The Barfung Retreat - Chilmari

Had visited Ravangla during mid-June with the wish to experience a magnificent monsoon in the mountains. Barfung Retreat gave us the ideal setting for the lazy and quiet vacation we were looking for, right in the lap of mother nature. The view of forests, mountains and endless rains from the super-spacious balcony of the suite-room was truly refreshing. Herds of rain-soaked-clouds would often pass almost through us while we enjoyed warm cups of tea in the balcony ! The stay, the food, the cheerful young group of hotel staff and the tail wagging furry friends , all made our holiday so so special. The only thing that can be improved are the lights in the room. They can be planned in a better way, for the evenings to not feel so dull inside the room. Plan a stay in this beautiful property if you want to detox from urban life.

Stayed at The Barfung Retreat for 3 days 2 nights. This is a fantastic, fabulous and incredibly serene property. This is The Place to recharge and rejuvenate yourself.

As it says Retreat so it is away from the main market area into jungle. The food are limited out here. Place is more suitable for couples or people who want to relax.

A boutique resort in Ravangla, situated amidst the mountains and dense foliage and forest area. Beautiful, quaint and tranquil, with spacious rooms and bathrooms. You can only hear birds, crickets and trees rustling at night (and most parts of the day). Limited menu, but served with utmost love and care. They keep guests well informed about the menu and timings, serve adequately large portions, are very attentive to the guests' needs. We travelled with a senior citizen and a kid, and were very well looked after. The room cleaning staff is also top-notch and very soft spoken. They have a quaint, stone-walled dining area and a lovely patch of greens to admire the scenery and a great view of the Mt. Kanchenjunga. Highly recommended for a peaceful stay in the mountains. You can also see the mighty Buddha (Buddha Park) right from their garden area at night.

We had a mixed experience with our stay. First about the property… The hotel is situated 15mins drive from Ravangla at Barfung village in a quite serinity. Anyone looking for a quite place to relax can consider this. But one need to hire a car each time you want to travel out even to the market at ravangla. The rooms we stayed was of decent size but with limited view of the mountains as it is blocked by high tree. The room has certain defects at least our ones was missing the door handle of the main door. In the other room main door lock gets jammed so we were cacious by the staffs to not lock the room. Complimentary breakfast consists of alu paratha with alu sabji or bread toast, butter and jam. Also u get a plain omelette and tea or coffee. Food was very average but the hotel staffs were good and cater to our request all times. Local sightseeing in Ravangla Four points full day trip consists of Buddha Park It is such an amazing park surrounded by the magestic Himalayas with a 130 feet (40 m) statue of the Buddha. There is also a museum, curio shop selling souvenirs and a cafeteria with lot of veg food option. Right outside the park you get non veg options. Ticket per person is Rs 80/ , kids free, student 20/ (have to show school id card) Ralang Monastry one of the premium monastery in Sikkim. Now to the not so good experience….. We booked the resort three months in advance with the condition that they will provide three rooms in the same cottage. On reaching we came to know that the higher category room (Super deluxe room) in the cottage was already allocated to some other guest and one of our family have to move to a different building which is a bit far away from the cottage. We did not agree to that so we had to downgrade one of the room to a lower category just that we all stay together. Also the owner promised that they will charge us for the lower category room but in the final bill they made us pay more giving reason that they removed certain discounts as we did not compromise to their terms. So finally we paid more for the promise the hotel could not keep and the suffering and adjustment we had to go through. We felt we were deceived.