In 1848, Laxmi Das Pradhan — a Newar tradesman from Bhaktapur who had fled Nepal after a court massacre and built a new life in the Himalayan foothills — introduced the coinage system to Sikkim under the rule of Chogyal Thutob Namgyal. The house he built in Turuk has been in the same family for five generations. Today, Vikash Pradhan opens it to guests who want, above all else, to be far from the world. Hulk has been cooking here for 27 years.
There are homes that carry history. Then there are homes that made it.
Turuk Kothi was built in 1848 by Laxmi Das Pradhan — a figure whose story intersects with some of the most significant events of nineteenth-century South Asian history. He was a Newar from Bhaktapur, the ancient Newar city in the Kathmandu Valley, with extensive business dealings with the nobles of Nepal. When the Kot Parwa massacre of 1846 — the bloody consolidation of power by Jung Bahadur Rana that transformed Nepal’s political landscape — sent shockwaves through Nepal’s trading communities, Laxmi Das shifted base to Darjeeling. He was successful. He expanded his interests. He was granted a zamindari patty for Turuk Sadam and Kitam from the Chogyal, the king of Sikkim. And then he did something that changed Sikkim’s economic history: he introduced the coinage system, founding a mint under the patronage of Chogyal Thutob Namgyal. Before Laxmi Das Pradhan, Sikkim operated on barter. He gave it currency — literally.
The title that followed — Taksari, owner of the minting house — was not decorative. The British, who were watching closely, regarded him as the head of the Nepalese community in both Darjeeling and Sikkim. The house he built at Turuk served as the district headquarters for many years. It was, in the most complete sense, the administrative and commercial centre of this corner of South Sikkim.
Five generations later, the descendants of Laxmi Das Pradhan still live in the same house.
The House Today
Today, Shri Hirendra Pradhan — the fifth descendant of Laxmi Das — and his family welcome guests to Turuk Kothi. His son Vikash manages the property with the deep knowledge of someone who grew up in these rooms and has converted part of the back of the house into a dining room and museum — a beautifully restored space where the objects and artefacts of the family’s history are displayed with the care of a curator and the pride of a descendant.
The property spreads across nine acres of lush, unsullied gardens in a valley below Turuk village, away from the road, hidden in the folds of old forests. The main building stands amid a sprawling courtyard fragrant with magnolias and plumerias. The grounds support fruit trees, an organic vegetable garden, and the extraordinary quiet of a place that has been maintained as a living estate rather than a tourist attraction: farm animals, birds, bees, and Tsange — a cross between a Tibetan Mastiff and a Labrador — basking in the garden as residents rather than amenities.
The Accommodation
There are three private cottages and two stunningly restored suites, each reflecting the heritage character of the main building while providing the modern comforts that genuine rest requires. The rooms are gargantuan — described by guest after guest as the largest they encountered anywhere in Sikkim. Soft beds. Clean white sheets and towels. Bathrooms spotlessly maintained with two types of shower, hair dryer, and loofah. Complimentary tea and coffee. Magazines. The paraphernalia of a thoughtfully kept room, in a building that was designed for important people and has not forgotten what that means.
Each cottage has its own character — positioned within the nine acres to offer privacy and a view. The restored suites carry the weight of the original building’s history with the lightness of spaces that have been loved back into their best form. Vikash’s museum at the back provides an evening’s worth of extraordinary reading for guests interested in the family’s story and Sikkim’s nineteenth-century history.
Hulk: Twenty-Seven Years in the Kitchen
The cook and caretaker known as Hulk Ratanda has been at Turuk Kothi for twenty-seven years. His son Ram also works here. Together, father and son provide the consistency of service that can only come from people who have spent decades in the same kitchen, with the same garden outside the window, feeding the same family and their guests with the produce of the same soil.
The food at Turuk Kothi is described by guests as some of the best they ate during their entire Sikkim trip — better than in four- and five-star hotels, better than anything prepared anywhere else during ten days of travel through the state. It is home-cooked from the garden’s own produce: vegetables picked fresh, homemade pickles that accompany every meal with the accumulated knowledge of a kitchen that has always known how to preserve what the garden gives. Everything is freshly picked and prepared. The result is the particular quality of food that only grows from this combination: outstanding ingredients, long experience, genuine care.
Hulk is, in the words of one guest who describes him with great affection, the cook, caretaker, and guide — a man whose loyal service and commendable workload over nearly three decades is the operational foundation on which the Turuk Kothi experience rests.
The Silence and the Landscape
The defining quality of Turuk Kothi is the silence. Not the relative quiet of a property that is merely away from traffic, but the genuine, layered silence of a place nine acres deep in the Sikkim hills, where the sounds are birds and wind and the farm animals in the courtyard and, at night, the absolute dark of a sky uncontaminated by city light.
