Meghalaya sits on a plateau that rises straight out of the Bangladesh plain, and that single fact explains almost everything about it. Monsoon air comes off the Bay of Bengal, hits the escarpment, and drops its water — which is why Mawsynram and Sohra trade the title of wettest inhabited place on earth between them, and why the whole plateau is cut through with gorges, caves and falls.
The three hill peoples — Khasi, Jaintia and Garo — are matrilineal: property passes through the youngest daughter, and children take their mother's clan name. The living root bridges are the other thing the state is known for, and they are not a tourist construction. Khasi families have been training the aerial roots of the rubber fig across streams for generations, and a mature bridge grows stronger with age rather than weaker.
No permits are required anywhere in Meghalaya, and the roads are among the best in the region. It is the easiest state here to travel in, which makes it the usual first visit — and the reason we push most itineraries past Sohra and into the gorges, where the crowds thin out within an hour's walk.
The main stops
These are the places that carry a first visit. Well known for good reason, and every one of them worth the time.
East Khasi Hills · 1,496 m
The state capital and the region's music town, where a café on Laitumkhrah is as likely to have a live set as a coffee menu. Ward's Lake and the Don Bosco museum sit in the centre; Umiam Lake spreads out on the drive in from Guwahati.
East Khasi Hills · 1,430 m
Nohkalikai drops 340 m in a single fall here, the tallest plunge waterfall in India, into a pool that turns turquoise once the silt settles. Mawsmai Cave and the Seven Sisters falls are within a short drive along the same escarpment.
West Jaintia Hills · 100 m
In the dry months the Umngot runs clear enough that a boat appears to float above its own shadow on the riverbed. The Bangladesh border is a few hundred metres downstream, and the plain beyond it opens out flat to the horizon.
East Khasi Hills · 500 m
Widely billed as the cleanest village in Asia, and genuinely tidy — bamboo bins on every path and a community that maintains them. A single-decker living root bridge stands at Riwai, ten minutes away, for anyone not walking down to Nongriat.
East Khasi Hills · 1,400 m
The wettest inhabited place on earth by annual rainfall, narrowly ahead of Sohra. Mawjymbuin cave holds a stalagmite shaped like a Shiva lingam, and the surrounding ridges disappear into cloud for much of the year.
Further out
Longer drives, rougher road, fewer beds — and the reason people come back a second time.
Below Tyrna, East Khasi Hills · 600 m
The Double Decker root bridge is roughly 3,500 steps down from Tyrna, and the same back up. Staying the night is what makes it worthwhile: Rainbow Falls is another hour beyond the bridge, and the day trippers are gone by four.
East Khasi Hills · 1,800 m
A forest the Khasi have protected for centuries under customary law — nothing may be removed from it, not even a fallen leaf. Monoliths stand at the entrance where clan rituals were held. Go with a local guide; the forest is dense with meaning that is invisible otherwise.
West Jaintia Hills, near Amlarem · 700 m
A broad fall into a pool the colour of jade, with a viewing deck and a swimming area below. It sees a fraction of the traffic Sohra does, and the Jaintia Hills drive out to it is worth the detour on its own.
West Jaintia Hills, upstream of Dawki · 90 m
The same clear river as Dawki with tents on the bank instead of a queue at the jetty. Kayaking, snorkelling, cliff jumping and zip lines are all run by the community, and the night sky over the gorge is worth staying up for.
East Khasi Hills, near Smit · 1,800 m
A grassland shoulder that ends abruptly in a canyon, forty minutes from Shillong and best at first light before the cloud fills in. A stone stairway runs down the cliff to the village of Rasong, which has no road of its own.
Start here