Northeast India in 10 Days: Shillong, Kaziranga, Majuli & Tawang

Arrive Guwahati airport (flights from Delhi 2.5hrs, Kolkata 1.5hrs). The airport is well-connected daily. Hire a car for the circuit — ₹3,000–₹4,500/day for an SUV with driver is standard in the Northeast.

💡 Book your car in advance through your hotel or a local tour operator. An Innova or Scorpio is essential — sedans can't handle Arunachal Pradesh roads.

Drive Guwahati to Shillong — 100km, 3 hours via NH6. Good highway. Stop at Umiam Lake (Barapani) for the view — a massive blue reservoir surrounded by pine hills. Arrive Shillong by 1pm.

Explore Shillong — Police Bazar (the main market), Ward's Lake, Don Bosco Museum (7 floors on Northeast India's tribal cultures — one of the best museums in India, ₹100 entry). Evening at Cafe Shillong for live music — Shillong is India's rock music capital.

Drive Shillong to Cherrapunji (Sohra) — 55km, 2 hours. Once the wettest place on earth (Mawsynram nearby now holds the record). The drive down to the Khasi Hills plateau is dramatic — you drop through clouds.

Living root bridges — the Umshiang Double Decker Root Bridge near Nongriat requires a 3,500-step trek down (and back up). The trek takes 3–4 hours round trip. The bridge itself is made from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees, trained over 15–30 years to grow across rivers. There is nothing else like this on earth.

💡 The Nongriat trek is serious — 3,500 steps down, 3,500 back up. Carry water, wear good shoes. Start early to avoid the afternoon heat. Hire a local guide (₹500–₹800) for safety.

Nohkalikai Falls — India's tallest plunge waterfall (340m). The turquoise pool at the base is extraordinary after monsoon. Then Seven Sisters Falls, Mawsmai Cave (₹20 entry, limestone cave you can walk through).

Return to Shillong or stay in Cherrapunji (limited hotel options). Overnight Shillong.

Drive Shillong to Kaziranga — 330km, 7–8 hours. Long driving day through the hills down to the Brahmaputra plains. The landscape shifts dramatically — from misty Khasi Hills to flat Assamese rice paddies and tea gardens.

💡 This is the longest single drive on the circuit. Break it with chai stops. The road is mostly good but can have patches of damage.

Arrive Kaziranga. Check in to a lodge near the Central Range gate. Evening: walk around the tea gardens near your resort. Early dinner — you need to be up at 4:30am for the safari.

Elephant safari at the Central Range — the original way to see rhinos. You ride through tall elephant grass where jeeps can't go. Sightings of one-horned rhinos are almost guaranteed (Kaziranga has ~2,600 of the world's 4,000). ₹1,800–₹2,500 per person. Book through your lodge or KNP office.

💡 Elephant safaris are available November–April only. Book at least 2 days ahead. The 5am slot is best — mist, soft light, rhinos grazing in the open.

Breakfast, then jeep safari (₹3,500–₹5,000 per jeep, seats 4–6). Central Range is the most popular; Western Range has fewer tourists. 2–3 hour safari. You'll see rhinos, wild buffalo, possibly elephants and if extremely lucky, a Bengal tiger (Kaziranga has the highest tiger density of any park in India).

Afternoon rest. Optional: visit the Kaziranga National Orchid & Biodiversity Park (₹100) or the Panbari Reserved Forest for birdwatching (hoolock gibbons possible).

Optional second jeep safari at the Eastern Range — less visited, good for bird species. Or rest and prepare for tomorrow's early departure.

Drive Kaziranga to Jorhat — 100km, 2.5 hours. Then Jorhat to Nimati Ghat — 20km, 30 minutes. Government ferry to Majuli: ₹15–₹20 per person, 1–1.5 hours. Ferries run morning and afternoon (schedules change — check locally). Your car stays on the mainland.

💡 The Nimati Ghat ferry has limited departures. Aim for the 10–11am ferry. If you miss it, you wait until afternoon. There's also a car-capable ferry but availability is unreliable.

Arrive Majuli — the world's largest river island, in the Brahmaputra. 420 sq km, population ~170,000. The island is shrinking every year due to erosion — 30% has been lost since the 1900s. This is a disappearing landscape.

Explore Majuli by bike or rented scooter (₹200–₹400/day). Visit the Satras — neo-Vaishnavite monasteries established 500 years ago. Kamalabari Satra and Auniati Satra are the most important. The monks perform traditional Bhaona (one-act plays) and Sattriya dance.

