Has it ever happened that you visited an awesome place but couldn’t make the best out of it? If yes, what was it? Was it the weather, company or a bad hotel experience? Let me tell you mine.  

Back in 2019, when the world hadn’t turned upside down, I had the opportunity to travel to Mussoorie with my girlfriend. Lucky me right! Well not so much because the hotel where we stayed was, to simply put it, “pathetic.” The food was horrible, the rooms were untidy, and don’t get me started on the room service. The bad hotel experience impacted our overall vacation and I hadn’t been on another vacation thereafter until this September when I went to West Sikkim with my friends. The place is apparently in trend since everyone seems to be exploring “offbeat places” these days.

Learning from my past mistake, I booked everything in advance this time, and boy! am I glad I did that because the homestays I stayed has filled my soul with so many good memories. So much so that I think the world should know about these homestays and West Sikkim in general.    

Trip to West Sikkim to check out what all the fuss is about

We started off from Gangtok. The plan was to reach Yuksom before sunset and explore the nearby places of interest, but due to the bad roads and weather, we ended up reaching Yuksom at almost midnight. Luckily for us, the owners of Limboo Homestay were kind enough to wait for us patiently.

Stay at Limboo Homestay, Yuksom

As we got out of the car, my first impression was “this is not what I had seen on the internet.” I thought I had booked a cute wooden cabin but all I could see was a tall and boring building. Just then we were greeted by the owner who looked very lively given how late it was. She was accompanied by her daughters both no younger than 10 years. They helped us with our luggage and guided us to the backyard, which unveiled our very own wooden cabin. The backyard filled our eyes with awe and the garden was well maintained and ornamented with cute light lamps. There was a gazebo shed in the center where two dogs slept soundly and the Instagram famous stone stacked oval gate. I couldn’t wait to snap pictures in the morning.

Limboo homestay

After gazing at the backyard for a couple of minutes, we went inside our room, where our dinner was kept in a hot case. Maybe it was because we were starving but the food tasted heavenly. After dinner, we went out to explore the property and to vlog (video down below). There are two cottages in total. Both the cottages have two rooms each. Our room had a staircase leading upstairs, but we decided to explore the top space the next day.

The next morning, we were pampered with bed tea, which I took upstairs with me. It turns out that the staircase lead to a meditation and yoga room and also offered a splendid view of the homestay garden. A little further from the oval gate is a fish reservoir where you can enjoy a bonfire. Tea was followed by breakfast, which was set up in the gazebo shed. Post breakfast we headed towards Karthok Lake.

Karthok Lake is just 5 minutes away from Limboo Homestay. It is situated opposite Karthok Monastery, which we didn’t have time to visit. The lake was small but scenic. Mind you, if you plan to visit Karthok Lake or any lake for that matter during monsoon, always be mentally ready for leaches. I alone counted 6 leach attacks on my feet after 10 minutes.