An Offbeat Trek Route To Sandakphu Singalila Ridge - 6 Days

Really well organised by Subash and his team and the whole Trek went like clockwork! Our guide Rupesh was brilliant and it turns out he can cook as well! Thoroughly recommended.

We booked ahead with Ashmita Travels for a 3 day Singalila Ridge trek. The owner ? And his right hand man were both very lovely people and super helpful the day before the trek when we got to Darjeeling. The first days trek and the first night spent in an isolated Homestay in the mountains were quite splendid. Unfortunately, on the 2nd day my wife got sick and was unable to finish the trek. Our guide, Rupe, changed the itinerary so that instead of walking to a second Homestay at altitude we walked back to a small village and Homestay with road access and he arranged for an early morning taxi the following day to get us back to Darjeeling. He also carried my wife's pack (and his own) for 15km. A lovely guy and a very good guide. It was just a shame we didn't get to do the whole trek ... Five stars for the exceptional service, BUT, it took 3 to 4 hours in a shared taxi to get to/from the start point and the trek was not actually a Ridge trek. It was mainly through forests. Very lovely forests admittedly, but not the real Singalila Ridge, (which is along the Nepalese border).

“We had the best time on our trek with Ashmita Trek and Tours! It was a last minute decision for my friend and I to do the 6 day / 5 night trip while already in Darjeeling, so we didn’t have much time for preparation. The Ashmita team are so organized and helped us navigate all the paperwork needed for border check ins, figure out what kind of gear we would need on the trek, and how to get from Darjeeling to the start in Rimbick.

Subash, the owner, was in constant communication with us in the days leading up to starting, ensuring we had all the info for taxi times, who our guide was, what we’d need to pay for real-time versus later on, and answering any questions we had. Our guide, Rupesh, picked us up at our hotel in Darjeeling and walked us to the taxi we booked to ride to Rimbick.

We loved having Rupesh as our guide. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about the areas we walked through, pointing out things to see we didn’t notice, and showing us things we could eat while on the path. We had a great time talking with him about things beyond the actual trek too. He’s always very funny and always felt relaxed, never hurrying us or making us feel like we were moving too slow. We asked to try and catch the sunrise at Sandakphu and once again at Phalut, so he got up early to check the weather both days for us and let us know when to come out and catch the sun. At night he made sure we had enough blankets to keep warm and kept us on track for all of our meals and tea breaks along the way.

The food was delicious — breakfast, lunch and dinners. We packed snacks for daytimes, but had so much at mealtimes that we didn’t end up needing most of them. The trekker huts and home stays were great and we even got to charge our phones (aka our cameras) on most of the days when electricity was on in them! There’s little to no service, which we loved. Every person we stayed with, drank tea with, and chatted to at the stops was so kind and it felt like Rupesh knew all of them!

The trip back to Darjeeling was just as smooth as the rest of the trek. Rupesh scheduled us a shared taxi and walked us back to Ashmita’s store front to make sure we picked up all our gear and could back a few things we’d borrowed. We had a great time debriefing with Subash and Rupesh about the off-beat route we’d taken.

Overall, I would absolutely suggest booking with Ashmita and going on the off-beat route. The whole experience was so easy (minus the actual hiking up a mountain part) and the team truly are fantastic!”

We were a group of five people with age group ranging from 45 years to 8 years. But I must say, irrespective of our age or our individual physical stamina, we thoroughly enjoyed the trek and were able to successfully complete it. While some credit goes to us overall, but most of all the credit goes to our Guide Mr. Sangay Bhutia and the company Asmita Trek & Tours through whom we had organised our trek to Sandakphu.

From the beginning Mr. Subash Tamang, the owner or Asmita Trek & Tours was very forthcoming and professional. When we first made an enquiry with him, he was quick with his response and replies. He shared all relevant details of the trek and how it will be managed and organized. Since we were a group of mixed ages, we had lots of questions to ask from him, but he was always available for a response and answered all our queries with enough details and patience.

Ashmita Trek & Tours provides a very professional outlook towards trekking with an equal measure of a homely feeling with not much frills and fancies. It's exactly what one would expect when one is planning a family trek. Furthermore, it's got a good team of professional and experienced people in their company.

The guide we were assigned, Mr. Sangay Bhutia comes with great experience in Mountaineering. He is an ex-trainer of HMI, Darjeeling and has himself led multiple expeditions and treks for professionals and expert mountaineers. He was an excellent guide and an even more excellent host throughout the trek. He took care of each and every aspect during our five days of trekking through the trails with him. The lodgings and fooding arrangements were very good throughout all the days and nights and Mr. Sangay ensured that we got the best of hospitality in all the places we stayed at. In fooding too, we were a mixed group with some us being pure vegetarians while a few were non-veg eaters. Mr. Sangay ensured we had enough food and variety for both veg and non-vegetarians in the group. During our meals he used to literally serve us and be around the dining hall till we finished our meals to ensure everything was in order. Just imagine the bliss of getting to eat super hot food in freezing temperatures and that too freshly made and equally tasty too. All our tiredness of the day would vanish away eating the sumptuous meals.

Not only fooding, Mr. Sangay ensured each and every aspect of the trek was to our liking. He used to keep enquiring on our health and wellbeing. On days we reached the destination earlier, he used to ensure we were kept busy and did not sleep during afternoon/evening time, as that would not be a healthy thing to do and would mess with our getting acclimatized.

Apart from the guide, the horse-man, Mr. Anjan that was assigned to us was equally good and professional. The horses don't stay in the same place as we do, once we have reached our destination. They have to stay a little far away where the horses stables are available, sometimes, even as far as 10 kms away from the lodges. However, the horse-man was never late on any of the days . He was always on time and maintained strick discipline throughout the trek. Even the horses that we had were of good health and strong ones capable of carrying an adult through the arduous trek if the need arose. The horseman was professional yet friendly. Post the end of each day's trek, he would happily give a joy ride to our son on his horse, and he and my son would chat away with eachother as if they were friends for a long time.

Overall, we had an amazing trek and a memorable one too. We enjoyed the Sandakphu trek because it provided an equal measure of it being challenging and a bit arduous, at the same time it was well paced and well planned. The views throughout the trek was amazing and breathtaking. And ofcourse, the icing on the cake were the views from Sandakphu. We were lucky to get a clear weather and we received very clear views of the entire range of Kangchenjunga all the way to Makalu, Mt. Everest, Lhotse and even beyond. Even the smaller peaks in between were visible to us including the 'Three Sisters'. One needs to see it with one's own eyes to believe how beautiful the view is from Sandakphu. We also enjoyed the trek because of Ashmita Trek & Tours.

Special Thanks to Mr. Tamang (owner Ashmita Trek), Mr. Sangay Bhutia (Guide) and Mr. Anjan (Horseman). We look forward to book another trek with Ashmita Trek & Tours soon.
Thank you!

Ashmita Trek organized for us just great treking on the Singalil route. we climbed 3600 and admired the four eight-thousanders of the world. We had a very good guide Dava Lama - kind, experienced, caring. Accommodation, food, transport, everything was on time and of high quality. I will contact them again) Highly recommended!