and often has a queue.
Enchey, Do Drul Chorten and the Namgyal Institute
Enchey is a small two hundred year old monastery above the city with good views. The Do Drul Chorten is a stupa ringed by 108 prayer wheels. The Namgyal Institute of Tibetology holds one of the best collections of Tibetan manuscripts and thangkas outside Tibet.
Practically: all three are walkable from the centre on steep roads, or a short taxi. Shoes off at the monastery and the chorten. Walk clockwise around the stupa.
North Sikkim
Lachung, Lachen, the Yumthang valley and Gurudongmar Lake at 5,430 metres. This needs a further permit, a registered agent, a shared jeep and at least two nights, and Gurudongmar is often closed to foreign nationals.
Practically: genuine high altitude, rough roads, basic accommodation with limited heating, and real risk if you ascend too fast. Do not attempt it on a tight schedule.
What Not to Bring
Leave plastic bags, which are banned. Leave the single thin jacket; the day trips are a different climate from the city. Leave the plan to reach Nathu La if you hold a foreign passport, because you will not be permitted through.
Leave a tight itinerary during monsoon. The road in closes, and no amount of planning moves a landslide.
Essential Resources for Women in Gangtok
Emergency numbers in India: 112 is the national emergency number. Police 100, ambulance 102 or 108, fire 101. The women's helpline is 1091. Mountain rescue in Sikkim is coordinated through the police and the army, and response above Gangtok is slow.
Tourist support: India operates a 24 hour multilingual tourist helpline on 1363. Sikkim Tourism has an office on MG Marg that handles permit queries, and the Sikkim Police maintain a tourist assistance presence in the city. A stolen passport needs an FIR filed locally, and losing it in Sikkim is more complicated than elsewhere because your Inner Line Permit is tied to it.
US Embassy and consulate: the embassy is in New Delhi at Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, telephone +91 11 2419 8000, at in.usembassy.gov. The nearest consulate is the US Consulate General in Kolkata, 5/1 Ho Chi Minh Sarani, which is a flight or a long overnight journey away. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: the Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial Hospital is the state referral hospital in Gangtok, and the Central Referral Hospital at Tadong is the larger private option, both with emergency departments. There is no hospital at Tsomgo or in north Sikkim, and evacuation from altitude is by road on mountain switchbacks. Travel insurance covering high altitude and helicopter evacuation is strongly advised.
Official health authority: the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at mohfw.gov.in.
US State Department travel advisory for India: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page, and note that it carries specific guidance on the border areas of Sikkim.
UK FCDO travel advice for India: entry requirements, safety and health guidance.
Official tourism authority: Incredible India at incredibleindia.gov.in, with Sikkim Tourism at sikkimtourism.gov.in for permit requirements, road status during monsoon and the current rules on which areas foreign nationals may enter, which change and are the thing to check before booking anything.
Solo women safety assessment: Sikkim is widely considered one of the safest states in India for a woman travelling alone, and Gangtok bears that out. Crime rates are among the lowest in the country, the city is small and orderly, MG Marg is pedestrianised and busy with families until late, and the staring and harassment common in parts of northern India are largely absent here. Local women move freely and travel alone, and the culture is Buddhist and Nepali rather than north Indian, which changes the atmosphere noticeably. Eating alone is unremarkable and homestays are common and welcoming. Petty theft is low. The serious risks in Sikkim are environmental. Altitude is the main one: the standard Tsomgo day trip takes you to 3,750 metres in three hours, and headache, nausea and breathlessness are common, with a small number of visitors getting genuinely ill. Descend if symptoms worsen rather than pushing on. Roads are the second: the mountain routes are narrow, frequently damaged, and driven fast, and road accidents are the most likely serious incident on any Sikkim trip. Choose a reputable jeep operator and do not travel these roads at night. Landslides during and after monsoon close the only road to the plains for days at a time, so build slack into any onward flight. The steep stairways within Gangtok are poorly lit in places and slippery in the rain, which is a mundane hazard that causes more minor injuries than anything else.
Reading On
Gangtok is the easiest introduction to the eastern Himalaya and one of the most relaxed cities in India for a woman travelling alone. The India travel guide for women is the parent for the whole country and covers the regions, the seasons and the trains, and the India packing list for women covers a multi region trip. Closest to hand, the Darjeeling packing list for women covers the hill station four hours west that most people pair with Sikkim, and the Kolkata packing list for women covers the usual arrival city. For the other end of the Indian Himalaya, the Ladakh travel guide for women and the Dharamsala packing list for women cover the western mountains, and the Rishikesh packing list for women covers the foothills. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why merino is the right fibre when you gain 2,100 metres before lunch and lose twenty degrees doing it, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
