Home to the Tibetan refugees, sick, elderly and needy destitute the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center today houses 130 Tibetan family who mostly earn their bread and butter by producing traditional handicrafts like Buddha idols, various Tibetan sculptures, musical instruments, masks, thangka painting and many more. It is located at hillside Lebong in Darjeeling that has a historical significance where the thirteenth Dalai Lama had spent his exile in India from 1910 to 1912. It is a must visit place in Darjeeling for tourists having keen interest in Indo-Tibetan culture and their lifestyle. This center was established on October 2nd, 1959 for rehabilitation of Tibetans who followed Dalai Lama and escaped their homeland during the period of mayhem. In order to sustain living, they adopted the principle of self help. The center is located on a hill top that can be approached from the Lebong Cart Road. You can see Tibetan men and women making exquisite hand crafted items like woolen carpets, shawls, carved wooden crafts, leather items and more. There is an outlet at the center from where you can buy these items.
Call us for TIBETAN REFUGEE SELF HELP CENTER Tour and we will assist you with best of our services
Tibetian Refugee Center
Foreigners must obtain Inner Line Permit (ILP) to visit Sikkim. These can be obtained from all Indian Missions, Sikkim Tourism Offices at New Delhi, Kolkata, District Magistrates Office of Darjeeling, Siliguri, and Rangpo on the strength of an Indian Visa. The 30 days duration Permit is issued on the spot without any delay provided photocopies of the passport and visa along with two pass port photos of the applicants are made available. The permissible duration of the stay for foreign tourists is 30 days initially.
The State Government is authorized to extend the same by a further period of 30 days. The extension of the permit can be obtained from FRO at Gangtok and office of Superintendent of Police of the North, West and South Districts.
For those interested in going for trekking in the interior region of the state, the Tourism and Civil Aviation issues Protected Area Permit (PAP) at Gangtok which is available for certain specified area for groups consisting of two or more foreigners subject to condition that the trekking programme is arranged through a registered travel agency.