Meghalaya has many hues. It is just as perfect for the slow traveler as someone looking for an offbeat adventure trip to Meghalaya. While most of our Meghalaya tours are about showing the culture and the natural beauty of the state, our One Week in Meghalaya tour being the most popular one, this 7 nights and 8 days itinerary for the northeast in Meghalaya is more about showing some of the more offbeat places of Meghalaya.
This one-week offbeat Meghalaya tour will take you to some of Meghalaya’s significantly less-known areas in the state, along with a couple of exciting treks. The offbeat Meghalaya itinerary will look like this:
Meghalaya Offbeat Itinerary
- Day 1 – Guwahati To Shillong
- Day 2 – Shillong Local Exploration
- Day 3 – Shillong – David Scott’s Trail Trek – Cherrapunjee
- Day 4 – Cherrapunjee – Double Decker Living Root Bridge Trek – Cherrapunjee
- Day 5 – Cherrapunjee Local sightseeing
- Day 6 – Cherrapunjee – Kongthong Village Tour – Cherrapunjee
- Day 7 – Cherrapunjee – Wahkhen Bamboo Trek – Shillong
- Day 8 – Shillong – Guwahati
Day 1 – Guwahati To Shillong
Land in Guwahati/Shillong and get received by our representative at your point of arrival. Start your drive to Meghalaya from Guwahati, through the beautiful countryside. Depending upon the season of your visit, the surroundings can range from golden yellow to lush green. If you have still not decided about when you wish to visit, have a look at this article about the best time to visit North East India, to know when is the right time to visit Meghalaya for you.
After driving through beautiful surroundings for a while, as you crisscross the borders of Assam and Meghalaya, you will make your first stop at Umiam Lake. A man-made waterbody, this gorgeous lake is a sight to behold. You can also go boating at Umiam or just spend time gawking at its beauty.
From Umiam, you start for Shillong, which is less than 20 kms away now. Depending upon the time of your arrival in Shillong, you will either head to one of the things to see in Shillong or, if it is already evening or later, you will head directly to your stay.
Day 2 – Shillong Local Sightseeing
There will be a lot to explore among the best things to see in Shillong. That said, it will also be a relaxed day in Shillong City, with hardly any long drive involved. Some of the places to see in Shillong that you will explore today are:
- Ward’s Lake
- Lady Hydari Park
- Don Bosco Museum
- Don Bosco Cathedral
- Police Bazar
To end your day, go for a local dinner at one of the many restaurants in the city or head to your homestay/stay for a local khasi dinner (you have to inform the host before evening if you wish to have dinner at your stay).
Day 3 – Shillong – David Scott’s Trail Trek – Cherrapunjee
Today is when your adventure trip to Meghalaya actually starts. And what better way to start it than following Meghalaya’s oldest trekking trail, David Scott’s trail!
After breakfast, drive down to Mawphlang, the starting point of your David Scott trek.
Your guide will join you here. Through the 16 kilometers or so of this trek that you will walk, you will get to experience many different hues of Meghalaya.
From streams to valleys to mountains to forests, this trek will take you through some of the most beautiful parts of the Khasi Hills.
At the other end of the trip, many steps and stories later, you will find your vehicle waiting to take you to Cherrapunjee for a much-needed rest.
Day 4 – Cherrapunjee – Double Decker Living Root Bridge Trek – Cherrapunjee
After the comparatively relaxed trek following David Scott’s trail followed by enough sleep yesterday, you will be pumped up for today’s adventure.
The double-decker living root bridge trek is one of the most exciting things to do in Meghalaya, and rightly so.
After breakfast you start for a 20-minute drive, taking narrow winding roads, and reach Nongriat, a small Khasi village that is also the starting point of the double-decker trek. You will be joined by your guide here.
The trek is almost a full-day affair and by the time you come back, it will be evening. And all you would want to do is rest.
So, that is what you will do🙂
Day 5 – Cherrapunjee Local Sightseeing
After two tough days, today is going to be an easy day.
You will go around Cherrapunjee, visiting various waterfalls, caves, and valleys. Some of the places that you will visit today are :
- Mawsmai Caves
- Wah Kaba Falls
- Arwah Caves
- Seven Sisters Falls
- Eco Park
- Nohkalikai Falls
End the day as and when you wish to. It’s a relaxed day after all 🙂
Day 6 – Cherrapunjee – Kongthong (Whistling) Village – Cherrapunjee
Today we will drive to one of the most remote places in the Khasi hills. To a place that is unique in more than one way.
Around 35 kilometers from Cherrapunjee, hidden deep inside the Khasi hills, lies the tiny village of Kongthong.
If you haven’t already heard of Kongthong, it is a unique village, a village where people talk in whistles. The whistling village, as it is known.
Every child born in the Kongthong village is given a special tune by her/his mother, at birth. The mother calls her child by whistling the unique tune of the child. The entire thing is quite fascinating, something which we will let our guides explain to us once there at Kongthong.
For now, let’s just say that, while the village itself is a great experience, reaching there, though narrow, snaking mountain roads is one hell of a dropping experience. With tall cliffs on one side and a scary gorge on the other side, there won’t be any dull moment, for sure.
Once there, go on a guided tour of the Kongthong village to meet the women of the village and know why and how this naming their children with unique tunes came into being and see in person, how this unique language works in real life.
Time permitting, you can also go on a trek to one of the less-known but in no way less gorgeous living root bridges, off the village.
Be back to Cherrapunjee for the night.
Day 7 – Cherrapunjee – Wankhen Bamboo Trek – Shillong
Today is another trekking day. We start from Cherrapunjee in the morning and head to Wankhen, the famous Wahkhen bamboo trek, as it is also known.
This will take a good part of today.
And as you come back from the trek downhill, accompanied by your guide, it will almost be evening.
From there, you drive straight down to Shillong.
Day 8 – Shillong – Guwahati
After a long day yesterday, start at your own pace from Shillong today. If you have time and wish to, do some quick shopping before bidding goodbye to Shillong.
Start your drive down to Guwahati and reach by early evening at the latest, to end the trip.
Fly out with a lifetime of memories 🙂
Inclusions
- Dedicated vehicle for the entire stay in Meghalaya.
- Accommodation for all nights on a twin-sharing basis.
- Breakfast in Shillong, Cherrapunjee & Mawlynnong.
- Guide wherever required.
- Meghalaya Permit.
Exclusions
- Any personal/sanitary/medical expenses.
- Entry fee to attraction & parking.
- Any extension in the number of days staying.
- Food and snacks.
- Anything that is not mentioned in the ‘inclusions’ section.
- Boating charges.
- 5% GST.
**Please be informed that the homestays in Cherrapunjee & Mawlynnong are neat & clean but basic, given their geographic location.
If you think are not flexible enough to stay in experimental homestays do let us know and we will plan your accommodations in Shillong.
** Oct-end through April is generally considered dry season in the region so, the waterfalls are not at their best in this period. However, the Umngkot River is at its transparent best.
**During the dry season, the waterfalls of Cherrapunjee are not at their best and many of them are dry.
Click here to read more about the best time to visit North East India.
