Suntalekhola, Samsing WBFDC Tourist Lodge — Hotel in West Bengal

The place itself is of extraordinarily beauty, surrounded by forest covered hills. A stream flows next to the place, and one has to walk on a little hanging bridge to get to the resort. Such a Wonderful place I have ever seen. Here, "Suntale" means ORANGE and "Khola" means " RIVER" . A check post will be seen after crossing the winding road from Samsing for about 5 km. And from here, it's only about one kilometre walking distance from here. The surrounding mountains and the green forest are leaning and casting an unblinking gaze. A bridge surrounded by a hanging iron net. Govt Resorts take the most soothing locations to setup and this location is certainly one of the most picturesque one. Upfront lies a hanging bridge, which upon crossing you get to the resort after walking few feet beside a small stream. Coming to the Resort itself, it has 8 cottages, one suite ( Commonly known as Super Deluxe) which consists 2 rooms with one dining. Resort has some tents setup as well. Noticably the super deluxe cottage seats at the top from which you get absolute gorgeous view of the resort and the Hills and the Forest. The whole of the day can be spent looking at the surroundings. So, Peacefull Environment and Beautiful also. Hills sometimes covered with cloud, scenic garden on the slope with cottages around with a Stream. There are several Deluxe cottages suitable for two and one Super Deluxe bangalow for four. The rooms have air conditioner, running water, and electrical geyser. There can be power cuts when none of the electrical equipments work. The AC is not required for temperature because the place is always cool. But there are lots of bugs and large mosquitoes outside which would enter the rooms through open windows. Food was cooked such it felt more like home made. ( Not typical Restaurant type and neither fancy food available ). We had Meal for lunch, Roti and Chicken for dinner and Maggi for the breakfast. One thing to notice, Since the place is very remote, and very few staffs available in the resort. So, keep your necessary stuffs at your hand always specially medicines etc. If you want to surround yourself with absolute silence and nature, don't expect TV with channels running spicy soaps! Then, for you , it's the suitable place to make a perfect Veccation , which become always memorable in your life. Amenities like Geysers worked fine and a necessity considering it could be cold in the morning or during night. Outside the rooms one can find lots of butterflies, spiders (golden orb), birds, and...

Stayed there in a cottage for 3 nights. The place is quiet and serene, far away from madding crowd. In fact for one night we were the only guests in the lodge. On our arrival there was absolutely no one to receive us. You have to keep your car across the bridge and walk down a good 300 m to the gate of the lodge. After a few anxious moments found the care-taker who finally let us in. The road to the lodge is in very bad shape (specially the last mile). And Google Map will declare 'You have arrived' even with the lodge 500 m ahead. It seems our CM came to stay in the lodge in 2016 Aug and since then there has been no maintenance of the road or the cottages. Sorry state of WB roads and infrastructure. The cottages are nice and spacious though the furniture and the bathroom fittings are substandard. The rooms and bathrooms are damp. Good luck with trying to dry your towels. The geyser will give you hot water after 30 minutes and that too for not more than 5 minutes. But on other fronts you would be happy you came here. Like I said, the place is amidst forest and all you can hear is the small stream flowing by and birds chirping. There is absolutely no other sound (other than some loud guests talking across cottages). The person in charge, Ganesh Bahadur, is very efficient and an excellent cook. You should know that the nearest ATM (or anything for that matter) you will find is at Matelli (if you are lucky) or further away Mal Bazar (so keep some cash with you for check-out settlements - they don't accept cash. I am told they are arranging for something soon). And you must keep a flash light with you to use at night. And watch-out for insects - that adds to the charm actually. And another thing, Airtel practically does not work there (in the lodge premise). If you want to remain in touch with the rest of the world you should have a Vodafone or Jio connection. Its a good place to go with your family and friends. There's not much to see around so just stay here and soak in...

Though it is a lesser known.but u can feel the nature purely in here in monsoon.the locals are very friendly and helpful.and the view of the river camp is spellbound. Just feel,you are living in a tent,an a river is passing just beside of your tent, a must go for nature lover. The nearest railway station is New Mal Junction but very less number of trains go to that station so another convenient option is New Jalpaiguri Railway Station. Both the times, I travelled from New Mal junction only(As I didn't want to miss the scene where train passing through the forest area after it crosses Siliguri station and the picturesque Sivok station).From New Mal, Suntalekhola is 1.5 hours drive and Cars. Food: WBFDC Canteen is the only option to eat there. Otherwise you to walk at least 1.5KM then you will get some home stays where you can eat. Nothing fancy is available, only Bengali dishes.

Check In/Out : Check In ; 12PM Check Out - 11AM No complementary Bed Tea/Breakfast(Bed Tea was there on 2011) Thousands of chirping birds saying all their stories to you. No fear of insects, snakes or leeches. We had an wonderful stay at Suntalekhola nature education and wilderness resort of WBFDC. The staff were extremely helpful. Food was tasteful. The maintenance of bathrooms are not good. All water lines are full of faults. Geyser was thankfully working. the entire place where this resort is situated is just amazing. you have to cross a little foot - bridge while entering this resort. there are small cottages spreading across this entire resort which are all surrounded by flowers and plants. after a heavy lunch i spend my afternoon with the two daughters of my brother-in-law who were playing with beautiful butterflies. all of us went for a lazy evening walk and after returning back from there we spend our time with ghost stories and delicious snacks. the dinner was also good. the staffs present there are...