Meghalaya – abode of clouds, is the poetic title rightly given to this state nestled in the North-east of India. Meghalaya is part of the seven sister states with Sikkim as the brother to them.
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 blog article links |
| 11 Days itinerary |
| Best time to travel |
| Where to go in Meghalaya |
| How to reach Meghalaya and travel within |
| Ideal attire while travelling in Meghalaya |
| Trip cost for two people and Cost saving tips |
Meghalaya itinerary for 11 days
| Day 01 | Reached Guwahati and travelled towards Shillong which takes about 2.5 hrs normally but we took 4 hrs due to the highway construction is ongoing till 2024. Halt at Umiam lake and enjoying the lake time for about 2 hours or so (read details on options of stayover near Umiam lake in Thins to do section). If you are a professional or an highly experienced kayaker than you can enjoy kayak time as well. Reach Shillong and enjoy the evening with first pitstop at The Tibet Kitchen for dumplings and noodles followed by nice Red chili hot chocolate shake at Dylan’s café. (We had expected to reach Shillong by 12 and have entire day for us but instead we reached Shillong at 4pm) |
| Day 02 | Visit Shillong Cathedral taking about 1hr of touring time. Then in our car we headed towards Laitlum Canyon while making a pitstop in Smit village for some traditional red and Jadoh. Visit Laitlum Canyon for about 3 hours to soak in the view, clouds, and feel. (Definitely read details in Things to do section) Come back to Shillong and visit Ward’s lake for some quiet evening time and can enjoy pedal boating. Since it rained in the evening, we ended our day with dinner ordered over Swiggy to our homestay while we enjoyed some bon fire time in that lovely weather. |
| Day 03 | Visit Shillong Peak for some view time and have lunch at ML 05 café. We had booked ourselves to some local show at You and I art café for 3 hours of food, music, play and drama. At night we ensured to visit The Evening Club in Police bazaar, the oldest underground club of Shillong. Reserve a table in advance or plead for a seat at the bar where they don’t serve food. |
| Day 04 | 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 Cherrapunji, and visited Wah kaba waterfall. |
| Day 05 | 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 06 | 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 07 & 08 | In Shongpdeng, we Stayed in a safari tent on the banks of Umngot river doing all river activities like Kayaking, boating, swimming in the river, etc. |
| Day 09 | 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 10 | 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 11 | Travel back from Jowai to Guwahati taking about 5 to 6 hours including a breakfast break. |
Best time to Travel
Meghalaya has two main seasons – monsoon and non-monsoon. Both these seasons provide a different side to see of Meghalaya. We chose the non-monsoon season to travel which is mainly between December to April. We plan to make a trip again in the monsoon season sometime in future.
Meghalaya trip should be planned either in Monsoon season or non-monsoon season. Speaking from experience, the activities to do, weather, and spots to visit can differ based on rains and no rains. We travelled in non-monsoon season which was appropriate for us as we wanted to do water sports when the water temperature is barrable. The waterfall treks are also relatively easier during non-monsoon season. But the biggest advantage during monsoon season is that Meghalaya turns into a land of mountains with many big and small waterfalls and the big waterfalls are flowing in all its glory.
Where to go in Meghalaya
Entire Meghalaya is divided mainly in 3 regions – Khasi (most popular and well connected), Jaintia (developing), and Garo (under-developed) hills. We decided to 3 place in Khasi hills and 2 places in Jaintia hills.
We covered 3 days in Shillong, half day in Mawphlang sacred forest, 3 days in Cherrapunji/ Sohra, 2 days in Shnongpdeng, and last 2 days in Jowai. We spend half day travelling from Guwahati to Shillong since hit the city in peak traffic hours and again half a day travelling from Jowai to Guwahati as the distance was almost 175kms. Also consider enough travel time between these places as well and plan your itinerary accordingly.
Refer detailed itinerary for Shillong, Cherrapunji, Shnongpdeng, and Jowai.
How to reach Meghalaya and travel within
Shillong airport located in Umroi has very low flight frequency due to which Guwahati airport is the best alternative airport closest to Meghalaya at approx 130kms. Meghalaya has no railway network due to its hilly terrain and Guwahati is the closest railway station. Once you arrive Guwahati, there are many taxis and private taxi available just to reach Shillong for INR 2000.
Alternately you can hire a car for entire trip in advance which starts and ends back in Guwahati. We hired a swift desire car for entire 11 days costing us INR 4500 per day inclusive of driver and his/her allowances.
However, in hindsight, we would have preferred to not hire a care for all 11 days but hired it for specific places only. Shillong is a small town and we would have preferred to walk around. Also the peak hour traffic in Shillong can be painful with a car. Bikes can be easily rented in Shillong and taxis are available for most areas in Shillong even till late night. Would highly recommend to hire a car in Cherrapunji, as the terrain is hilly and reaching all places can be easy so you don’t waste time looking for transportation while moving from one spot to another.
Ideal attire while travelling in Meghalaya
Rainwear – The non-monsoon period is a relatively dry season, but Meghalaya has a rather unpredictable climate and it can rain literally anytime. Hence, carrying your rainwear and winter jackets is a must for any time of the year as it gets cold and windy after rains.
Winter wear – Winter season gets very cold here and temperature dips in minus at times in certain parts of Meghalaya. So dress appropriately with down jackets or woolen coats, something that can be layered under a rain jacket or umbrella easily.
Shoes – Since Meghalaya has many waterfalls and hikes, it’s ideal to wear comfortable sports shoes. Even the cities like Shillong are hilly so it’s advisable to wear comfortable shoes to enjoy the walks.
Clothes – Most locals wear mainly athleisure and clima-cool pants to dry off quickly however, they need to be layered with thermals especially during winter.
Overall Cost of Travel
| Cost Type | Amount (INR) for 2 people |
| Cab | 51200 |
| Flight | 35000 |
| Meal | 15889 |
| Shopping | 1120 |
| Stay | 43725 |
| Tour/ entry fee (entry fees, tour guide, etc) | 14650 |
| Grand Total | 161584 |
Cost saving tips
1. I would highly encourage you to eat local food here. We ate local Khasi cuisine in restaurants and in shacks, the food was tasty and hygienic. We never fell ill.
2. Drink local water from the falls and local taps. We have filled our bottles even from local shacks and waterfalls . W were absolutely fine. Avoid plastic bottles.
3. We hired car for entire trip, but I would suggest for Shillong its not required. Infact car can be a pain since the town is notorious for traffic jams during peaks hours. You can hire a motorbike in Shillong. Meghalaya Tourism board has build good connectivity within towns like buses, local taxis, bike rentals, etc.
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