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Enchey Monastery

Enchey Monastery

pilgrimage site · Sikkim

The name means Solitary Monastery, which stopped being accurate a long time ago.

State
Sikkim
Type
Pilgrimage Site

The name means Solitary Monastery, which stopped being accurate a long time ago. The 1909 Nyingma building went up above what was then a small hamlet, and Gangtok has grown around it since. The site was chosen by Lama Drupthob Karpo, a tantric adept credited with flight, who is said to have flown here from Maenam Hill in South Sikkim and put up a small gompa on the spot. Sikkimese belief holds that the protecting deities Khangchendzonga and Yabdean live here and grant what devotees ask for, which is why this place matters in Gangtok households and not only to visitors.

Enchey Monastery is known for

Nyingma monastery of 1909Protector deity shrineAbove Gangtok

Enchey Monastery guide & itineraries

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Gangtok

Gangtok

Gangtok is where most Sikkim trips begin, and its real value is as a base rather than a destination. The town itself is a steep ridge of concrete with one pleasant pedestrian street, MG Marg, where no vehicles and no spitting are allowed and the whole town walks in the evening. Rumtek monastery, half an hour out, is the seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage and the more worthwhile hour. Enchey, closer in, is quieter still. Tsomgo lake and Nathu La are the standard day trip. Both need permits arranged through a registered operator in Gangtok, both are high — Tsomgo is at around 3,700 metres — and Nathu La is closed to foreign nationals entirely. If you have only been in the hills a day, that altitude gain in a single drive is a lot. For actual Sikkim, keep going. Pelling for the Kanchenjunga view, Yuksom for the walking, north Sikkim for Lachung and the Yumthang valley — all of which need their own permits. March to May and October to early December. The monsoon here brings serious landslides and roads close for days at a time.

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Yumthang Valley, often called the Valley of Flowers of Sikkim, is an alpine meadow at around 3,500 metres in North Sikkim. In spring its slopes blaze with rhododendrons and primulas, and there are hot springs, the Shingba Rhododendron Sanctuary, and Zero Point higher up.

Rumtek Monastery

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Rumtek is the largest monastery in Sikkim and the seat-in-exile of the Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu (Black Hat) lineage. Rebuilt in the 1960s by the 16th Karmapa as a faithful copy of Tibet's Tsurphu monastery, it holds the Golden Stupa with his relics, a monastic college, and treasures of the lineage. Ritual dances, deep-horn ensembles and the view back across the valley to Gangtok make it the centrepiece of any Sikkim circuit.

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