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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.

Explore Northeast States

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Top attractions

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

  • Buddhist Monastery

    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…

  • Fort

    Kangla Fort

    The vast, low-walled fort at the heart of Imphal was, with a few interruptions, the political and religious heart of Manipur for many centuries until…

  • Bridge

    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…

  • Buddhist Monastery

    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…

  • Cemetery

    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…

  • National Park

    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…

  • Palace

    Ujjayanta Palace

    Agartala’s centrepiece is this striking, dome-capped palace, fronted by two reflecting lakes and housing the large, outstanding Tripura State Museum. The…

  • Market

    Ima Keithel

    Housed in three big colonnaded buildings with pagoda-style roofs, this huge bazaar with over 4000 all-women vendors is reckoned to be the largest of its…

  • Archaeological Site

    Unakoti

    Massive relief sculptures of Hindu deities (some dating back to the 7th century) adorn rock faces at the site, including a 10m-tall face of Shiva sculpted…

  • Museum

    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…

  • Ruins

    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…

  • Palace

    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…

  • Monument

    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…

  • Museum

    Tripura State Tribal Museum

    The well-maintained State Tribal Museum has an impressive display of tribal costumes, handicrafts, instruments, utensils and other objects from Tripura's…

  • National Park

    Namdapha National Park

    Namdapha National Park, spread over 1985 sq km of dense forest in far eastern Arunachal Pradesh, is an ecological hot spot with a mind-boggling array of…

  • Hindu Temple

    Kamakhya Mandir

    According to Hindu legend, when a distraught Shiva scattered the 108 (or 51) pieces of his deceased wife Sati's body across the land, her yoni (vagina)…

  • Sports Ground

    Khasi Hills Archery Sports Institute

    This is the venue for a 50-person archery event whose outcome is the subject of a highly popular betting game in Shillong, known as Thoh Tim or Teer or…

  • National Park

    Keibul Lamjao National Park

    The giant 26-sq-km phumdi filling up the southern part of Loktak Lake is home to some 250 sangai (Manipur brow-antlered deer or dancing deer), the world's…

  • National Park

    Manas National Park

    The grasslands and lowland forests of Unesco-listed Manas National Park, abutting the Bhutan border about 150km northwest of Guwahati, are home to a very…

  • Buddhist Monastery

    Khinmey Gompa

    This beautiful monastery in a tiny village east of Tawang (9km by vehicle, 6km on foot) is well worth a visit. Its current head, the Thegtse Rinpoche, is…