East India · West Bengal
Siliguri, West Bengal
Sources: wikimedia
About Siliguri
- Riverside
Where it is
Siliguri is a city in northern West Bengal on the Mahananda River at the foot of the Himalayas, in the narrow Siliguri Corridor that links north-east India with the rest of the country, near the borders of Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
History
Siliguri was a small village when the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway began climbing from here towards Darjeeling in 1880. The partition of 1947 left the strip of land around it as India's only land link with the north-east, and the town grew rapidly into the region's chief commercial and transport hub.
People
Bengali and Hindi are the most widely spoken languages, alongside Nepali, Bhojpuri and Rajbanshi. Bengali, Gorkha, Rajbanshi, Marwari and Bihari communities share the city, celebrating Durga Puja, Dashain and Chhath.
Known for
- Gateway to Darjeeling, Sikkim and the Dooars
- The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway's toy train
- Tea gardens and the tea trade
- Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary
- Bengal Safari Park
Did you know?
At its narrowest the Siliguri Corridor, nicknamed the Chicken's Neck, is only about 20–22 km wide, squeezed between Nepal and Bangladesh.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.