State · Northeast India
राज्यपूर्वोत्तर भारत
First light of India, high passes and Monpa monasteries
The place
परिचय
India's easternmost state climbs from the Brahmaputra plains to snow passes on the Tibetan rim. Arunachal Pradesh holds Tawang Monastery, the Apatani rice-and-fish valley of Ziro, the rainforests of Namdapha and the Siang river where the Tsangpo enters India, across a homeland of twenty-six major tribes and hundreds of dialects.
Arunachal Pradesh is the largest of the northeastern states and the least crowded, a place where a day's drive can take you from banana groves at 200 metres to snowfields above 4,000. In the west, the road to Tawang crosses Sela Pass at about 4,170 metres before dropping to the seventeenth-century Tawang Monastery, the largest in India, where Monpa monks still debate in the courtyard at dusk. Central Arunachal holds Ziro, where Apatani farmers grow rice and fish in the same flooded fields and elders wear cane nose plugs; the Ziro Festival of Music brings bands to a paddy field each September. Eastwards, the Siang carries Tibet's Tsangpo into India at Pasighat, and Namdapha National Park in Changlang shelters tiger, clouded leopard, snow leopard and leopard in one park. Dong village, near the Myanmar border, sees India's first sunrise. Travel needs an Inner Line Permit, patience with mountain roads and warm layers. Signature journeys are the Tezpur to Tawang drive and a Ziro and Mechuka loop.
What it is famous for
पहचान
5 places we travel to
गंतव्य
Every Arunachal Pradesh destination we plan journeys around, with the best months and the ideal stay for each.
ValleyArunachal Pradesh
Monpa valleys of kiwi orchards, hot springs and black-necked cranes
ValleyArunachal Pradesh
A remote valley of Memba monasteries and hanging bridges near Tibet
WildlifeArunachal Pradesh
India's wildest forest, from river bed to snow line in one park
MonasteryArunachal Pradesh
A seventeenth-century monastery guarding a high Himalayan valley of prayer flags
ValleyArunachal Pradesh
Apatani rice terraces, pine ridges and a music festival under open sky
Time it right
त्योहार
FebFebruary or early March on the Tibetan lunar new year, marked in Sikkim, Tawang and the Tibetan settlements. Ladakh keeps its own Losar two months earlier, in late December or early January.
The Buddhist new year of the high Himalaya, kept in deep winter with butter lamps, masked cham dances and barley beer. Ladakh runs two months ahead on a centuries-old royal decree, so Leh's old town fills with fire processions while Sikkim and Tawang wait for February.
Ladakh · Sikkim · Arunachal Pradesh
From the journal
पत्रिका
· Itinerary · 6 min
A tested ten-day route from Guwahati through Kaziranga's rhino grasslands to the satras of Majuli, then across the Khasi hills to root bridges, Nohkalikai Falls and the glass water of the Umngot, with costs, permits and honest driving times.
7 more in Northeast India
पड़ोसी राज्य
StateNortheast India
One-horned rhinos, Brahmaputra mornings and endless tea gardens
StateNortheast India
Floating islands on Loktak, mothers' market and polo's birthplace
StateNortheast India
Root bridges grown from fig trees in the wettest hills on earth
StateNortheast India
Ridge-top towns, bamboo dances and Sunday hymns in the hills
StateNortheast India
Hornbill drums, Konyak villages and the battlefield at Kohima
StateNortheast India
Kangchenjunga's shadow, prayer flags and India's first organic state
StateNortheast India
A palace on a lake, rock-cut gods and orange hills
