Trip to Northeast India is not a trip but a feeling. Living in Metro Cities keeps us far from the serene and beautiful places like Meghalaya. Not less than a fairytale land, located in the Eastern sub-Himalayas and also one of the seven sisters of India, Meghalaya is a beautiful state with thick dense forests, crystal clear water, mesmerizing living root bridges, majestic natural caves, waterfalls, cleanliness and serenity everywhere and the people here are so down-to-earth and open-hearted.

A trip to Meghalaya can be quite easy on the pocket. The major expenses would be just to take the flight. But if you have no job or no time scarcity (no leaves) like us, you can take a train and cut that cost easily.

Before you go ahead, you must know that this place is not for everyone. It is still not commercialized because this part of India was still cut off due to different ethnicity and religion. Meghalaya has always been one of my dream places. With no second thoughts, I booked my flight tickets from Pune to Guwahati and then reached Shillong.

Read more on how to reach Meghalaya and must visit places around Shillong

PS: I didn’t want to miss anything about this wonderful and magical place, so I guess I stretched the blog a bit. Please bear me. 🙂

A journey through the abode of clouds

Day 1: Shillong

Shillong is the capital of Meghalaya. But it is not like our metro cities but a really beautiful small town with the most fashionable yet helpful people. Plan your trip such that you have 2 days to visit this beautiful city and the places around.

We kept first and last day for Shillong covering the places like Umiam Lake, Elephant Falls, Mawphlang Sacred Forest, Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians, Laitlum Canyon, Shillong Peak and the famous market of Shillong city – Police Bazaar.

Read more about these places on Things to do in Shillong

Day 2: Cherrapunji

1.      Mawdawk Rapelling Point

A beautiful Mawkdok Valley comes at the very beginning of Cherrapunji. This beautiful deep and green valley has totally left me in awe. There are stairs just beside the view point. You must go down to enjoy the real beauty of Mawkdok Valley. You can also try ziplining if it’s not raining

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All set to see the beautiful and one of the wettest places on Earth – Sohra(Cherrapunji) and Mawkdok Valley comes at the very beginning of Cherrapunji. This beautiful deep and green valley has totally left me in awe.?? . . Tip: There are stairs just beside the view point. You must go down to enjoy the real beauty of Mawkdok Valley. You can also try ziplining if its not raining. ? . . Keep following me @cravetoexplore_ ? and stay posted on my blog www.cravetoexplore.com where I share all about these beautiful places around. . . #meghalayadiaries #cravetoexplore #authoranisha #shetravelsindia #womentraveler #wanderluster #travelblogger #meghalaya #triptomeghalaya #tripotocommunity

A post shared by Crave to Explore (@cravetoexplore_) on Oct 6, 2019 at 8:50pm PDT

2.      Wei Sawdong falls

You must visited Wei sawdong falls located in the outskirts of Cherrapunji. People say that it was only discovered 3 years back, so I would suggest you to please visit only if you promise to keep it clean.

Though it tests your physical ability to reach this heavenly three step waterfall in Cherrapunji, every effort is worth the visit It seems like a tricky path to go to and if you are a weak hearted person, you should avoid going to the end but at least you must go to the point(easy way till this point) from where you can see this beautiful fall.

Moving further, you won’t see proper stairs but villagers have made the bamboo steps. You’ll be amazed by the blue water in these three square shaped pools and the dark green forest surrounding it

3.      Mawsmai Cave

What I love most about the caves is they bring excitement and fear at the same time. Exploring the caves of Meghalaya is one of the experiences that I will never forgot. You keep going further until you are scared of taking one more step into the darkness. Walking through the narrow patches, feeling the cold water that flows through the cave was an amazing experience.

Caves in Cherrapunji are the longest caves in the World. There are a lot many caves in Meghalaya but only few have been discovered so far and one of them is Mawsmai Cave. It is more of a touristy cave and you can easily reach by car or shared taxi. Though only the 150 meter section is open to tourists but the lime and sandstone formation leaves you mesmerized.

4.      Arwah Caves

I loved Arwah Cave more than the famous Mawsmai Cave. Arwah caves in Cherrapunji is known for its fossil formations, limestone structures which are quite old and naturally carved. You can follow any of the two trails depending on your ability and wish – either a pleasant walk enjoying the valley view or the terrific rough trail that requires you to trek through the ups and downs through the forest.

I was scared to death when I could not see any sign of caves to as far as I could see and my heart was completely in my sleeve. But that adventure reminded me how much I value and adore my life. Also it is a thrilling experience when you have to literally crawl through the cave to move forward.

5.      Nohkalikai falls

The tallest plunge waterfall in India, Nohkalikai falls is 1115 feet high and is the major tourist attraction in Cherrapunji. It is more of a view point but worth a quick visit and also there is an interesting story behind it. There was this lady named Ka Likai, her second husband didn’t like the attention she gave to her child, so he killed the child and made her eat food made of her child. When she got to know she unknowingly ate her own child, she jumped (“Noh” means jump in Khasi language) off the cliff above the waterfall.

