Anantara Retreat Darjeeling Hills to open on a working tea estate in 2031

Minor Hotels has signed an agreement to manage Anantara Retreat Darjeeling Hills, the first Anantara Retreat in India. The 70-key property is slated to open in 2031 within the Tindharia Tea Estate, an 849-acre plantation in West Bengal that will keep working as a tea estate after the retreat opens. Guests will stay among the tea itself, with the estate’s garden and factory at the centre of the stay.

Darjeeling is one of India’s best-known Himalayan hill destinations, and its name is closely tied to the tea often called the ‘Champagne of Teas’. Tindharia lies 40 km from Darjeeling town. For most international travellers the practical way in is Bagdogra International Airport (IXB), about 33 km from the estate and roughly one hour by road. Bagdogra has direct daily flights to Delhi, Kolkata, Bangkok and other major cities, so the retreat can work as a short trip from Bangkok or as one stop on a longer journey through India.

The estate rises from 450 to 1,000 metres above sea level, and the retreat’s design will follow that topography. The accommodation is split evenly: 35 suites and 35 tented villas, set out along the slope. That layout points to a stay shaped by the hillside, with rooms placed among the plantation’s terraces and looking across the valley.

Facilities follow the Anantara Retreats model. There will be an Anantara Spa, a fitness centre and a swimming pool with views over the plantation and the valley. Wellness experiences will draw on the region and its tea-growing heritage. A 750 sqm meeting and event space is designed for small groups and destination weddings, which suits a property of this size and makes it a setting for a private celebration in the hills.

What sets the project apart is the estate itself. The tea factory and tea garden will anchor the experiential programme, giving guests direct access to the working plantation. Dillip Rajakarier, Group CEO of Minor International, described it this way: ‘Guests will settle into a working tea estate above the valley, follow the leaf from garden to factory and return to a wellness programme built around the same unhurried pace.’ For anyone who drinks Darjeeling tea seriously, the chance to see that process from the inside, and then return to a spa a short walk away, is the reason to plan this trip.

The retreat is being developed with JK Urbana Garden Private Limited, a joint venture between JK Urbanscapes Developers Limited and Kaushal Kumbhat. Kumbhat called the partnership the realisation of ‘a long-cherished dream to open the doors of our tea estate to the world’. Partnerships of this kind, where the estate’s owners stay involved, tend to give a property a closer connection to the land and the people who farm it, and that connection is central to the programme described here.

Anantara Retreats is a brand extension of Anantara Hotels & Resorts. Its properties sit in secluded, sanctuary-style locations and pair high-end accommodation with wellness programmes covering spa, yoga, holistic treatments, fitness, nutrition and mindfulness. A Himalayan tea estate fits that brief well: a remote setting, a working landscape with its own daily rhythm, and enough altitude and space to make a multi-day wellness stay feel complete.

The signing also shows how quickly Minor Hotels, which has more than 640 hotels, resorts and residences, is growing in India. This is the fourth Anantara property announced in the country this year, following Anantara Jadcherla Hyderabad Resort in September 2026, and Anantara Zanti Coorg Resort and Anantara Kolkata Hotel in April 2026. With Kolkata and Darjeeling both in the pipeline, eastern India is set to become an obvious region for the brand, and the two could pair naturally in one itinerary once both are open.

With the opening set for 2031, this is a property to note and plan around. It is not yet bookable. Travellers who already know the Darjeeling hills, and those who have long meant to see where their tea comes from, will want to watch for further details on the suites, tented villas and estate programme as the opening approaches.

Source: Minor Hotels