How to reach Siliguri

From the airport

Bagdogra Airport (IXB) is about 15 km south-west of central Siliguri by road; the drive to Hill Cart Road usually takes 30 to 45 minutes, depending on traffic. It is a civilian terminal at an Indian Air Force station, with direct flights from Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Guwahati and other cities, and international flights to Paro in Bhutan and to Bangkok. There is a prepaid taxi stand at the terminal. Pakyong in Sikkim has had no scheduled flights for some time (check before you travel), so Bagdogra is the airport for the whole of Darjeeling and Sikkim. If flights are full, fly to Kolkata and take an overnight train to New Jalpaiguri.

From the railway station

New Jalpaiguri Junction (NJP) is the main station, about 8 km south of central Siliguri; a taxi, auto-rickshaw or app cab takes 20 to 30 minutes to Hill Cart Road, and there is a prepaid taxi stand at the station. NJP has direct trains from much of India: from Kolkata, the daytime Vande Bharat from Howrah and overnight trains such as the Darjeeling Mail from Sealdah, which arrive in the morning; Rajdhani Expresses from Delhi; and a Vande Bharat from Guwahati. A few trains, including the Kanchan Kanya Express from Sealdah and the Sikkim Mahananda Express from Delhi, use Siliguri Junction (SGUJ) instead, on Hill Cart Road in the city centre. There is still no railway into Sikkim: the Sevoke–Rangpo line is under construction, so the journey on from Siliguri is by road.

By road

Siliguri lies on the plains at about 120 m, where the main highways of north Bengal meet, so the drive here is on flat, busy trunk roads rather than mountain roads. From Kolkata it is about 580 to 600 km: north on NH12 through Krishnanagar, Baharampur, Farakka (crossing the Ganga on the barrage), Malda and Raiganj to Dalkhola, then on NH27 through Kishanganj (a short stretch in Bihar), Islampur and Bagdogra into the city. Kolkata to Malda is about 330 km and Malda to Siliguri about 250 km; allow 11 to 13 hours in all by car.

• From Guwahati and the North-East: about 420 km west along NH27 through Jalpaiguri, a full day's drive.
• From Nepal: the Kakarbhitta–Panitanki crossing at the Mechi bridge is about 30 to 35 km west of the city, roughly an hour away.
• From Bhutan: Phuentsholing and Jaigaon are about 150 to 160 km east across the Dooars, 4 to 5 hours.
• From the hills: Darjeeling is about 77 km down NH110 (Hill Cart Road), and Gangtok about 110 to 115 km down NH10 through Rangpo, the Teesta valley and Sevoke.

The plains highways carry heavy lorry traffic and slow down through every market town, and the June to September rains slow them further, so plan to drive in daylight.

By bus

Overnight buses run to Siliguri from Kolkata, mostly from Esplanade: the state-run North Bengal State Transport Corporation service and private Volvo and sleeper coaches leave in the evening and arrive the next morning after about 12 to 13 hours, with a halt at Malda. From Bhutan, a few buses a day leave Phuentsholing for the 4- to 6-hour run, arriving at a stand on Burdwan Road rather than the main terminus. From Nepal, overnight buses from Kathmandu reach Kakarbhitta on the border, where foreign nationals complete exit and entry formalities, and a daily through service continues to the Tenzing Norgay terminus. For Sikkim, Sikkim Nationalised Transport buses leave the SNT stand for Gangtok between about 8 am and 3 pm, with buses to Jorethang, Namchi and Pelling in the late morning and early afternoon; timings change, so check at the counter the day before.

Local transfers

The Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus on Hill Cart Road, just outside Siliguri Junction station, is the city's transport hub, with the Sikkim (SNT) bus stand beside it. Shared jeeps for Gangtok, Kalimpong and Darjeeling leave from stands around it; jeeps to Jorethang (2½ to 3 hours) are easy to find, but few run direct to Yuksom. For Maneybhanjyang, the occasional direct shared vehicle leaves the Darjeeling More stand around midday. Foreign nationals bound for Sikkim can no longer get the Restricted Area Permit at the SNT complex: since January 2026 it is issued only online, through the e-FRRO portal, and must be approved before you reach the Sikkim border. Allow 3 to 4 hours by road from here to Maneybhanjyang and 6 to 7 hours to Yuksom, so arrive by late morning or the night before.

Safety

Siliguri itself is low, hot and humid, with about four-fifths of its rain falling between June and September. The same monsoon brings landslides to the hill roads beyond, above all NH10 up the Teesta valley to Kalimpong and Sikkim, which was badly damaged in the October 2023 flood and still closes at times after heavy rain. Keep a spare day before a trek starts, avoid hill roads after dark, and check the day's road status locally before setting off.

Travel tips

• Plan buffer time for road delays, especially in monsoon and winter.
• Start early for long drives to avoid night stretches on mountain roads.
• Keep offline maps and cash as backup in low-network zones.
• If you are continuing to high altitude areas, acclimatize and hydrate well.