Lataguri

Near Gorumara Forests, Lataguri was a small village till a few years back. Today it is the hub of tourism activity in Dooars with a high concentration of tourist accommodations.

Why visit Lataguri

Lataguri is the base for your tour of Gorumara National Park. Tourism around Gorumara started in Lataguri and its surrounding area although today a large number of tourist accommodation has come up all around the forest including in Murti, Ramsai and other areas.
Even today most tourists prefer to stay around Lataguri. There is a Nature Interpretation Centre at Lataguri which issues tickets for day visitors inside the forest, known as forest safari. Cultural programs such as tribal dance etc. are organized at the centre in the evening.

Where to Stay

There are a number of tourist accommodation options available at Lataguri. Please visit the accommodation around Gorumara page to get a list of hotels around here.

Getting there

As for the rest of Dooars, Bagdogra is the nearest Airport and NJP is the main railhead. Both the airport and the railhead are in Siliguri. From Siliguri to reach Lataguri you have to cross river Teesta. There are three bridges over Teesta offering three alternative routes to travel to Lataguri.

The first option is to travel through Sevak, cross Teesta and reach Lataguri via Malbazar and Chalsa. This route is the National Highway 31 and the distance is about 85 km and takes about 2 hours.

The second option is to travel via Jalpaiguri and Maynaguri through State Highway 12A. The distance through this route is also about the same. But you may take a shortcut through Domohoni that will bring the distance to about 76 Km.

The third route is through Baikunthapur forests and you cross river Teesta at Gajaldoba Barrage. On the other side, you drive through Kathambari forest and reach Lataguri through Kranti. This route is the most picturesque and least travelled. The distance is also about 70 km only. But some stretches of the road might be in dilapidated condition leading to a waste of time on the way.

Geography and demography

The small village is now a tourist town with several dozens of tourist lodges and resorts coming up in town. Lataguri is bounded on the North and East by Gorumara forests, in the South Moulani more and in the West by Neora river. The main road crisscrossing the town South-North is the original National Highway 31. There is one road originating from this highway near Lataguri Welfare Association and moving east crossing the forest to reach Ramsai. Another road originates at Neora crossing and goes towards the West. This road crosses the Neora River and to Malbazar.

Most of the population in Lataguri are Bengali or Rajbanshis. The main economic activity till the ’90s was Sawmill, Timber merchant and goods transport. Today the economy is overwhelmingly dependent on tourism.