Seven Sisters Grand Tour

• Agartala
• 15 m
• 12 km · 30 mins, plus city sightseeing
• Dinner

Fly into Agartala from Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru or Guwahati. Tripura needs no permit for Indian or foreign travellers, so the arrival is simple. Our driver takes you to the hotel, and after lunch we visit Ujjayanta Palace, the white palace built for Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya in 1901, which now holds the Tripura State Museum. The galleries give a good first look at the Northeast's many communities, which is useful at the start of a trip across seven states. Walk across to the orange Jagannath temple next door, then watch the palace lights come on over the ponds. Dinner is a Bengali-Tripuri meal with fish curry. Your trip manager briefs you on permits, flights and packing tonight.

• Aizawl
• 1,130 m
• About 110 km · 3 hrs, plus flight and 32 km · 1 hr
• Breakfast, Dinner

An early start takes us 53 km south to Melaghar, where a boat crosses Rudrasagar lake to Neermahal, the red-and-white water palace of the Manikya kings completed in 1938. Walk the terraces for an hour before returning to Agartala Airport. The Agartala–Aizawl flight runs direct on some schedules; on other days we connect through Guwahati or Kolkata, which takes longer. At Lengpui Airport, Indian citizens show their Mizoram ILP; foreign nationals must register with the police within 24 hours. The 32 km drive to Aizawl crosses the Tlawng river and climbs along the ridges into a city of stacked houses where traffic moves in quiet queues. Dinner at the hotel, with a first taste of Mizo bai stew.

• Aizawl
• 1,130 m
• 60 km return · 2.5 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

We drive about 30 km west to Reiek, a 1,465 m ridge above thick forest, and walk 30–45 minutes to the top for views across the Mizo hills; on clear days the plains of Bangladesh show to the west. Below the ridge, a model Mizo village shows a chief's house and the zawlbuk, the bachelors' dormitory that once organised village life. Back in Aizawl after lunch, visit the Mizoram State Museum and then walk down through Bara Bazar, where stalls sell local vegetables, smoked meat and puan, the woven Mizo wrap. Mizoram is a dry state and very quiet on Sundays, when shops close for church; if today is Sunday we swap it with the market visit tomorrow morning.

• Imphal
• 786 m
• 32 km · 1 hr, plus flight and 10 km · 30 mins
• Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast we drive to Lengpui for the flight to Imphal. Alliance Air flies this sector direct on some days of the week; otherwise we connect via Guwahati or Kolkata. At Imphal Airport, Indian citizens complete the Manipur ILP at the self-service kiosks. In the afternoon we visit Kangla Fort, the old royal seat on the Imphal river, then Ima Keithel, the market run entirely by women, with rows of stalls selling fish, fermented foods, handloom phanek and shawls. Our rule in Manipur is simple: valley only, daytime only, local partner on call, and we are back at the hotel before dark. Try singju salad and eromba with your dinner.

• Imphal
• 786 m
• 110 km return · 4 hrs with stops
• Breakfast, Dinner

We drive 45 km south through Bishnupur to Moirang, where the INA Memorial marks the place the Indian National Army raised the tricolour in April 1944. From the Sendra hill viewpoint Loktak Lake spreads out below, covered with round phumdis, floating mats of reed and soil, some with fishermen's huts. A country boat takes you out among them. At the southern end of the lake, Keibul Lamjao National Park is the world's only floating national park and the home of the sangai deer; look for them with binoculars from the watchtower. We are back in Imphal by late afternoon, with time for the Shree Govindajee temple beside the old palace before dark.

• Shillong
• 1,525 m
• 10 km, plus flight and 30 km · 1 hr
• Breakfast, Dinner

A short flight on IndiGo connects Imphal with Shillong Airport at Umroi, about 30 km from the city; if the sector is not running on your date we fly via Guwahati and drive up, arriving in the evening. Shillong is the first stop of the trip with no permit requirement for anyone. After lunch visit the Don Bosco Museum, seven floors on the cultures of the Northeast, which ties together everything you have seen so far. Walk around Ward's Lake and then Police Bazar in the evening. Shillong has a strong live music and cafe culture; Laitumkhrah and Police Bazar have the best choice for dinner. Nights are cool, 8–14°C from November to March.

