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Northeast States

Sometimes the Seven Sisters of the Northeast (the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura) hardly seem like India at all. The region's hundreds of tribes and subtribes are slowly ceding to modernity, but remain extremely diverse. Nagaland's former headhunters now go to church on Sundays. Many Arunachalis also attend church-like buildings on Sundays – to worship the sun and moon. Cloudy Himalayan valleys near the border of Tibet are dotted with colorful monasteries, echoing with Buddhist chants and clashing cymbals.

The geography is as varied as the culture. While waterfalls thunder down Cherrapunjee's jungle escarpments, blizzards may be blocking the passes to Tawang, and one-horned rhinos go on grazing peacefully in Kaziranga's grasslands beside the mighty Brahmaputra.

Northeast travel can be tough, but the destinations are always worth the effort. You are indeed far from the beaten track: only the adventurous need apply.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Northeast States.

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Tawang Gompa
The magical Tawang Gompa, founded in 1681 in what was then a Monpa royal palace, overlooks the town from its ridgetop site. Reputedly the world’s second-largest Buddhist monastery complex after Drepung Monastery (in Lhasa, Tibet), Tawang has over 400 lamas, whose yellow-roofed living quarters surround the central buildings. It's famed in Buddhist circles for its priceless library, standing next to a magnificently decorated prayer hall that contains an 8m-high Buddha statue. Come at dawn to witness monks performing early-morning prayers. Across the courtyard from the prayer hall is a museum containing images, robes, trumpets, gongs and ancient masks and manuscripts, along with some personal items of the sixth Dalai Lama and (upstairs) photos of visits by the 14th Dalai Lama and Indian leaders. Three days of spectacular masked chaam dances are held in the courtyard during the Torgya festival.
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Nongriat Root Bridges
The most fascinating sights around Cherrapunjee are the incredible living bridges – formed from rubber-fig roots that ingenious Khasi villagers have, over decades, trained across streams as natural pathways. Over 40 of these are said to be scattered around the Meghalaya hills and several of them (including an amazing ‘double-decker’) are near the jungle valley hamlet of Nongriat – a steep hike down 2600 steps (and up 500) from Tyrna village, 12km southwest of Cherrapunjee. The descent takes about 1½ hours, including a short detour to the first root bridge (signposted 'Long Root Bridge') about 40 minutes down from Tyrna. You then cross two metal suspension bridges before reaching the second root bridge, just before Nongriat. The double-decker (for which there's a ₹20 entry charge) is five minutes past Nongriat, along with some enticing (and popular) bathing pools in the river. There are several drink and snack stalls en route, but you should carry water too. Expect the climb back up to Tyrna to take around two hours, with plenty of rest stops on the way. With sufficient energy and time, you can continue about 1¼ hours from the double-decker bridge on to the powerful Rainbow Falls. This hike has far fewer people and a more in-the-jungle feel, but the path is good. After about 20 minutes you cross a metal suspension bridge, immediately followed by another root bridge. Ten minutes past that there's a fork: take the concrete steps to the left, not the stone steps up to the right. The rest of the way is obvious. There's a handful of basic homestays in Nongriat and Tyrna. Serene Homestay provides sheets, blankets, mosquito nets, fans and inexpensive food, and is a good budget place to stop a night or two if you want to soak up the jungle atmosphere or explore more trails. A taxi from Cherrapunjee to Tyrna costs ₹300 to ₹400 and it's a good idea to arrange for the driver to pick you up for the return trip.
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Kaziranga National Park
The park’s 2400 one-horned rhinos represent about two-thirds of the world’s total population (in 1904, there were only 200). Kaziranga offers popular 4WD safaris that allow you to get close to the rhinos and other large mammals; you may want to avoid the elephant-back safaris on animal welfare concerns. Safaris are available in four of the park's five ranges, of which the central Kohora Range and western Bagori Range offer the best overall wildlife sightings and also have most safari traffic. Each visitable range has its own gate, with jeep-rental and entry ticket offices nearby. Many lodgings will deal with the formalities for their guests and arrange for safari jeeps to pick you up (usually for an extra few hundred rupees).
