Meghalaya
The most fascinating sights around Cherrapunjee are the incredible living bridges – formed from rubber-fig roots that ingenious Khasi villagers have, over…
Must-see attractions in Northeast States
Assam
The park’s 2400 one-horned rhinos represent about two-thirds of the world’s total population (in 1904, there were only 200). Kaziranga offers popular 4WD…
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Arunachal Pradesh
Thought to be about 400 years old, the charming wooden Samten Yongcha Gompa stands on a breezy hilltop 6km (as the crow flies) west of Mechuka, fronted by…
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Arunachal Pradesh
The magical Tawang Gompa, founded in 1681 in what was then a Monpa royal palace, overlooks the town from its ridgetop site. Reputedly the world’s second…
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Nagaland
The immaculately maintained war cemetery contains the graves of over 1400 British, Indian and other Allied soldiers, killed in or around Kohima in 1944 as…
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Northeast States
Agartala’s centrepiece is this striking, dome-capped palace, fronted by two reflecting lakes and housing the large, outstanding Tripura State Museum. The…
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Northeast States
The vast, low-walled fort at the heart of Imphal was, with a few interruptions, the political and religious heart of Manipur for many centuries until…
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Northeast States
Housed in three big colonnaded buildings with pagoda-style roofs, this huge bazaar with over 4000 all-women vendors is reckoned to be the largest of its…
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Northeast States
Massive relief sculptures of Hindu deities (some dating back to the 7th century) adorn rock faces at the site, including a 10m-tall face of Shiva sculpted…
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Don Bosco Museum of Indigenous Cultures
Shillong
This well-displayed museum is a fabulous repository of tribal artefacts interspersed with exhibits on Christian missionary work. The self-guided visit…
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Arunachal Pradesh
Namdapha National Park, spread over 1985 sq km of dense forest in far eastern Arunachal Pradesh, is an ecological hot spot with a mind-boggling array of…
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Guwahati
According to Hindu legend, when a distraught Shiva scattered the 108 (or 51) pieces of his deceased wife Sati's body across the land, her yoni (vagina)…
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Assam
The Talatal Ghar palace was the heart of an Ahom capital complex founded by King Rudra Singha. Built in the 1750s over an earlier wooden palace, it…
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Khasi Hills Archery Sports Institute
Shillong
This is the venue for a 50-person archery event whose outcome is the subject of a highly popular betting game in Shillong, known as Thoh Tim or Teer or…
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Northeast States
The giant 26-sq-km phumdi filling up the southern part of Loktak Lake is home to some 250 sangai (Manipur brow-antlered deer or dancing deer), the world's…
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Meghalaya
Hilly Balpakram is traditionally considered by the Garo to be the ‘abode of souls’, where people temporarily go after they die, and is full of…
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Assam
The grasslands and lowland forests of Unesco-listed Manas National Park, abutting the Bhutan border about 150km northwest of Guwahati, are home to a very…
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Northeast States
An 18-sq-km patch of forest south of Agartala, Sepahijala contains a lake that is a popular weekend picnic and boating spot, and an open-air zoo (adult…
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Arunachal Pradesh
This beautiful monastery in a tiny village east of Tawang (9km by vehicle, 6km on foot) is well worth a visit. Its current head, the Thegtse Rinpoche, is…
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Assam
Beautiful Nameri National Park, comprising 200 sq km between the pristine Jia Bhorelli River and the forested hills of Arunachal Pradesh, is particularly…
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Assam
Charaideo was the first Ahom capital, established in 1228 by the dynasty's founder Sukapha after his arrival in eastern Assam while seeking new lands with…
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Arunachal Pradesh
Around a quarter of Arunachal's population follows the Donyi-Polo (Sun-Moon) religion, an institutionalised form of traditional animist beliefs developed…
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Northeast States
Aizawl has a lot of large churches, but this one outdoes them all. Intended as a re-creation of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, it's a white-marble…
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Tocklai Tea Research Institute
Assam
To delve into the science and processes behind a good cuppa, visit the Tocklai Institute, the world's largest and oldest tea research centre (founded in…
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Assam
Three typical Ahom temple towers rise proudly above the partly wooded shore of Sivasagar tank. The centrepiece (and tallest) is the 33m-high Shivadol,…
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Arunachal Pradesh
The ancient if modest Urgelling Gompa, a 3km walk below Tawang town, is where the sixth Dalai Lama, a Monpa, was born in 1683. Before he left for Lhasa,…
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Imphal Indian Army War Cemetery
Northeast States
The Indian Army War Cemetery, dating back to the 1944 Battle of Imphal, honours the many Indians who laid down their lives fighting in the Allied forces…
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Guwahati
This small wildlife sanctuary has a thriving population of some 130 one-horned rhinoceroses, plus around 2000 wild water buffalo and almost 2000 resident…
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Nagaland
This small but fascinating market outside the Kohima Local Ground stadium, off Razhü Junction, is a compendium of exotic Naga tribal foods with such…
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Kaziranga National Orchid & Biodiversity Park
Assam
A fascinating counterpart to the wildlife attractions of Kaziranga National Park, the Orchid Park houses not only an orchid house with over 600 species…
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Assam
Dramatic if largely unadorned, this brick palace is the last major remnant of the Ahom kingdom’s pre-Sivasagar capital at Garhgaon. You can climb to the…
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Northeast States
The multidomed red-and-white water palace, Neermahal lies empty but shimmering on its own boggy island in Rudra Sagar Lake. Like its counterpart in…
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Assam
Tree-shaded lanes lead to Agnigarh Hill, rising above the Brahmaputra about 1km southeast of the town centre. The wooded park has occasional river views …
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Northeast States
At 2157m, Blue Mountain in southeast Mizoram is the state's highest peak. It's considered by Mizos to be the abode of gods, but its cliffs are also said…
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Assam
The somewhat grandiose complex of Gauri Sagar comprises an attractive tank and a trio of distinctive 1720s temples – Vishnudol, Shivadol and Devidol –…
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Assam
About 4km south of central Sivasagar along AT Rd, look right to see the rather beautiful Rang Ghar, a two-storey, oval-shaped pavilion that has been…
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Northeast States
This peaceful, impeccably maintained graveyard is the last resting place of more than 1600 British and other Allied soldiers and airmen killed in the…
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Arunachal Pradesh
With two spacious floors of well-displayed exhibits, the state museum gives a decent representation of Arunachal Pradesh's tribal cultures, especially…
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Northeast States
Of the four Hindu temples around the fringes of the Ujjayanta Palace compound, the most fanciful is the Jagannath Mandir, consecrated to an incarnation of…
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Northeast States
The two-storey state museum, on a lane off the main road that fronts Kangla Fort, has a curious collection of tribal costumes, royal clothing, 20th…