Sunset on the Brahmaputra — the river is so wide here it looks like an inland sea. The silence and scale are extraordinary. Overnight in a bamboo cottage on Majuli.

Morning in Majuli — visit mask-making workshops (Samaguri Satra is famous for its mask-making tradition), explore village life. The pottery and weaving traditions here are ancient and unbroken.

Ferry back to Nimati Ghat. Drive Jorhat to Dibrugarh — 80km, 2 hours. Dibrugarh is Assam's tea capital. Optional: visit a tea estate — Maijan or Jalan tea estates offer tours and tasting (₹200–₹500).

Arrive Dibrugarh. Rest. This is your last comfortable night before the Tawang drive. Stock up on snacks, medicines, warm clothes (Tawang is cold even in autumn). Overnight Dibrugarh.

💡 If you're taking the alternative route (skip Tawang, add Kohima), drive Dibrugarh to Kohima instead — 350km, 8–9 hours. See the alternative itinerary below.

Early departure. Drive Dibrugarh to Tezpur — 200km, 4 hours. Then Tezpur to Bomdila — 150km, 5–6 hours on winding mountain roads. Total driving: 9–10 hours. This is a hard day — the road from Tezpur to Bomdila climbs from 80m to 2,400m through dense forest.

💡 ILP checkpoint at Bhalukpong (Arunachal border). Keep your Inner Line Permit ready — they check every vehicle. Indians: apply at arunachalilp.com (₹100 fee, 24–72 hours processing). Foreigners: need Protected Area Permit (PAP) — apply through a registered tour operator.

Arrive Bomdila (2,400m). Bomdila Monastery — a smaller Tibetan Buddhist monastery with views of the eastern Himalayas. The Apple Orchid restaurant for Arunachali food. Overnight Bomdila — acclimatise to the altitude.

Drive Bomdila to Tawang — 180km, 7–8 hours. The road crosses Sela Pass (4,170m) — one of the highest motorable passes in India. Snow possible October–April. The pass has a sacred lake (Sela Lake) and a war memorial for the soldiers who died in the 1962 India-China war.

💡 Sela Pass can be blocked by snow. Check road conditions before departure. Carry warm clothes — it's genuinely cold at 4,170m even in October. Altitude sickness is possible — drink water, move slowly.

Stop at Jaswant Garh War Memorial — honouring Jaswant Singh Rawat who held off a Chinese advance single-handedly during the 1962 war. A powerful and sobering stop.

Arrive Tawang (3,048m). Check in. Rest and acclimatise — the altitude hits after the drive. Light lunch. Walk to the main market for momos and thukpa (Tibetan noodle soup).

Tawang Monastery — the largest monastery in India and the second-largest in the world (after Potala Palace). Founded in 1680 by Mera Lama. The 8-metre-tall gilded Buddha statue, the library of Buddhist manuscripts, and the views of the Tawang valley from the monastery walls are extraordinary.

Tawang War Memorial — India's largest war memorial, commemorating soldiers who died in the 1962 India-China war. The light and sound show (evening) is powerful. Free entry.

Urgelling Monastery — the birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama (1683). A small, intimate monastery. Then the Nuranang Falls (also called Bong Bong Falls or Jang Falls) — a 100m waterfall near Jang, 30km from Tawang.

Bumla Pass day trip (if permits allow and road is open) — 35km from Tawang, at the India-China border (4,633m). Indian and Chinese soldiers meet here on designated days. Requires additional military permit — arrange through your tour operator. Not always accessible.

💡 Bumla Pass requires a separate permit obtained through the DC office in Tawang. Your hotel or tour operator can arrange this. It takes 1 day to process. Road may be closed in winter.

Evening at the monastery — the evening prayers with monks chanting is one of the most peaceful experiences in India. Overnight Tawang.

Departure. The return is the same route — Tawang → Sela Pass → Bomdila → Tezpur. Total driving: 12–14 hours to Tezpur (or break at Bomdila overnight if you can extend to 11 days). From Tezpur: fly out from Tezpur airport (limited flights) or drive to Guwahati (180km, 3.5 hours).

If flying out from Guwahati: reach Tezpur by afternoon (7–8 hours from Tawang), then overnight in Tezpur and drive to Guwahati next morning (3.5 hours). Or push through to Guwahati in one long day (14–16 hours from Tawang — extremely tiring but doable).

💡 Many travellers fly out from Dibrugarh instead of backtracking to Guwahati. In that case, skip the Tawang return entirely and fly Tezpur → Dibrugarh (if flights available) or drive Tezpur → Jorhat → Dibrugarh (5 hours).