6.      Seven Sister Falls/ Nohsngithiang falls

The most famous waterfall in Cherrapunji (Sohra) is known as Seven Sisters Falls due to its seven segments which represent seven sister states of Northeast India. The panoramic view of the falls is wonderful especially during the monsoon.

Day 3: Cherrapunji

1.      Phe Phe Falls

Missed it due to heavy rains but don’t forget to do kayaking in the river that comes before phe phe falls.

2.     Krangshuri Falls

Water was not crystal clear due to heavy rains but fall was beautiful and the way to reach Krangshuri falls itself is amazing.

3. Mawlynnong- The Cleanest village in Asia

Though entire Meghalaya is clean and there are bamboo waste baskets everywhere in the town and no one here throws things on the road, Mawlynnong is the cleanest village in Asia. The village is so pretty and scenic with smiling flowers, greenery and beautiful path ways everywhere.

 

4.      Living Root Bridge, Nowhet

Since it was raining, everyone was carrying a beautiful umbrellas (you can get one on rent from shops near parking area) and that tempted me to get one as well even though I was wearing a raincoat.

The living root bridge takes 15 years to make a way to bear the weight of human. And these roots are little rubbery, so human make them grow in specific direction and after one point of time the roots start tangling with the roots of tree from other side of the river forming a living root bridge gradually in 15 years.

Day 4: Sohra to Dawki via Bangladesh border road

Next day, we started early as we had to travel around 86kms from Sohra to Dawki and it gets completely dark by 5pm in Meghalaya. You will cross many beautiful waterfalls on the way which are yet not known to many people. Just before few kms from Dawki, the parallel road starts wherein you see the Bangladesh area from above. Yes, Bangladesh is very close, in fact there is India-Bangladesh friendship gate just 100 meters from boating point.

1.      Dawki

We all have seen pictures of floating boats in crystal clear water and it seems like boats are floating in air. Yes, that beautiful place is Umngot River at Dawki located on the west of the Jaintia Hills.

Did you know Dawki has a route that directly connects it to the other side of Bangladesh through the Umngot river? Not just it looks beautiful, it has coal mines and limestone stocks that makes it an international trading point of India with Bangladesh.

Tip: If you want to see the crystal clear water, you must plan to visit during winters i.e., November to early March. We missed it since it began raining heavily.

2.      Shnongpdeng

Shnongpdeng is not a touristy place and an offbeat destination in Meghalaya. It is just 8kms from Dawki on the back side of the Umngot River. Both have their own beauty but nowadays Dawki is commercialized (avoid staying at Dawki).

You need to cross one huge suspension bridge to reach the camping area of Shnongpdeng. Spend a day staying in the camps near river side away from the hustle. Trust me, I was a bit sad about being in no network zone on my b’day night and not able to get wishes from loved ones but at least I got the wish from my special one. This is what we call the pros of being a couple traveler.

We stayed at this beautiful camping site by Johnathan (fluent in English, but doesn’t know much Hindi). He is totally an amazing host and the location is perfect and heavenly. I was so sad that I could not see the clear water due to rain but then looking at this nomad fairyland with such a stunning river and bridges across made me feel like I belong to no one but this place right here. The experience staying at this quaint side of the river is a euphoria turning you into a poet and trust me when I am saying this.

PS: I had some leg injury because of that I could not go to Nongriat while I was in Cherrapunji already and we had to exchange our Day 4 and Day 5 which is not recommended because it would be a bit of stretch while traveling but thankfully we had a car for all days and our driver was really helpful so he agreed and also our stay owners, agreed on change of dates that too on such a short notice.

Day 5: Tyrna Village, Cherrapunji

Double Decker Bridge

Double Decker Bridge is located in Nongriat and you need to trek down to 3500 stairs at around 1400ft height to see it. I was quite skeptical about my physical strength to trek down and return on the same day (7000 stairs) but fortunately I did it.

Trust me, everything that you do to reach this beautiful place is worth. The root bridges there are over 300 years old and still quite strong.

Must Tip For Nomads: Kongthong, Nongstoin Island, Wankhen are the few rare and unexplored villages in Meghalaya But as I said “unexplored”, so it is not that easy to even reach at these places specially during heavy rain since there are no proper roads or mode of transport. But yes, if you are visiting in winters, you must keep 2 days for these places.

Few pictures from Meghalaya:

Total Cost:

Flights to n fro from Pune to Guwahati: Rs. 13000 per person (can be cheaper if you book well in advance)

Since we had time constraint, we took flight. You can also travel by Train. This will save more than half of your amount.

Other expenses including stay, food and shopping for 8 days(including Guwahati): 10,000 per person

So, we completed our trip in Just Rs. 23000 which includes, flight and stay at good and affordable locations.

If you wish to travel to this beautiful place next to heaven and need any help, you can always reach out to us in comments here or directly email or message us on Instagram @cravetoexplore_

A bit of disaster, since nothing can be perfect, you know:

Trip to Meghalaya for me was not less than an adventure. Not being a trekker, I even had cramps in leg various times and due to which we even had to move our itinerary a bit here and there. Also since this year it rained to the extreme and Meghalaya being the abode of clouds could no way have less rain due to which we missed few things but the overall trip was still fabulous.