Ging Tea House

A gorgeous looking tea house with lovely views. Our rooms were huge as were the bathrooms. But for the amount of money we were paying the food and service didn’t match the outlay. First the tea house was freezing cold. There were no heaters in the common areas. No fires were lit during the day and one night there was no wood. There was one heater in the large bedroom and only electric blankets saved the evening. Food was average very average. They had no gin on one night and no non alcoholic beer. Breakfast outside was fine. The staff did their best but was far below the standard you’d expect.

Excellent

Pricey. But nothing can beat this surreal experience of a cottage in the clouds. The staff are superb. Please don’t forget to tip the staff generously since they don’t make a lot.

We stayed for three nights. The property is about 8km from Darjeeling town in Lebong. It's situated inside a tea garden. There are about six rooms. All rooms are big and good at its own layouts, but two front rooms facing mountains are the best. Kangchenjunga is visible in a clear day, but best viewed post lunch due to angle and position visible. Hospitality is great, but not over bearing. They give you space for privacy. Andrew, the manager, is very helpful in planning trips. Food menu is very good, having varieties and and also adequately lavish. The place gives you a feeling of repeat visit intent while leaving. In short, we enjoyed our three days of stay, travel, interaction with guests and

we went as a day trippers and not to stay there. perhaps if we stayed there, we would have been treated differently. the host did not introduce himself, spoke nepali to our driver (about us), "offered" to do a tea tasting in an office with worn down chairs in a dinky conference room by the factory - even though he also mentioned that we could do it at the beautiful house. i declined. back at the house - unfortunately, we were signed on for the lunch as well - which was microwaved chinese food leftovers - i'm not joking. the microwave is just next to the dining room and i could hear him reheat the food (you can have lovely chinese food in town for 200 rupees). questions i asked about tea were treated as either stupid (no, they don't do green tea because that's from China (although their tea's origin is also from China...) or inconvenient - please see the following convo i had with the host: me: can i try your top grade loose leaf tea with my lunch? host: no. you get second flush tea only with your lunch. with your tour. me: i'm happy to pay extra. i see that your other guests had the loose tea host: no, it's not available to you. me: please. host: that will be 500 rupees. me: that's totally fine. ...15 minutes later...and after much fussing... we get to taste the first flush tea. see the loose leaves. it was not the best experience. i left with my mother feeling pretty badly. but the grounds are nice. also, if you're a birder, bring binocs. i did not.

My fiancé and I had such an amazing stay at Ging - we can't fault it at all. Not only is the property gorgeous (breakfast in the garden overlooking the hills is iconic!) but the staff and service is excellent. We stayed for 5 days and felt pampered the entire time; nothing was too difficult for the Ging team. Whether it was asking for advice on what to visit or getting a pot of tea made up, service was always very friendly and given with a smile. They were also incredibly accommodating with dietary and food requests etc. Special shoutout to Nikkesh who was so friendly and took so much time to walk on treks with us and tell us about the area etc. Andrew was also great with his handling of our stay. All in all - can't recommend this place more. It was such a special experience.