Guides / Permits
Permits for North Sikkim and Nathula, explained without jargon
Most of Sikkim is open to any Indian traveller with a photo ID. A few of the best places are not, and the paperwork for those is the single most common reason a plan slips. Here is how it works, in the order it affects you.
Go Pahadi team · 8 min read
Where a permit is needed at all
Gangtok, Pelling, Ravangla, Namchi, Kalimpong and all of Darjeeling need no special permit for Indian nationals. Carry a government photo ID and you are done. The restricted areas are the high-altitude ones near the border: Lachen, Lachung, Yumthang Valley, Zero Point and Gurudongmar Lake in North Sikkim, and Tsomgo Lake, Baba Mandir and Nathula Pass in East Sikkim.
Those permits are not issued to individuals walking in off the street. They are issued against a booking made through a registered Sikkim tour operator, with a registered vehicle and driver named on the paperwork. That is why every North Sikkim trip you see advertised is a package rather than a self-drive route.
What to carry
- A government photo ID with an address: Aadhaar, voter ID, driving licence or passport. A PAN card is not accepted on its own.
- Two passport-size photographs per traveller. Keep spares; checkpoints occasionally want one.
- For children, a school ID or birth certificate copy.
- Foreign nationals: passport and valid Indian visa, plus copies. Some restricted areas are closed to foreign nationals altogether, and others need a different clearance, so tell us nationalities before we quote.
Send us scans a week before travel and we file everything in advance. If your ID reaches us the night before, the permit may still be issued, but the day starts late and the high-altitude drives are the ones you do not want to start late.
Three mistakes that cost a day
- Booking Nathula for the wrong day. The pass is not open every day of the week, and the army closes it at short notice for weather or security. We keep a spare sightseeing block in the itinerary so the trip does not lose a day if it shuts.
- Treating Gurudongmar as a certainty. Snow and road work can stop vehicles short of the lake. It is worth going for, and it is worth going with a plan B for the same morning.
- Landing too late at NJP or Bagdogra. Hill roads are best driven in daylight. An arrival before early afternoon makes the whole first day calmer.
Altitude, briefly
Gurudongmar sits above 17,000 ft and Nathula above 14,000 ft. Sleep low, drink water, walk slowly at the top, and skip alcohol the night before. Anyone with a heart or breathing condition, and anyone travelling with very young children, should talk to a doctor before booking these two days specifically.
Permit rules, fees and opening days are set by the state administration and the army and do change. We confirm the current position for your dates when we quote.
We file the permits. You just send the ID.
Every North Sikkim and Nathula package we run includes the permit work, the registered vehicle and a driver who has done the route this season.