Sikkim

An ancient kingdom of the eastern Himalaya, set where Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan meet, Sikkim is one of the jewels of the Himalayan world. Watched over by Kangchenjunga — the world’s third-highest peak — its deep valleys, terraced into farmland or cloaked in luxuriant vegetation where wild orchids and tree rhododendrons grow, cut between the snow-capped summits. Sikkim, where the memory of Alexandra David-Néel still lingers, remains one of those places that stir the soul and call one toward spiritual quest. While Hinduism is well represented, it is Buddhism above all that has shaped the region’s finest architecture — among it the monasteries of Rumtek and Pemayangtse.