Afternoon tea at the Windamere, Darjeeling

Stay in any of Darjeeling's cheap guesthouses, but treat yourself to tea in one of the old colonial hotels. The Windamere Hotel, on Observatory Hill above the Chowrasta square, has been run in the style of a 1940s English hill-station hotel since the days of the Raj, with log fires, chintz and a resident pianist.

Afternoon high tea, with sandwiches, scones and cakes and a pot of the local Darjeeling tea, is served to non-residents (book ahead). Watch the mist creep up the hillside from the dining room or the terrace, with Kangchenjunga beyond on a clear day.