CityDekho
Sanga Choeling Monastery

Sanga Choeling Monastery

pilgrimage site · Sikkim

State
Sikkim
Type
Pilgrimage Site

Seventeenth-century, and among the oldest monasteries around Pelling, but the climb is what you will remember: four kilometres of steep track through thick forest to a ridge top, with no way to shorten it. Lama Lhatsun Chempo founded it, and the name means the island of the Guhyamantra teachings, which is to say Vajrayana. Pilgrims take it as part of the circuit running through Pemayangtse, seven kilometres off, along with the Rabdentse ruins, Khecheopalri Lake, Norbugang Chorten, Dubdi Monastery, Yuksom and Tashiding. Start early. The track is unkind in the middle of the day.

Sanga Choeling Monastery is known for

17th-century monasterySteep 4 km forest climbRidge above Pelling

Sanga Choeling Monastery guide & itineraries

More to explore in Sikkim

Other places worth pairing with this visit — tap a mood to reshape the list.

Pemayangtse Monastery
Spiritual

Pemayangtse Monastery

Only the monks here are entitled to be called ta-tshang, monks of pure lineage: celibate, without physical abnormality, and still drawn from among Sikkim's Bhutias. That rule has held since Lama Lhatsun Chempo founded the place in 1647, and it makes this a house with conditions rather than a photo stop. Pemayangtse means Perfect Sublime Lotus, and the monastery still governs every other Nyingma house in Sikkim; its head lama once anointed the Chogyals with holy water. Six kilometres from Gyalshing, and part of the pilgrim circuit that begins with Dubdi at Yuksom. Come early and behave as you would in someone's home.

Details
Pelling
Hill station

Pelling

Details
Tashiding Monastery
Spiritual

Tashiding Monastery

Details
Khecheopalri Lake
Attraction

Khecheopalri Lake

Details
Namchi
Hill station

Namchi

Details
Varsey Rhododendron Sanctuary
Attraction

Varsey Rhododendron Sanctuary

Details
Tendong Gumpa
Spiritual

Tendong Gumpa

Details
Kabi Lungchok
Culture

Kabi Lungchok

Details
Temi Tea Garden
Attraction

Temi Tea Garden

Details
Kirateshwar Mahadev Temple
Spiritual

Kirateshwar Mahadev Temple

Details

Travellers exploring here also loved

Yuksom

Yuksom

Thakurbari Temple, Gangtok

Thakurbari Temple, Gangtok

Gurudongmar Lake

Gurudongmar Lake

Gangtok

Gangtok

Mount Pandim
Attraction

Mount Pandim

Details
Dubdi Monastery
Spiritual

Dubdi Monastery

Details
Saramsa Garden
Attraction

Saramsa Garden

Details
Namgyal Institute of Tibetology
Culture

Namgyal Institute of Tibetology

Details
Banjhakri Falls and Energy Park
Attraction

Banjhakri Falls and Energy Park

Details

Keep exploring

Discover more of Sikkim

Open the guide

Been to Sanga Choeling Monastery?

Write what you would tell a friend — where you stayed, what you would skip, the thing you wish somebody had mentioned before you went. We read every submission before it goes up.

Share your story

People also explored

Travellers viewing Sanga Choeling Monastery also loved these

Sikkim

Tsomgo Lake & Nathula Pass

Tsomgo Lake, also written Changu Lake, is a high-altitude glacial lake at 3,753 metres in the rugged East Sikkim district, held in a steep oval valley just…

Sikkim

Lachung

Lachung is a mountain village in North Sikkim at around 2,700 metres, set where the Lachen and Lachung rivers meet amid apple orchards and waterfalls.

More spiritual places to explore

More places you'll love

Kerala

Guruvayur (Sri Krishna Temple)

Guruvayur is a temple town in Kerala centred on the revered Sri Krishna (Guruvayurappan) Temple, often called the Dwarka of the South.

Kerala

Padmanabhaswamy Temple (Thiruvananthapuram)

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram is a Vaishnava shrine where Lord Vishnu reclines on the serpent Anantha in the Anantha-shayanam posture.

Andhra Pradesh

Srisailam (Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga)

Srisailam, set amid the forested Nallamala Hills above the Krishna River, is home to the Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple, a rare site that is at once one of…

Maharashtra

Trimbakeshwar (Jyotirlinga)

Trimbakeshwar, near Nashik in Maharashtra, enshrines one of the twelve sacred Jyotirlingas of Shiva and marks the source of the Godavari, India's…

Maharashtra

Siddhivinayak Temple (Mumbai)

Shree Siddhivinayak is Mumbai's most beloved Ganesha temple, built in 1801 and today one of the richest and most-visited shrines in India.

Gujarat

Shatrunjaya Hill

Shatrunjaya Hill rises above the Shatrunjaya River near Palitana town in Bhavnagar district, and no other mountain in the world carries anything like what…

Gujarat

Pavagadh Hill

Pavagadh Hill is a volcanic plateau rising about 822 metres from the plains of the Panchmahal district, at the heart of the UNESCO-listed Champaner-Pavagadh…

Gujarat

Valsad

Valsad, once known as Bulsar, sits at the southern tip of Gujarat on the Arabian Sea.

Gujarat

Jamnagar

Jamnagar, once the princely capital of Nawanagar under the Jadeja rulers, sits on the southern Gulf of Kutch.

Gujarat

Gandhinagar

Gandhinagar is Gujarat's planned capital, laid out on the west bank of the Sabarmati by the architects H.K. Mewada and Prakash M.

West Bengal

Nalhateshwari Temple

Nalhateshwari Temple in Nalhati, Birbhum, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism.

West Bengal

Kankalitala Temple

Kankalitala Temple in Bolpur, Birbhum, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism.

Trending in Sikkim

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.

Tsomgo Lake & Nathula Pass

Tsomgo Lake & Nathula Pass

Tsomgo Lake, also written Changu Lake, is a high-altitude glacial lake at 3,753 metres in the rugged East Sikkim district, held in a steep oval valley just kilometres from the international border. The water changes colour through the year: deep blue in summer, turquoise later, then solid white once winter locks the surface into thick ice. Carry on up the same high-security mountain road and it climbs to the Nathula Pass checkpoint, at 4,310 metres on the ancient Silk Road route, where heavy military wire marks the line between India and China.

Yumthang Valley

Yumthang Valley

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

Rumtek Monastery

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.

Where next?

More like Sanga Choeling Monastery

Spiritual & Pilgrimage

Or a different kind of trip

Hill StationsBeachesHeritage

Everything in SikkimBrowse all destinations