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Tips for your trip to Northeast India - Bikat Adventures

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Tips For Your Trip To Northern India

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Tips For Your Trip To Northern India

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Bikat Adventures

28 Jun 2023

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The seven sisters and one brother state that make up the Northeastern end of the country, are some of the most geographically isolated and least visited parts of India. With their expanse of natural beauty, roaring rivers, lush green landscapes, bamboo huts, wide stretches of fields, and an unusually rich diversity of ethnic groups, religions and languages, this 8% of India’s geographical land is simply a naturalist’s paradise. To be able to witness its people co-exist with such ease with the distinctive flora and fauna, all of Northeast is really easy to fall in love with. Its raw, unexplored beauty has quite an individualistic charm. It is no surprise Northeast’s positioned itself right on top of your bucket list of places to travel to.

While there is nothing about the Northeast that is not inviting, we understand that one of the biggest challenges of travelling to the region is the dearth of documentation and relevant information available. We’ve put together some tips that might be useful for you to plan your travel to this unexplored haven.

1. Do Lots of Research

While research is important for any place you choose to travel to, it is doubly important to be thorough with this step when it comes to as unexplored a region as the Northeast. It is important for the very reason that there is a shortage of consolidated and reliable information about Northeast India. It is also vital because it is a massive region with so many possible options to explore - making decisions for your travel can get torturous. Which region in the Northeast to pick, which season is the best, what to cover within each state, how best to travel between states – the more you know before you fix on your plan, the better.

The best place to get the most reliable information is people. Seeking out people who have travelled to the region before and lending them an ear to learn from their experiences is a very good idea!

2. Pre-plan EVERYTHING!

It is commonly believed that a trip to the Northeast is overly expensive. Northeast is very well connected by all modes of transport but given the long distance between major cities in India to this extreme corner of the country, air is the fastest way to travel. Travelling by road or railways could prove to be a 3-4 day affair – one way! The internal distances are quite huge too, so it is picking between planning your trip around the scantily available local transport options and hiring a private cab to make the best use of your time. Accommodation options also tend to be on the expensive side. There are cheaper options available but they usually fill up fast.

All this is to say that one of the two things is inevitable – your trip will either be too expensive or alternatively it will be too time-consuming.

The one fix out of this catch-22 is pre-planning! If you plan your trip meticulously, way ahead of time, it is possible to make a pocket-friendly and time-friendly trip to Northeast. Pre book your flights at cheaper rates, pre-book your accommodation and pick the exact places you want to visit so you can research local transport options with timings.

We also recommend pre-planning everything about your trip here because, from experience, we can assure you that there is so much in the Northeast that will pull you in different directions that you will end up wanting to do everything but not being able to do enough.

We’d say, make that damn itinerary and stick to it!

3. Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

This very raw region full of hidden gems provides great opportunities to seek out sources of a mix of adventure and culture. From the land of clouds, Meghalaya, to the land of festivals, Nagaland, to the land of the dawn-lit mountains, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India is a storehouse of untouched beauty. Believe this!

But the lack of information from the region has also caused Northeast India to gain a bit of an unguided image. From concerns around safety to stories about peculiar food cultures, there’s a lot about the area that remains wanting to be known for its truth. We’d say don’t believe everything you hear. Experience the place yourself.

(Read Misconceptions of Northeast India for some of the most common myths about the region)

4. Break it into multiple trips – don’t try to do everything together

The northeast of India is usually spoken about and looked at as one singular region on the map. We generally forget that Northeast India is a combination of 8 distinct states namely Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya. Each of these states are so diverse from each other and also within themselves that a lifetime would not be enough to explore the lengths and breaths of this 8% of the total geographical area of the Indian subcontinent. This 2.62 lakh square kilometers has so much to offer in terms of its natural beauty, multitude of cultures, indigenous peoples, religions, national parks, mountains, rivers, weather patterns and so much more. From adventure sports to cultural indulgence, spelunking to bird watching, river islands to high mountains, each pocket of this magnificent land has something unique to experience.

We’d recommend that you do a thorough assessment of your interests before planning a trip to the northeast of India. It is also wise to pick a small region to explore instead of trying to cover maximum land.

We’d say travel to a state and not a direction!

5. Pick your season based on what you want to do

Overall, given the diversity within the Northeastern states, it is a year-round location because each season has something wonderful to offer. Decide on the best time to travel to Northeast India based on ‘what’ you want to do there.

For example, winters are usually a good time to visit Assam since the state is mostly plains and tends to get extremely hot in summers. Moreover, the biggest attraction of Assam, its many National Parks, remain closed during summers and monsoons. Whereas if you pick Meghalaya, the state known for its waterfalls, the monsoons here elevate the natural beauty of this region and so it’s best visited during rains. Since Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are home to some of the tallest mountains, for a heavy dose of adrenaline and a pinch of light shiver, they are exciting places to be during dry season. If you are into festivals, Nagaland is the most colourful during the coldest months. While the monsoons are the best to enjoy the natural beauty of Meghalaya, if you are up for some caving, you might want to visit the state in the peak of winter.

We’d suggest pick the season to travel to Northeast India based on the region you plan to cover after a thorough assessment of your many interests.

6. Northeast is known for its unique culture – get a local experience

The northeastern part of India is known to be the world’s most culturally diverse region. The 8 states together are inhabited by more than 200 tribes, who boast of their indigenous and authentic traditions. Some of the most popular tribes are the Bodo tribe, Adi tribe, Nishi Tribe, Bhutia tribe, Garo tribe, Kuki tribe, and many more. It’s likely you will witness different cultural traditions in each geographic area. We’d say be open to new experiences.

While each state and region in the Northeast of India has its own food culture based on the geography, a typical home meal there includes a cereal – rice or millets, locally grown vegetables and a portion of meat (mostly pork) cooked in local spices using beans and bamboo shoots. While it is true that consumption of meat, especially fish and pork, is big in the region, food of all kind is easily available in market places as well as homestays. The use of certain kinds of spices gives the food its Northeastern flavour. It may be different from what you are used to but that is true for every place that you want to explore.

Although, in major cities, with the inflow of major brands of food chains, you will find food to your taste, we would still maintain that trying local cuisine is one sure way to feel fully belonged to a place and its people.

We’d say stay in homestays and not hotels and indulge in local cuisine as much as possible.

7. Figure out your permits and documentations

Apart from the general permits required for trekking and other adventure activities, certain states and specific regions of Northeast demand a separate permit to gain access to these regions. There are three types of permits issues by local authorities. Inner Line Permits (ILP) are required by domestic travelers whereas Protected Area Permit (PAP) and Restricted Area Permit (RAP) are required by foreign nationals.

Four of the eight Northeastern states, at the moment, require a permit to enter their borders. These are Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur. Parts of Sikkim require one to obtain permits to gain access to these regions.

It is important to figure out which permits you need to access which specific regions and where you can get them from before you plan your itinerary. For more information on permits, read Permits Required for Northeast India.

We hope that these broad tips help you kick off your planning to travel to Northeast India. If you have any more questions, do let us know and we’d be happy to help you in any way that we can.

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