Northeast Backpacker Route

• Shillong
• 1,525 m
• 100 km · 3.5 hrs by shared taxi
• None

From Guwahati Airport, take an app cab or bus to Paltan Bazar, where shared sumos and small buses leave for Shillong through the day; we send you the stand location and a fair fare range. Shared taxis also run from near the airport at busier times. The road climbs to Shillong in about 3.5 hours with a tea stop at Umiam Lake. Check in to your dorm in Laitumkhrah or Police Bazar. Hostels in Meghalaya must register every guest on the state tourism app, so keep your ID ready. In the evening, walk Police Bazar for street food like jadoh and momos, then find live music in one of Laitumkhrah's cafes.

• Nongriat
• 700 m
• 70 km · 2 hrs by shared sumo and local taxi, then 2 hrs walking
• Dinner

Leave early for Bara Bazar, where shared sumos to Sohra fill up from about 7 am; the ride takes 1.5 hours. From Sohra, share a local taxi 12 km to Tyrna, where the steps begin. The descent is about 3,500 concrete steps through forest and betel nut groves, crossing two steel rope bridges, and takes 1.5 to 2 hours. Your knees will feel it more than your lungs. Stop at the single-decker bridge on the way, then reach Nongriat and the double decker root bridge by early afternoon. Swim in the pool below it if the weather is warm. Your homestay serves dinner, and the village goes quiet soon after dark.

• Nongriat
• 700 m
• No driving · 3–4 hrs walking
• Breakfast, Dinner

See the double decker bridge early, before day walkers arrive around 10 am. Then walk to Rainbow Falls, about 1.5 hours each way on a rougher forest path with more root bridges and stream crossings. The falls drop into a deep blue pool, and on sunny mornings a rainbow forms in the spray, which gives the place its name. Carry water and snacks, since there are only a few tea stalls on the way. Come back by mid-afternoon for a swim in the natural pools near the village. This quiet second night is the reason to stay two: most people rush in and out on the same day.

• Sohra
• 1,480 m
• 2 hrs walking up, then about 30 km by local taxi
• Breakfast, Dinner

Start the climb back to Tyrna by 7 am, while it is cool; going up takes about two hours with rests. At the top, share a local taxi with other walkers into Sohra and check in to your guesthouse. After lunch, split a taxi for the afternoon loop: Nohkalikai Falls, a 340 m drop into a green pool, then Mawsmai Cave, a short limestone cave with narrow squeezes, and the Seven Sisters cliffs at sunset. Sohra is one of the wettest places on earth and can be misty even in winter, so carry a rain jacket. Dinner at the guesthouse, and an early night after a day of stairs.

• Shnongpdeng
• 60 m
• About 140 km · 5 hrs by shared sumos via Shillong
• Breakfast, Dinner

There is no direct shared transport from Sohra to Dawki, so take a morning sumo back to Shillong and change at Bara Bazar for a Dawki sumo, which takes about 2.5 hours down winding roads to the Bangladesh border. From Dawki, a local taxi or shared auto covers the 8 km to Shnongpdeng, a village beside the clear Umngot river. Pitch up at a riverside camp, where tents come with bedding and meals. In the afternoon hire a boat, priced per boat, and try kayaking or the zip line if running. The water is clearest from November to April. After dark, the camp lights a bonfire in a marked spot.

• Shillong
• 1,525 m
• About 145 km · 5 hrs by local taxi and shared sumo
• Breakfast

Swim or snorkel in the Umngot in the morning, when the water is still and the river is quiet. Then split a local taxi with other campers for Mawlynnong, about an hour away, known for its clean lanes, bamboo bins and flower gardens, and walk to the Riwai living root bridge nearby. Back in Dawki by early afternoon, catch a shared sumo up to Shillong; the last ones leave around 3 to 4 pm, so do not cut it fine. Check in to your Shillong dorm again, do laundry, and have a proper meal. Tomorrow is the long travel day to Assam.

• Kaziranga
• 70 m
• About 290 km · 7–8 hrs with a change
• Dinner

Take an early shared sumo or bus down to Jorabat or Guwahati, then board an ASTC or private bus heading east toward Jorhat, Golaghat or Tinsukia. Ask the conductor for Kohora, the village at Kaziranga's Central Range, and he will drop you on the highway. From Jakhalabandha onward, look out of the right-hand window for rhinos grazing near the road. Walk or take an auto to your lodge. In the evening, go to the lodge desk or range office to join a shared jeep for tomorrow morning; jeeps cost from about ₹3,500 per vehicle for up to six people, so sharing cuts the cost sharply.

• Majuli
• 85 m
• About 100 km · 3 hrs by bus and auto, plus ferry
• Breakfast, Dinner

The shared jeep leaves around 7 am for a two-hour drive through the Central or Western Range: tall elephant grass, wetlands full of birds and, almost always, rhinos at close range, with wild buffalo, swamp deer and elephants too. Back at the highway by 10 am, catch a bus east to Jorhat, about 2.5 hours, then a shared auto to Nimati Ghat. Ferries to Majuli run several times a day, but the last one leaves mid-afternoon, so move steadily. The crossing takes about an hour among sandbanks and fishing boats. At Kamalabari, take a shared van to Garamur and check in to a bamboo guesthouse.

• Majuli
• 85 m
• 25–35 km by bicycle or scooter
• Breakfast, Dinner

Rent a bicycle or scooter from your guesthouse and ride the flat island roads. Start at Samaguri Satra, where monks make masks for Majuli's religious theatre from bamboo, clay and cloth, then visit Auniati or Dakhinpat satra for their prayer halls and old manuscripts. Ride through Mising villages of stilt houses, where women weave on looms under the houses, and stop for rice beer only if you are offered. Majuli's famous sunsets are best from the riverbank on the island's southern side. In the evening, try a Mising meal of fish, greens and purang apin rice wrapped in leaves at your guesthouse.

• Departure
• 116 m
• About 35 km · 2.5 hrs by van, ferry and auto
• Breakfast

Take a morning van from Garamur to Kamalabari ghat and the ferry back to Nimati. From Nimati, shared autos run 14 km to Jorhat town, and Jorhat Airport is another 7 km beyond, with flights to Kolkata and Delhi at the last check. If you are going on by land, the Jan Shatabdi and other trains run from Jorhat to Guwahati in about seven hours, and there are buses too. This is also a good jumping-off point for upper Assam or Arunachal's Ziro Valley via North Lakhimpur. We stay on WhatsApp until you are on your way, and can book onward beds if you are carrying on.