Shillong Radio! That how I have always known this small hilly town nestled in North-east of India. During my early childhood, My father would tune into Shillong Radio at night and entire family would listen to beautiful music played on this radio till we all fell asleep. And now I actually visited this small hilly town, it felt like, though I have never seen this town, but I have always heard this town.
Shillong is a beautiful small town which is the capital of Meghalaya. And after Guwahati, Shillong is a big town located in North east India. Shillong is an education hub for North east and hence, it has relatively young crowd. Which makes Shillong a cultural boiling pot for North east with lots of cafes, books places, few clubs, and events.
One big eye sore in Shillong is the peak hour traffic. Because this is a hilly town, due to the increasing population and tourism, the current city infrastructure is not enough. Making this town, a crowded place. The peak hour traffic can go at snarling speed and a mere 15mins distance can take somewhere between 45mins to 1 hour.
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 Shillong |
| Homestay options |
| Travel budget for two people |
Itinerary for 3 to 5 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. Halted at Umiam lake and enjoyed the lake time for about 2 hours or so (read details on options of stayover near Umiam lake in Thins to do section). Highly exprienced kayakers or professionals can enjoy kayak time as well at this lake. Reached Shillong and enjoyed the evening with first pitstop at The Tibet Kitchen for dumplings and noodles followed by nice eed chilli hot chocolate shake at Dylan’s cafe. (We had expected to reach Shillong by 12 and had planned entire day for us but instead we reached Shillong at 4pm so we just enjoyed some dinner and coffee.) |
| Day 02 | Visited Shillong Cathedral which took 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 chai and Jadoh. Touring Laitlum Canyon took 3 hours to soak in the view, clouds, and feel. (Definitely read details in Things to do section) Came back to Shillong and visited Ward’s lake for some quiet evening time to enjoy pedal boating. But due to sudden rain, we ended our day with Swiggy pizza ordered to our homestay while we enjoyed some bon fire time in that lovely weather. |
| Day 03 | Visited Shillong Peak for some view time and had 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. It was a nice peak into Meghalaya culture. 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 | Visit Mawjymbuin Cave, the largest cave formation of India taking about 3-4 hours. Take a further trip of 20kms to visit Jakrem hot spring. Drive back to Shillong and enjoy the evening at Cafe Shillong. |
| Day 05 | Visit Sacred Forest located in Mawphlang which is 30kms from Shillong enroute to Cherrapunji. Hence ideal to cover when you leave for Cherrapunji. 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. |
Things to do in Shillong
1. Take a walk at Umiam lake – Umiam Lake is this vast waterbody located 30kms away from Shillong that you can cover while travelling to Shillong from Guwahati as its on the way. Highly recommend you to spend about 2 hours atleaset here. The vast lake is so peaceful and serene. This lake is ideal for kayaking. Meghalaya tourism has a resort located at Umaim lake with a brilliant location completely surrounded by nature. If you staying at Umiam lake, I would highly recommend this place. If you want a non-touristy place to stay at Umiam lake, then check out this homestay.
2. Picnic at Laitlum Canyon – Laitlum Canyon is one of my favorite valley view place closer to Shillong (about 22kms). This canyon is a must visit for any time of the year. I would highly recommend you to spend decent number of hours as this place is huge and you wouldn’t want to go back quickly. During non-monsoon, I would highly recommend you to carry picnic basket filled with fruits, drinks, rice goodies, blankets and books to have a complete “me-time” with nature. There are many small food sellers selling hot roasted corn, instance maggi, and Meghalaya specialty red tea. (read about the Red Tea specialty in the Meghalaya Food article)
3. Explore Mawjymbuin Cave – This is beautiful cave formation which is about 60kms from Shillong. This cave is has naturally formed Shivling from the stalagmites and receives many tourists and pilgrims.
4. 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.
5. Enjoy quiet time at Wards Lake – Wards’s Lake is this beautiful garden lake located in the middle of the town. A small lake surrounded by landscaped garden that is filled with beautiful flowering plants and trees. This is a nice place to relax after crazy amount of hiking during your travel or maybe just to soak-in like locals do here. This lake has lazy peddle boating which I like to do. I thought of reading a book here but I couldn’t stop taking pictures of variety of flowers here.
6. Enjoy local musicians at The Evening Club – The Evening Club is one of the oldest club that is run in the basement of Eee Cee hotel right in the heart of Police bazaar that hosts local talents on everyday basis. You need to reserve yourself a table well in advance (2-3 days). We couldnt connect with them on the number provided on Google, so we just went and requested for a spot at bar where they served only alcohol. This club hosts all kinds of local English bands that play country music, pop, hip-hop, metal, etc. They regularly update the band to play for each day on their instagram page so make sure to plan your evening well to make it a memorable or just walk-in and get surprised. We attended a local band that played Metal and it was insane.
7. 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.
8. Go Café hoping – Café hoping is my ultimate thing that I did a bit in Meghalaya. There are some must try cafe’s in Shillong.
9. Get a taste of local Khasi cuisine – Local Khasi food at the multiple restaurants serving authentic Khasi cuisine. Read my article on a complete Meghalaya food guide.
10. Visit The Mary Help of Christian Cathedral – The Cathedral in its distinctive blue color is a well-known landmark in Shillong, especially for the Christians in Meghalaya. This Cathedral is an important place for locals as there are community festivities and gatherings conducted here in the Cathedral premise and playground.
Other things to do if you have more time
11. Visit Jakrem hot spring
12. Take a soothing Khasi message or Khem Tynrai acupressure-like treatment with oil tapped from pine trees. You can call the local masseurs at your homestay.
13. Attend a show by Shillong Chamber Choir group that has famously performed along with great Indian artists such as AR Rehman.
14. Attend a music gig at Lou Majaw’s home or wherever he is performing. Lou Majaw is known for his tribute to Bob Dylan.
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 the 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 across the town. There are some homestay’s who offer their premise to camp out. Meghalaya is absolutely awesome for people who hate planning their stay in advance.
Homestay prices vary from INR 2000 to INR 3000 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 Midhill Cottage, Wildrose room (one of their best rooms) on Airbnb as the owner is superhost with 4.86 rating with amazing reviews, deservingly. We absolutely love the homestay, their dogs, and location was all good.
If you have higher budget you can also stay at Orchid resort near Umiam lake, Aerodene Cottage (cute window roof bedroom) and Cafe Shillong B&B in Shillong, and Maple Pine Farm stay (unique A shaped home) in Mawphlang (30kms from Shillong).
You can get cheaper homestays for about INR 1000 per night with common sharing bathroom and limited facility.
Travel Budget
The travel, food and entry tickets are relatively cheap here. So your major cost is the car hire/ cab to go around the locations.
| Expense Type | Cost for Two People (INR) |
| Flight | 35000 |
| Cab (hired for entire trip @4500 per day) | 14700 |
| Meal | 10109 |
| Stay | 9825 |
| Tour/ Entry fee | 1140 |
| Total | 70910 |
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