Happy Valley Tea Estate, Darjeeling

Happy Valley Tea Estate is the closest working tea garden to Darjeeling town. Visit it for a factory tour and tasting between March and October.

Happy Valley Tea Estate was founded in 1854, making it Darjeeling's second-oldest tea garden after Steinthal (1852). It spreads over 177 hectares at about 2,100 metres, roughly 3 km north of Darjeeling, and is the tea estate closest to the town. The district website says the bushes are at least 80 years old, with some about 150, and that more than 1,500 people work there.

Visitors can walk through the garden and, when plucking is in progress, tour the factory to see the leaf withered, rolled, oxidised and dried. March to May is the busiest period, when plucking and processing are under way; a guide site says the factory usually closes from November to February because there is no plucking in winter, though the gardens can still be viewed for free.

Tours last about an hour and, according to one secondary source, cost around Rs 200 per person; staff conduct them even for a single visitor. Hours also differ between sources: the district site and Darjeeling-Tourism.com give Tuesday to Saturday, 8 am to 4:30 pm (or 4 pm), while Wikipedia says it opens all seven days. The estate has been managed since late 2022 by Lemongrass Organic Tea Estates, per Wikipedia. Phone ahead in winter.