Shillong - Cherrapunjee - Mawsynram: The Ultimate Megalaya Vacation

Day I
We reached the Guwahati International Airport (aka Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport) around 2:30pm. Our Indigo flight was delayed by half an hour, which was not a big issue. There are counters of both Assam Tourism and Meghalaya Tourism inside the terminal and you can always get plenty of information from them. We booked a tourist cab at the airport for Shillong. The distance was around 104 kms and took us 3 and half hours.

Sunset at Nangpoh ©Ritesh Maity

You can even go to Paltan Bazaar in Guwahati city, which is 10 kms from the airport from where you will get transport to Shillong at a frequent interval. Hop onto one of those crowded Sumos and reach Shillong for INR100-120.

Finally we reached Shillong around 6:30pm. The Cabbie dropped us at the Police Bazaar, the city centre of Shillong. This part of Shillong is very congested and feels like our very own Esplanade/ New Market area. Since it was during Durga Puja, and we did not even care to book the rooms in advance, we had a tough time finding a place to sleep. With our backpacks on our shoulder and running from one hotel to another, we finally got a place for ourselves after 2 T hours of intense search. However, the hotel was clean and charges were reasonable.

If you are going to Shillong during the puja, you will feel half of the crowd of Calcutta has been shifted to Shillong. It is advisable to book in advance if you are going to Shillong during the festive season. Most of the expensive as well as budget hotels are located near Police Bazaar. However, you can try out few newly built hotels/ resorts at the outskirt of the city too.

Our Day I ended with hot dinner, some chat and a good sleep.

Police Bazaar, Shillong ©Ritesh Maity

Day II
We decided to spend the whole day travelling here and there inside the city. Since the booking of our hotel for the next day wasn’t confirm, we were reluctant to relax in a proper manner.

The best way to explore the city of Shillong is by way of hiring a cab which will take you to the places of interests within the city. There are around 7-10 such places and charges would be around INR600. It is advisable to negotiate first.

Day III
We left our hotel around 7:30 in the morning and reached to the office of Meghalaya Tourism. The said office is 2 mins walk from the Police Bazaar Chowk. We had booked the tickets of Cherrapunjee conducted tour the day before. We took our allotted seats and our 28 seaters mini bus started its journey around 8am. Cherrapunjee tour covers a distance of around 180 kms in total and includes several places like Nohkhalikal Falls, Mawsmai Caves, Seven Sisters etc. The final place of visit was the Mawsmai Caves where we had lunch too around 2pm. We returned to Shillong around 4:30 in the evening.

Taking a bus of the Megalaya Tourism is the wisest thing one can do. However, if you have a group of 4-6 people, then you can hire a mid size car. While the fare of the bus is around INR200 per head, a cab to cherrapunjee will cost around INR 1500-2200.

Nohkalikai Falls, Meghalaya ©Ritesh Maity

Day IV
The day started with a rush. It was the day for our Mawsynram tour and we had to reach the same Meghalaya Tourism office at 7:45pm. After having a quick bite at the road side stall, we reached the office. And yes, we had booked our tickets the day before. The bus started its journey around 8:30am. Mawsynram tour has few places of interests on its way comparing to the Cherrapunjee tour. But the place itself is amazingly beautiful. We reached there around 11am and was their till 2 in the afternoon. You can enjoy the natural water fall as well as the artificial swimming pool just at the bottom of the hill. However, availability of food and drinking water is almost zero. So you need to make the arrangements before hand.

The place is amazing and not at all crowded. If you travel by car, then try to find out any local accommodation to spend a night. However, this might not be a very safe option though. And remember that you will not get the network of your cellphone in most parts of Mawsynram.

Day V
This was the final day of our tour. We left Shillong early in the morning around 8:30am after wasting money on some mere bread-butter-egg breakfast accompanied with hot coffees. We already had booked a car to Guwahati and had planned to visit the famous Kamakhya Temple on our way back. The temple is 15-20 kms away from the Guwahati Airport and is located on top of the hill. There is a high class motorable road till the top of the hill, the distance being just 4.5 kms. We reached the temple around 12:30pm but due to huge crowd and lack of time on our part, we could not get inside the temple. After having lunch near the temple, we headed straight to the airport. By 1:45pm, we reached Guwahati International Airport to catch our flight back to Calcutta.

It is quite convenient to pay a visit to KamakhyaTemple on your way back to Guwahati from Shillong. You can enter inside the temple through a VIP entrance by obtaining VIP passes which cost around INR500 each.

Things to remember:

• After reaching the Guwahati airport, you can contact the Meghalaya Tourism Office at the terminal for any kind of assistance.
• If you are travelling from Guwahati to Shillong by a private transport, make sure that you keep your eyes open and stop at several points to capture the wonderful moments in your camera.
• If you are going to Shillong during any festive season, it is advisable to book hotels in advance.
• There are few hotels and resorts in the outskirt. They are bit expensive but worth staying.
• If possible, stay for 1 or 2 days at Cherrapunjee. There are very few resorts in Cherrapunjee so you need to make the arrangements well in advance.
• The Meghalaya Tourism is quite tourist friendly and highly informative.
• The nearest railway station/ airport is at Guwahati (Assam). You can also reach Shillong by direct flights, but there are no regular direct flights to Shillong.
• Enjoy the experience of travelling through the vast beauty of Meghalaya.

No. of days = 5
Kms = 2500 approx (On road 500-600 kms)
Expenses = INR.10,000/- approx (if you travel by train, the cost will be exactly half)