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Samten Yongcha Gompa
Thought to be about 400 years old, the charming wooden Samten Yongcha Gompa stands on a breezy hilltop 6km (as the crow flies) west of Mechuka, fronted by a forest of prayer flags and with wonderful panoramas over the valley, river and surrounding mountains. The caretaker will probably appear to show you round the two-storey temple with its colourful imagery, including some genuinely scary guardian deities. It's possible to drive most of the way: turn right in Segong, 8km along the road from central Mechuka, and after 750m you'll see a short path down to a hanging bridge. Cross this and follow the path up the hill to the monastery. You can also walk all the way from town; traffic along the road is light. For a slightly different approach, turn off the road 250m before Segong, down on to a path with some wooden boards that leads 750m to another hanging bridge. Across this, you can make out a path winding up the hillside to your left. This reaches the monastery in 20 to 30 steep minutes.
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Kohima War Cemetery
The immaculately maintained war cemetery contains the graves of over 1400 British, Indian and other Allied soldiers, killed in or around Kohima in 1944 as they resisted a Japanese invasion of India from Burma in one of the fiercest battles of WWII. The cemetery is laid out on what were the terraced lawns of the British Deputy Commissioner's bungalow. Some of the most savage fighting took place across the tennis court near the top, where the white marker lines are still in place. At the top of the cemetery is a memorial to more than 900 Hindu and Sikh soldiers who were cremated rather than buried. The Japanese failure to take Kohima was the turning point in the campaign. A disabled tank from the battle remains in situ among trees just above the Imphal road, 550m further up from the cemetery gate, with a sign explaining its dramatic story.
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Don Bosco Museum of Indigenous Cultures
This well-displayed museum is a fabulous repository of tribal artefacts interspersed with exhibits on Christian missionary work. The self-guided visit takes about 1½ hours. The 17 galleries exhibit tribal basketry, musical instruments, weapons, objects of daily life, costumes and jewellery, along with dioramas, charts, maps, photos and videos documenting Northeast life. Afterwards, you can walk up on the roof for expansive panoramas. The museum is 3km north of the city centre; a return taxi costs about ₹400.
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Talatal Ghar
The Talatal Ghar palace was the heart of an Ahom capital complex founded by King Rudra Singha. Built in the 1750s over an earlier wooden palace, it originally had seven storeys, three of which were underground (including secret escape tunnels). You can visit the two surviving above-ground levels, which have labyrinthine galleries and a large flat roof holding several pavilions. The remains of Talatal Ghar are about 4km south of central Sivasagar along AT Rd, easily visited in conjunction with nearby Rang Ghar. Off to the left as you approach is the Gola Ghar, an elegant structure with a vaulted roof, believed to have been the royal armoury. On the northern bank of Joy Sagar, 1km south of the Talatal Ghar, is a temple group reminiscent of those beside the Sivasagar tank in town, presided over by the tall-domed Joydol, dedicated to Vishnu and built between 1696 and 1714.
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Neermahal
The multidomed red-and-white water palace, Neermahal lies empty but shimmering on its own boggy island in Rudra Sagar Lake. Like its counterpart in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, this was a princely exercise in aesthetics, in which craftspeople built a summer palace of luxury for the Tripura royals in a blend of Hindu and Islamic styles. Neermahal was inaugurated by the Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1930. The waterborne approach by slow motor-boat is a delightful part of visiting.
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Rang Ghar
About 4km south of central Sivasagar along AT Rd, look right to see the rather beautiful Rang Ghar, a two-storey, oval-shaped pavilion that has been impeccably restored. Built by King Pramatta Singha in 1746, its gleaming sienna exterior features pretty, mainly floral, carvings. You can walk up to the top floor, from where the royalty watched buffalo and elephant fights and other entertainment, while the general populace looked on from nearby earthen mounds.