• Sohra
• 1,480 m
• 55 km · 1.5 hrs, plus sightseeing
• Breakfast, Dinner

The road south to Sohra (Cherrapunji) runs across rolling grassland, with a stop at the Mawkdok Dympep viewpoint over a deep gorge. At Nohkalikai Falls the water drops about 340 m from the plateau edge into a green pool, one of the highest plunges in India; it is fullest from June to October and thin from December to February. Then walk through Mawsmai Cave, a short, lit limestone cave with narrow squeezes, and stand at the Mawsmai viewpoint where the Seven Sisters Falls pour off the cliffs in the wet months, with the Bangladesh plains below. Sohra is one of the wettest places on earth, so carry a rain jacket even in winter. Overnight in a Sohra resort on the plateau edge.

• Kohima
• 1,440 m
• About 85 km · 2.5 hrs, flight, then 75 km · 2.5–3 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

This is the longest transfer day of the trip. We leave Sohra early for Shillong Airport at Umroi and fly the short Alliance Air sector to Dimapur, which runs on some days of the week; on other days we drive to Guwahati and fly or take the Jan Shatabdi train to Dimapur instead, which adds hours. At Dimapur, Indian citizens need their Nagaland ILP ready, since Dimapur is inside the permit area. The road to Kohima climbs from about 150 m to over 1,400 m in 75 km, taking 2.5 to 3 hours. We check in by evening and keep dinner simple. If your dates fall between 1 and 10 December, this is Hornbill week and Kohima prices rise.

• Kohima
• 1,440 m
• 40 km return · 2 hrs
• Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Start at the Kohima War Cemetery on Garrison Hill, where the April 1944 battle was fought across the District Commissioner's tennis court, now marked in white. Then drive 20 km west to Khonoma, the Angami village that banned hunting across its forests in 1998 and protects the Blyth's tragopan. A village guide walks you through the stone gateways, clan quarters and the terraced paddies that step down the valley. Lunch is with a village family: rice, local greens, bamboo shoot and pork or chicken with king chilli chutney. In the afternoon, if time allows, stop at Kisama Heritage Village, where the Hornbill morungs stand open all year. Evening free in Kohima.

• Kaziranga
• 70 m
• About 200 km · 6 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

We drive back down to Dimapur and then east into Assam through Golaghat district, with tea gardens lining the road for long stretches. The drive takes about six hours with a lunch stop. By mid-afternoon you reach Kohora, the village at the Central Range of Kaziranga National Park, home to about two-thirds of the world's one-horned rhinos. Check in, then visit the Kaziranga National Orchid and Biodiversity Park nearby, which has hundreds of orchid species and a good display of local rice varieties, or walk through a tea garden at golden hour. Our safari desk confirms tomorrow's jeep slot and range tonight. Early dinner; the jeep leaves around 7 am.

• Majuli
• 85 m
• About 95 km · 2.5 hrs, plus ferry 1–1.5 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

The morning jeep safari in the Central or Western Range runs about two hours through tall elephant grass, wetlands and forest. Rhino sightings are almost certain; wild buffalo, swamp deer, elephants and many water birds are common, and tigers are occasionally seen. After breakfast we drive north-east to Nimati Ghat near Jorhat and board the ferry across the Brahmaputra to Majuli, one of the largest river islands in the world. The crossing takes 1 to 1.5 hours, with the car carried on board. In the late afternoon visit a satra, one of the Vaishnav monasteries founded in the tradition of the saint Srimanta Sankardev, and watch the evening prayers. Overnight in a bamboo cottage.

• Ziro
• 1,690 m
• About 200 km · 6–7 hrs via North Lakhimpur
• Breakfast, Dinner

Early morning is for Samaguri Satra, where monks make the masks used in Majuli's religious theatre from bamboo, clay and cloth, and for a short visit to a Mising village with stilt houses. Then we leave the island by its northern road toward North Lakhimpur and turn north into Arunachal Pradesh. Indian citizens show their Arunachal ILP at the Kimin check gate, and foreign nationals show their Protected Area Permit. The road climbs through forest to the Ziro plateau, a wide valley at about 1,690 m ringed by pine-covered hills and filled with paddy fields. We arrive in the evening at a hotel or Apatani homestay. The hills get cold after sunset, so keep a warm layer handy.

