BirEvents & things to do

Bir is India's paragliding capital — pilots take off from Billing above the village and land at the cafés-and-lawns strip below, where the whole scene gathers most afternoons to watch. Things to do in Bir go beyond the flying itself: the Tibetan colony and its monasteries anchor the other half of the town, and Deer Park Institute runs talks and workshops on philosophy, art and contemplative practice through the year.

Away from the landing site, quiet cycling and walking routes run through the surrounding tea gardens and pine forest — an easy contrast to the paragliding crowd. Evenings at the landing zone build toward a genuinely big sunset, cafés filling up as the last gliders come down. It's a small village with two distinct rhythms — adrenaline by day, quiet by evening — and its own calendar of workshops and gatherings worth checking before you plan around just the flying.