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Photo: Sumit Surai, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Located in Aloobari on the way from Darjeeling to Jorbunglow, this is the least visited monastery as it is located away from the main road. Established in 1914, the monastery offers some breathtaking views of the Tiger Hill region and houses some old, rare Buddhist manuscripts.
Mag-Dhog Yolmowa Monastery is a gompa in the town of Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. The monastery is also known as "Aloobari" monastery after the locality it is located in. The monastery was built under the supervision of Sri Sangay Lama, a highly revered religious head of the Yolmo people - a small ethnic group from the north-east of Nepal who later settled in Darjeeling. The construction of the monastery started in 1914, the year World War I started. The name Mag-Dhog means warding off the war and the monastery was dedicated for world peace.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
This 28.5-meter-tall impressive building is part of a grid of around 30 pagodas spanning the whole globe. Constructed by the Japanese Buddhist Nipponzan-Myohoji Order, the one at Charlimont on the outskirts of Darjeeling was consecrated in 1992. It represents a unique fusion of Japanese Buddhist architecture, Indian craftsmanship, and universal peace principles. A small temple just lies alongside. If you're woken up due to the sound of drumming in the streets of Darjeeling between 4AM and 5AM: These are the monks (Theravada) of the Japanese temple having their early morning walk.
Druk Sangag Choling Monastery
This is the biggest monastery in this region. It was built in 1971. It is the headquarters and residence of Drukchen Rimpoche the XII, the head of the Kargyupa sect of Buddhists.
This temple was built by Purna Bahadur Pradhan in 1939.
Batasey
A place where the legendary toy train makes a loop around the Gorkha War Memorial. Built in 1919, this spiral railway track has solved one of the most challenging heavy transport problems in the mountain railway history of Darjeeling. Today, it stands as more than just a feat of engineering—it’s a living memorial to brave Gorkha soldiers and a window into the cultural heritage of India’s famous hill station.