Jowai, Meghalaya Travel Guide

Jowai is main town of Jaintia hills that has nice waterfalls and historical significance laces around. The town is a bit similar to Shillong just wider roads. Jowai is located in the West Jaintia hills and gives a good perspective of the Jaintia landscape.

In our 11 days Meghalaya trip, Jowai was the last pit stop and by then our body was tired with constant activity from almost everyday.

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Meghalaya Travel Guide	Jowai Travel Guide
Shillong Travel Guide	Shnongpdeng Travel Guide
Cherrapunji Travel Guide	Meghalaya Food Guide
	Meghalaya Cafe Guide

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Itinerary for 2 to 3 days

Things to do in Jowai

Homestay options

Travel budget for two people

Itinerary for 2 to 3 days

Day 01	Enroute from Shongpdeng to Jowai, we visited Kraig Sheri falls. This is beautiful waterfall with blue lagoon where we took 2 hours to enjoy in the lagoon and 40mins to ascend and descend to the waterfall. This was a tiring activity and we lay low after this in the Jowai hotel and warmed ourselves with some bonfire.
Day 02	Post breakfast we started our day with a visit to the 700 years old Durga temple, one of the 51 Shakti Perth of India. Then we took almost 2 hours pit stop at the Monolith in Nartiang itself which is close to the Durga temple. After the Monolith we enjoyed some local Khasi lunch and headed straight to Ialong park where we enjoyed the quiet afternoon. Shop for Lakadong Turmeric powder in the local vegetable market.
Day 03	If you have an additional day, you should see Phe Phe falls which includes a 2 hour trek but it seems to be worth it.

Things to do in Jowai:

1. Swim in blue lagoon of Krang Shuri waterfall – This waterfall is located 30kms in the outskirts of Jowai. This was one of the best waterfalls we visited as we were easily able to swim in the blue lagoon. At this waterfall, there is facility of life jackets, toilets, and changing rooms. In April, the water was quiet cold and the lagoon is almost 50 feet deep. But once you plunge in the water, you wouldn’t like to come out. We swam for about an hour in the cold lagoon and warmed ourselves to a bonfire in the evening at the homestay.

2. Visit the 700 years old Durga temple (Shaktipeeth) – This ancient Durga Temple but simple temple however, its an significant temple since its one of the 51 Shaktipeeth temples of India. The pandit family has been serving in this temple for 30 generations to preserve the Hindu culture in this region.

3. Visit the biggest Monolith of India – There are many monoliths across Meghalaya in Khasi and Jaintia hills however, the Nartiang Monolith in Jowai is the biggest collection of monoliths. These monoliths were erected in 1500AD onwards by then kind to commemorate the soldiers.

4. Trek to Phe Phe falls – This waterfall is also known as paradise waterfalls for its blue lagoon, large waterfall, and lush green hills. This fall is just few kilometers away from Krang Shuri and generally this waterfall is usually not part of the popular tourist list. The trek is for about 2 hours, which includes crossing a small river on Kayak. We decided to miss this as we were already exhausted from the Krang Shuri visit.

5. Picnic at Ialong Park – This beautiful park is located on top of a hill which gives nice scenic view of Jaintia valleys, rice fields, and Myntra river. This park is part of a sacred forest and has beautiful trees and peaceful environment. We visited this park on a Easter Saturday and still there were only 10 more visitors apart from us. This place is ideal to come with a picnic bag where you just lay low on a blanket and catch up on some reading or open air nap.

6. Shop for Lakadong turmeric powder – Meghalaya is the largest producer of Lakadong turmeric, one of the turmeric variety that has highest curcumin content of about 12%. 53% of the Lakadong production happens in West Jaintia hills, Meghalaya. Hence, its ideal to pick some of this turmeric powder for your better health and makes for a healthy souvenir. Shop for this turmeric in local vegetable market or main market and ask for local Turmeric powder. We also bought some black rice, red rice, and black sesame seeds for personal use as these are widely grown in this area.

The curcumin goodness turmeric packed in humble thaily

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 many places as well where you can take a homestay. Meghalaya is absolutely awesome for people who hate planning their stay in advance. However, things can be different for Jowai

Homestay prices in Jowai vary from INR 2000 to INR 3500 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 an executive room at Odyssey Guesthouse on Agoda. This is a decent homestay in located 5kms away from main town but had average service for the price we paid. Overall we did not like this homestay but due to limited tourists footfall, most homestays in Jowai are average and expensive for the basic ambience and facility provided.

Some other stay options in Jowai are Orchid Hotel, HeiJo’s Homestay, Collection O Hotel, and MRK3 Tyrchi Inn. (Orchid and Odyssey are most preferred stay for tourist in Jowai)