• Ziro
• 1,690 m
• About 30 km in the valley · 2 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

Ziro is home to the Apatani people, known for their rice-fish farming and, among older women, facial tattoos and nose plugs, a practice stopped in the 1970s. With a local guide we visit Hong, one of the largest villages, with its tightly packed wooden houses and bamboo totem poles called babo, then Hari and Siiro. The paddy fields are irrigated by channels that the Apatani have maintained for generations, and fish are raised in the flooded plots. After lunch walk through the pine and bamboo groves near Old Ziro. If you visit in late September, the Ziro Festival of Music brings stages and crowds to the valley; otherwise it is a very quiet place.

• Tezpur
• 48 m
• About 290 km · 8–9 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

This is a long road day, so we leave Ziro by 7 am. The road drops off the plateau to the Assam plains near North Lakhimpur and then runs west along the north bank of the Brahmaputra through Gohpur and Biswanath Chariali, with tea gardens and rice fields on both sides. We stop for lunch on the highway. Tezpur, reached in the late afternoon, is a pleasant riverside town with Agnigarh hill, linked to the legend of Usha and Aniruddha, and Chitralekha Udyan park near the old stone ruins. If you have energy left, watch the sunset over the Brahmaputra from Agnigarh. This break sets up the climb into the Himalaya tomorrow.

• Dirang
• 1,560 m
• About 190 km · 6–7 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

We cross into Arunachal again at Bhalukpong, where the permit check happens, and follow the Kameng river up into the hills. The road climbs through Tenga, with its army cantonment, and over the Bomdila ridge at about 2,400 m before dropping to Dirang in a river valley at about 1,560 m. Stop at Bomdila's monastery if time allows. Dirang is a Monpa town with an old stone dzong village, apple and kiwi orchards and hot springs by the river. The drop in altitude tonight helps your body adjust before Sela tomorrow. Drink plenty of water, skip alcohol and sleep early. Temperatures fall close to freezing on winter nights here.

• Tawang
• 2,670 m
• About 135 km · 5 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

The road climbs steadily from Dirang to Sela Pass at 4,170 m, where prayer flags line the pass and Sela Lake lies just below, often frozen from December to March. The Sela Tunnel, opened in March 2024 at about 13,000 ft, keeps the route open through winter; we take the pass road when it is clear so you can stop at the top. Beyond Sela the road drops past Jaswantgarh, the memorial to rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat of the 1962 war, and Nuranang Falls near Jang. We reach Tawang by mid-afternoon. At 2,670 m, walk slowly, drink water and rest this evening. Our guide checks that everyone feels well before tomorrow's walking day.

• Tawang
• 2,670 m
• About 25 km in town · 2 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

Tawang Monastery, founded in 1680–81, is the largest Buddhist monastery in India and home to several hundred monks. Arrive for the morning prayers in the assembly hall, then see the 8 m gilded Buddha, the library of old manuscripts and the museum. From the courtyard the view runs across the valley to the town. In the afternoon visit the Tawang War Memorial, a stupa-shaped memorial to the soldiers of the 1962 war, and the Urgelling monastery, birthplace of the Sixth Dalai Lama. Indian citizens can apply locally for a Bum La Pass visit on an extra day, subject to army permission and weather; foreign nationals are not allowed at Bum La.

• Bomdila
• 2,415 m
• About 170 km · 6 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

We leave Tawang after breakfast and cross Sela once more, which gives a second chance for clear photographs if the first day was cloudy. The road then runs down through Dirang to Bomdila, a hill town on a ridge at about 2,400 m with views of the Kangto and Gorichen ranges on clear days. In the late afternoon visit the Gontse Gaden Rabgye Ling monastery above the town and the small craft centre, where Monpa carpets and masks are made. The last night in the mountains is a good time to settle the trip's accounts and repack for flights. Dinner tonight is thukpa or momos in a local restaurant.

• Departure
• 55 m
• About 340 km · 9–10 hrs
• Breakfast

The final day is a long drive, so we leave Bomdila at 6 am. The road drops through Tenga and Bhalukpong to the Assam plains, then runs past Tezpur and across the Brahmaputra to Guwahati. With breakfast and lunch stops, expect to reach Guwahati Airport between 4 and 5 pm. Please book a flight after 7.30 pm, or ask us to add a night in Guwahati, which also allows a morning at Kamakhya Temple before you fly. If you are leaving by train, Guwahati station is 20 km from the airport. The driver helps with bags at the terminal. This is the end of the loop through all seven states.