Guests who have spent their Sikkim visit on the standard circuit — Gangtok, Pelling, the monasteries, the roads — describe arriving at Turuk Kothi and feeling something shift: the accumulated noise of touring falling away, the body adjusting to a pace that it had forgotten was possible. Sitting on the veranda with tea. Watching the light move across the courtyard in the morning. The birds in the magnolia tree. Tsange in the garden.
This is what the property offers above all else: the luxury of silence in a landscape built for it.
What to See and Experience
The Temi Tea Gardens — one of the most beautiful tea estates in India, the only government-owned tea garden in Sikkim, producing an exceptional first-flush Darjeeling-type tea on terraced slopes with Kanchenjunga views — are within easy reach of Turuk. A visit to Temi is one of the finest possible mornings in South Sikkim: the tea, the views, the particular atmosphere of a working garden that is also a landscape.
The monasteries of South Sikkim — Ralang, Ralong, and others in the surrounding hills — are accessible from Turuk for those who want the cultural circuit. Namchi, the largest town in South Sikkim and home to the extraordinary Char Dham replica complex and the Samdruptse statue of Guru Padmasambhava, is within reach. Rabangla, centrally placed between Gangtok and Pelling, is the standard South Sikkim stop. The Borong hot springs offer the geothermal experience of a landscape sitting directly on an active Himalayan fault zone.
Why It Stays With You
A guest described it as arguably one of the best properties in India. The phrase is extravagant but not unearned: Turuk Kothi is a nine-acre estate in South Sikkim built by the man who gave Sikkim its currency, maintained by his descendants across five generations, managed today by a family that welcomes guests into a living home rather than a preserved monument, fed by a cook who has been in the kitchen for twenty-seven years, and surrounded by the silence of a valley that has not changed its essential character since 1848.
The museum at the back. The homemade pickles. Tsange in the courtyard. Vikash’s stories. Hulk’s vegetables, picked the morning they are served. The magnolias.
This is not just a homestay. This is five generations of a family’s life, made available to those who find their way to Turuk.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Turuk Kothi, P.O. Turuk — 737128, Via Melli Bazar, South Sikkim Phone / WhatsApp: +91 89673 89545 Website: turukkothiheritage.com Booking: Direct via website · Also on TripAdvisor and OurGuest.in
Family: Shri Hirendra Pradhan (5th generation, Laxmi Das Pradhan lineage) · Vikash Pradhan (managing the property, museum curator) Founded: 1848, by Laxmi Das Pradhan — first minter of Sikkim Caretaker and cook: Hulk Ratanda (27+ years) and Ram (his son) Resident: Tsange (Tibetan Mastiff-Labrador cross)
Property: 9 acres · Lush valley gardens · Magnolia and plumeria courtyard · Organic vegetable garden · Farm animals · Old forest surrounds
Accommodation: 3 private cottages + 2 restored suites · All with clean white linen, large bathrooms, complimentary tea/coffee, magazines · Museum and dining room in the restored rear of the main house
Meals: All meals included · Home-cooked from the property’s organic garden · Hulk’s kitchen · Homemade pickles · Farm-to-table from 27 years of practice
Experiences: Museum tour (Pradhan family history, Sikkim coinage history) · Temi Tea Garden visit · Monastery circuit (Ralang and surrounds) · Birdwatching in the 9-acre grounds · Village walks · Namchi day trip · Conversations with the family about Sikkimese and Nepalese history
Check-in / Check-out: 12:00 PM / 11:00 AM
Getting There — Bagdogra Airport (NJP area): approximately 90 km — around 3 hours by road via Melli. The most common arrival point. — New Jalpaiguri (NJP) Railway Station: approximately 90 km — around 3 hours. — From Kalimpong: approximately 30 km — around 1 hour. — From Gangtok: approximately 67 km — around 2 hours. — From Darjeeling: approximately 52 km — around 2 hours. — From Namchi (South Sikkim HQ): approximately 20 km — around 40 minutes. — Route: NJP / Bagdogra → Melli Bazar (Sikkim border) → Turuk. The final stretch after Melli involves approximately 10–15 km of steep, narrow mountain road. Arrive before dark. Coordinate exact directions with Vikash before arrival — roads require local knowledge and day-time navigation.
Nearby — Temi Tea Gardens: 20 km · Namchi: 20 km · Samdruptse (Guru Padmasambhava statue): 20 km · Ralang Monastery: 25 km · Rabangla: 35 km · Borong hot springs: 40 km · Pelling: 65 km · Gangtok: 67 km
Best Time to Visit: October to May for the most accessible roads and pleasant weather · October to December for post-monsoon clarity and the estate gardens at their most vivid · March to May for spring flowers in the nine-acre estate · Avoid late monsoon (August–September) when the steep road to Turuk can become extremely challenging · Inner Line Permit (ILP) required for Sikkim — obtainable at Melli check post
