Once a summer resort for the British Raj elite, it remains the terminus of the narrow-gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, or “Toy Train,” completed in 1881. It’s famed for the distinctive black tea grown on plantations that dot its surrounding slopes. Its backdrop is Mt. Kanchenjunga, among the world’s highest peaks.
Perched amongst the clouds at 2,134m in the lower Himalayas, Darjeeling lies in the heart of rolling hills of premium tea plantations and retains its old colonial charm.