Himalayan Mountaineering Institute

The basics

If you’re looking to develop new mountain climbing skills, you can enroll in one of 16 courses scheduled at the institute each year, including basic and advanced mountaineering (28 days each). There’s also an on-site Mountaineering Museum that’s worth checking out, and many tours offer the option to stop by. The HMI is located on the grounds of the zoo, so plan to combine your visits to maximize your time.

Things to know before you go

• The HMI is a must-visit for anyone interested in mountaineering.
• Book climbing courses well in advance.
• Combined tickets to the zoo and the institute are available, but note that it costs extra to use a camera.

How to get there

The HMI is situated just north of the main Mall Road area in Darjeeling, on the grounds of the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park. It takes about 10 minutes to get here by taxi, or just over half an hour on foot.

When to get there

The HMI is open every day during daylight hours, but you may want to get there early to give yourself plenty of time, especially if you're also visiting the adjacent zoo. The most pleasant time of year to visit Darjeeling is from March to June, when the weather is warmer and dryer than the rest of the year. Try to avoid coming late-June through mid-September, when the monsoon rains make outdoor activities challenging.

The Mountaineering Museum

Even if you aren’t interested in ascending a mountain yourself, you can still learn a lot from the sidelines by visiting the Mountaineering Museum, which chronicles the history of mountaineering with an interesting collection of artifacts from early Everest expeditions. One of the more curious items is a powerful telescope, used to see detail in the Kanchenjunga range, which was originally a gift from Adolf Hitler to Maharaja Judh Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal.