As a child I have read many times the place that receives highest rainfall in world is Cherrapunji. So when we made a trip to this place, it was like re-visiting a school memory but IRL. Well, Cherrapunji used to be a place receiving highest amount of rainfall and recently lost this title to its neighboring town, Mawsynram, which now has the title of wettest place on earth.
As part of our 11 day trip to Meghalaya, Cherrapunji located in the Khasi hills was our 2nd pit stop. Cherrapunji is also known as Sohra in local language.
Meghalaya Blog Article Links
| Meghalaya Travel Guide | Jowai Travel Guide |
| Shillong Travel Guide | Shnongpdeng Travel Guide |
| Cherrapunji Travel Guide | Meghalaya Food Guide |
| | Meghalaya Cafe Guide |
| Article Content |
| Meghalaya article links |
| Itinerary for 3 to 4 days |
| Things to do in Cherrapunji |
| Homestay options |
| Travel budget for two people |
Itinerary for 3 to 5 days
| Day 01 | While traveling from Shillong to our next town Sohra, we covered few pitstops that were on the way. We visited sacred forest of Mawphlang, visited the waterfall of Mawkdok Dympep valley, attended Shad Suk Mynseim festival in local village near Sohra, and visited Wah kaba waterfall. You can also cover David Scott trail which is 5 mins from the forest. This trail is a simple walk along the trees and nature that is 16kms long and leads to Cherrapunji. |
| Day 02 & 3 | This entire day was dedicated to visiting the 3 living root bridges in Nongriat. From the double decker root bridge there is a further hike of 2 hours to reach Rainbow waterfall which has blue lagoon to swim in. The hike is tedious so if you wish to cover Rainbow fall, ensure to arrange a stayover in Nongriat so you can cover our way back next day morning. |
| Day 04 | We started our day by visiting Arwah cave, Dainthlen waterfalls, saw a rainbow in Prut waterfall, did a small hike to Wei Saw dong waterfall, and ended our day with sunset at Nohkalai waterfall |
| Day 05 | Unlike us if you can spend additional 1 or 2 days, you cover few more worth visiting places. Visit Mawsmai cave, garden of caves, and Thangkharang Park which is a park maintained by Forest department that has endangered plant species. We were ok to miss these really beautiful caves since it was beginning of monsoon, when you cant visit many parts of caves. |
Things to do in Cherrapunji:
1. Explore caves – Meghalaya being a mountainous region, has many caves. Arwah and Mawsmai are some of the popular and well equipped caves so even if you are usually not into adventure junkie but would like to experience caves of Meghalaya, than these are good bets. Within these caves there are many cavities to explore which should be done only with a tour guide for safety purpose. In Arwah cave, there is a cavity that is 4km long which can be explored only on hunch walk. Krem Mawmluh Cave is 4th longest cave of India at 7km length and has some difficult level of exploring. This one is recommended only with cave tour guide and for people who are into cave exploration activities. Best time to visit caves is October to May when the rainfall is minimum and weather is pleasant to cold. Always check with locals if cave is open on that day before embarking on the journey as due to weather changes or archeology activities sometimes caves can remain partially or completely shut to tourists.
2. Visit gigantic waterfalls – Cherrapunji receives some of the highest amount of rainfall in world hence it also has some of most beautiful and gigantic waterfalls. These waterfalls are too beautiful and will make you feel that you are in some disney movie with beautiful flora fauna, blue green water, and lush greenery around it. They almost feel too good to be true. Some of the gigantic waterfalls to must visit are Nohkalikai Falls (tallest fall in India), Dainthlen Falls, Nohsngithiang Falls, Kynrem Falls, Wei Sawdong Falls, and Wah Kaba falls. For many of these big waterfalls, there is a different route for view point and different route to reach the waterfall. So plan your routes to these falls accordingly. This is something we learnt from our mistake a couple of times.
3. Visit Living root bridge in Nongriat and Rainbow Falls – Living root bridge are one of a kind bridges created from roots of living trees. This is one of kind bridges created centuries ago. It takes decades to build these bridges wherein the roots are intertwined as they keep growing. There are 2 single bridge and 1 double decker bridge which were built almost 250 years ago. There is currently 1 single bridge being built and should take almost 12-15 years more to be ready for use.
One needs to descent 3500 steps across two mountains to reach the double root living bridge. I would highly recommend taking a local tourist guide (Rockpde guide – 06009614315) who will charge INR 1000 till bridges and INR 1500 for bridge and Rainbow falls. Rainbow falls is a further 1hr hike after double decker bridge. To cover both these destinations, I would highly recommend you to do a stayover wherein you can return your way back on next day morning. This way you get to enjoy the water at the bridge and fall after the hardwork of descending steps and hike.
4. Swim in blue lagoon of Wei Sawdong waterfall – This waterfall has triple decker lagoons and is a perfect spot for lagoon swimming. This fall is accessible after a hike of 2 hours and absolutely worthit. There are very few tourist spotted at the lagoon as most of the tourist go to view point located on the opposite mountain to get a good view of the fall. Each lagoon is atleast 20-30 feet deep. Its advised to go to this lagoon in group or with local tour guide and preferably with a life jacket.
5. Experience Zip lining in Mawdok Dympep valley – Zip lining in Mawdok Dympep valley is thrilling and a definitive thing to do. This Zip lining is managed by Pioneer adventure. This is one of the best Zip line in Meghalaya docked on the valley between two mountains.
6. Visit Shad Suk Mynsiem festival in April – Local festivals are lovely window to see how locals celebrate happiness. There are 4 key festivals celebrated in Meghalaya: Wangala, Shad Suk Mynsiem, Nongrem, and Behdeinkhlam. Shad Suk Mynsiem is one of thee key festival celebrated for almost a month. Shad Suk Mynsiem festival is where young girls and boys come together to dance on traditional music in traditional attire to express their happiness. There is no fixed date for this festival and dates are locally decided among the community member and a 2 day festival is organised in each community. Each community celebrates one after another till the final dates of two days celebration is conducted in Shillong. This concludes the month long festivity. Its difficult to get dates in advance for this festival. Best way is to connect with local people when you reach there and keep a eye on the probable dates. When we were travelling from Shillong to Cherrapunji, we luckily happen to see the festival in one of the village.
7. Learn about Khasi culture at Sacred forest – Learn about Khasi culture at Sacred forest – Sacred Forest located in Mawphlang is a old forest that is preserved by the Meghalaya community. In older days this forest was used to collect herbs to make medicine when sick, make festivity sacrifices, and connect with mother nature. There are locals guides who will take you inside for a 30mins walk in the forest while explaining the importance of forest to the Khasi culture. This forest also has Rudraksha trees along with many other medicinal trees. This forest is mainly just for tourist to see but if interacted well with the guide, you will learn and know so much about the Khasi culture. You can combine this with David Scott trail walk.
8. Hike on David Scott Trail from Mawphlang to Cherrapunji – This 16kms long trail is located just 5 mins from Sacred Forest which leads to Cherrapunji. If you have time, this trail can be enjoyable in lovely weather or with some good company.
Homestay Options
The Homestay options that you see on Airbnb and other booking sites, are a few of what is actually available across Meghalaya. The mainstream Meghalaya tourism is just about 15 years old hence there is less information on google about it.
Most local people have converted their home into a homestay wherein additional home is built in their premise which is offered as homestay. Due to this hyper localised homestay options there are few commercial homestays or home owners with knowledge on how to enlist themselves on the websites. So even if you do not have any booking, you can still go to the famous towns such as Shillong, Cherrapunji, etc. and still find accommodation. You will find small homestay options at almost all sites as well where you can take a homestay or camp out. Meghalaya is absolutely awesome for people who hate planning their stay in advance.
Homestay prices vary from INR 2000 to INR 5000 per night for homestays listed on the websites such as Airbnb, Bookings.com, etc. These homestays provide a bedroom, self-sufficient bathroom, and sometimes wifi. Some homestays may or may not charge additional for electric heater which is definitely required in non-summer time in Shillong. We chose Aisha Guesthouse, from Airbnb with decent view. Our Airbnb was located close to Arwah cave, Wah Kaba falls and in the heart of main town.
If you have a higher budget than you can explore places Sa-i-mika, Polo Orchid Resort (with view of Seven sisters waterfall), Jiva Resort, and Cherrapunji Holiday Resort
You can get cheaper homestays for about INR 1000 per night with common sharing bathroom and limited facility.
If you are adventure seeker, you will find tons of camping site where you can bring your tent or they can provide for as low as INR 3000 per night.
Travel Budget for Two people
| Expense Type | Cost for Two People (INR) |
| Cab (hired for entire trip @4500 per day) | 13636 |
| Meal | 1990 |
| Stay | 13800 |
| Tour/ Entry fee | 3120 |
| Total | 32946 |
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