Luxury Northeast

• Umiam (Shillong)
• 1,000 m
• 105 km · 3 hrs
• Dinner

Your driver meets you at Guwahati Airport in a private Innova Crysta and takes NH-6 into the Khasi Hills. About 15 km before Shillong, turn off to Ri Kynjai, a resort of Khasi-style cottages with sloping roofs on a hillside above Umiam Lake. The afternoon is for settling in: a walk down through the gardens, a massage at the spa, or tea on your balcony as the light fades over the water. Dinner at the resort's restaurant, which serves Khasi dishes alongside Indian and continental food. Meghalaya requires every guest to be registered on the state tourism app at check-in.

• Sohra
• 1,484 m
• 70 km · 2.5 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

A late breakfast, then drive through Shillong and south to Sohra (Cherrapunji), about 2.5 hours with a stop at the Mawkdok Dympep valley viewpoint. Check in at Polo Orchid Resort, which sits on the edge of the plateau beside the Seven Sisters falls, with the plains of Bangladesh below on a clear day. After lunch, visit Nohkalikai Falls, a 340 m plunge into a green pool, then return for sunset from the resort's terraces, when the cliffs turn orange. Sohra is one of the wettest places on earth, so the resort provides umbrellas even in winter.

• Sohra
• 1,484 m
• 40 km · local
• Breakfast, Dinner

A slow day with a private Khasi guide. In the morning, drive to the trailhead for Wei Sawdong, a three-tiered waterfall with turquoise pools; the path down is steep and uneven, about 20 minutes, and your guide will judge conditions on the day. Afterwards, walk through Mawsmai Cave, short and lit, and Arwah Cave, reached by a paved path, where fossils are set in the limestone. Lunch back at the resort. The afternoon is free for the spa or a walk along the cliff edge. Your guide can also arrange a Khasi home lunch in a nearby village on request.

• Shillong
• 1,525 m
• 60 km · 2 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

Drive back up to Shillong and check in at Vivanta Meghalaya. After lunch, go up to Shillong Peak, at 1,965 m the highest point near the city, inside an Air Force area; carry ID and check current status, as access has been restricted at times. Then the Don Bosco Museum of Indigenous Cultures, seven floors on the peoples of the Northeast, with a rooftop skywalk; a private curator-led tour can be arranged. In the evening, the cafes and small restaurants of Laitumkhrah are good for Khasi food and, at weekends, live music.

• Kaziranga
• 70 m
• 250 km · 6.5 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

The one long drive. Leave Shillong at 8.30 am, drop down to Jorabat and drive east on NH-27 through Nagaon to Kaziranga, with lunch on the way. Diphlu River Lodge sits on the southern edge of the park beside the Diphlu river, with 12 cottages on stilts looking over paddy fields towards the forest. Arrive in the afternoon, settle in and take tea on the deck. The lodge's naturalists brief you on tomorrow's safaris over dinner, and in winter you may hear elephants moving along the river after dark.

• Kaziranga
• 70 m
• 50 km · local
• Breakfast, Dinner

Elephant rides run only in the Central (Kohora) and Western (Bagori) ranges, in one-hour batches between about 5.30 and 7.30 am; we reserve yours well ahead. After breakfast at the lodge, a private jeep safari with a lodge naturalist in the Central range. In the afternoon, a second private jeep in the Western range, with its beels full of water birds and one of the park's highest rhino densities. You are likely to see one-horned rhinos, wild buffalo, swamp deer and elephants. Park entry is ₹100 per Indian adult and ₹650 per foreign adult.

• Jorhat
• 116 m
• 100 km · 2 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

A late morning after two early starts. Drive east through tea country to Jorhat, about 2 hours, and check in at Thengal Manor, a family mansion of the 1920s in Jalukonibari, or Banyan Grove, a planter's bungalow on the Gatoonga tea estate. After lunch, walk the tea rows with an estate manager and, in the plucking season from March to November, see the factory at work, followed by a tasting of Assam orthodox and CTC teas. Dinner in the bungalow's old dining room. Jorhat is also home to Tocklai, the oldest tea research station in the world.

• Majuli
• 85 m
• 15 km · 30 min, plus 1 hr ferry
• Breakfast, Dinner

Drive to Nimati Ghat and take the ferry across the Brahmaputra to Kamalabari on Majuli, about an hour; your car comes on the vehicle ferry. Ferry timings change with the river level, so check current status before you travel. With a private guide, visit Samaguri satra, where masks for the bhaona dance-dramas are made, and a Mising village of stilt houses and looms. Check in to La Maison de Ananda's bamboo cottages, the island's best, though simple by luxury standards. At dusk, attend the nam-prasanga prayers at Auniati or Kamalabari satra, with cymbals and drums.

• Jorhat
• 116 m
• 15 km · 30 min, plus 1 hr ferry
• Breakfast, Dinner

An early walk or cycle along the island roads, past ponds, rice fields and herons, then breakfast. Take the late-morning ferry back to Nimati Ghat and return to your Jorhat bungalow for lunch; if you stayed at Thengal Manor, we move you to Banyan Grove tonight, or the reverse, so you see both. In the afternoon, visit the Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary with a forest guide to look for hoolock gibbons, India's only ape, or simply rest on the verandah. Farewell dinner at the bungalow.

• Departure
• 116 m
• 15 km · 30 min
• Breakfast

A slow breakfast on the verandah, then a short drive to Jorhat Airport at Rowriah. Jorhat has direct flights to Kolkata and Delhi, with onward connections, so there is no need to go back to Guwahati. If your flight is in the afternoon, the bungalow can arrange a last walk in the estate or a visit to the Jorhat Gymkhana Club, one of the oldest golf clubs in Asia. Your driver sees you to the terminal, and our desk stays on WhatsApp until you board.