Count the bends at
Zuluk (Silk Route) in May
Thirty-two hairpins on the old silk route.
Quick answer. Late spring. One of the two best windows; pre-monsoon build late in the month. For Zuluk (Silk Route) specifically, May is a comfortable month with the usual hill-state caveats.
The essentials
- Altitude
- About 10,000ft
- Signature
- 32 hairpin bends
- Foreigners
- Not permitted
- Permit
- Protected corridor, via agency
- Month
- May, Sikkim
- This month
- Late spring.
Why May here
The terraced hairpin road through a tiny East-Sikkim hamlet, foreigners not permitted.
Zuluk is a tiny hamlet at about 10,000ft on the old silk route, famous for the view across its 32 hairpin bends stacked up the hillside. The road is a protected corridor: the official PAP page states foreign tourists are not allowed, and Indian visitors travel with permits and registered vehicles.
What to do
Thambi viewpoint
The full hairpin staircase in one frame.
Kupup Lake
The high lake by the army checkpoint.
Elsewhere in Sikkim in May
The wider Sikkim calendar this month: Saga Dawa (lunar, May-Jun, major monastery festival). Dates shift with harvests and moons; we confirm them when you plan.
Pair it with
Zuluk (Silk Route) in May, planned properly
Tell us your dates and group size. Solo travellers can join fixed departures and keep the freedom. A real person replies with a plan and an honest price.