Imagine this: You are staying in a colonial-style bungalow with the sweet aroma of tea all around you. The sprawling tea gardens on slant slopes are the focus of your holiday – you pick tea leaves, witness the rolling, drying, and packaging of tea, and sample different varieties. Walking under the sun following nature trails, meeting farmers and locals engaged in the business, enjoying cultural performances in the evenings, and sipping hot brews all day: doesn’t this sound like a vacation of your dreams? It can come true in Darjeeling
Imagine this: You are staying in a colonial-style bungalow with the sweet aroma of tea all around you. The sprawling tea gardens on slant slopes are the focus of your holiday – you pick tea leaves, witness the rolling, drying, and packaging of tea, and sample different varieties. Walking under the sun following nature trails, meeting farmers and locals engaged in the business, enjoying cultural performances in the evenings, and sipping hot brews all day: doesn’t this sound like a vacation of your dreams? It can come true in Darjeeling and Assam, the two tea growing regions of India, with sprawling tea estates that attract travellers in the summer and monsoon months.
Darjeeling, the champagne of teas, comes from the slant slopes of the namesake town in West Bengal, where acres and acres of land produces this lovely variety. Here, the estates have quaint homestays that open their doors to travellers and let them have a taste of their sweet life. With a hot cup in your hand, you can relax in the balcony of your room and simply gaze at the Himalayas in the distance – there is solace in this idyllic setting that lures city slickers.
Meanwhile, Assam is the largest tea producing region in the world. On either side of River Brahmaputra, the verdant gardens go on for miles in the lowlands and the bright green colour of tea carpets the area. You can stay on the estate in a planter’s bungalow or homestay in the tea city of Dibrugarh and get acquainted with the process of tea making.
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