Shillong & the Meghalaya Hills — Three Nights

South from Guwahati, about 100 km and three hours, climbing out of the Brahmaputra plain onto the Khasi plateau with the Umiam reservoir spread out below the road near the top. Shillong sits at around 1,500 m and was the capital of undivided Assam under the British, which is why it has the churches, the polo ground and the golf course. The afternoon takes Elephant Falls and Shillong Peak, and the evening the Police Bazar end of town.

South to Sohra — Cherrapunji — about two hours across a plateau that ends abruptly in a two-thousand-metre drop toward Bangladesh. This is where the monsoon arrives first and hardest, and the figures are genuinely the world record. Nohkalikai falls about 340 m in a single drop and is India's tallest plunge waterfall. Mawsmai cave is a short lit limestone passage that can be walked through; Arwah nearby has fossils in its walls. Seven Sisters falls run off the escarpment edge when there is water behind them, which in the dry months there may not be.

East and south toward the Bangladesh border. The living root bridge at Riwai is the accessible one: Khasi communities train the aerial roots of Ficus elastica across streams over decades until they are strong enough to walk on, and they grow stronger with age rather than decaying. Mawlynnong beside it is the village known for its cleanliness and its bamboo sky walk over the canopy. The double-decker bridge at Nongriat is a different proposition entirely — around three thousand steps down and back — and is a full day for the fit rather than part of this one.

Back down the escarpment to Guwahati, three hours, with the Umiam lake viewpoint on the descent. If the flight allows, the Kamakhya temple on Nilachal hill above Guwahati is one of the most important Shakta sites in India and worth the hour, though queues can be very long on auspicious days. Guwahati airport is on the far side of the Brahmaputra, so allow for the river crossing in the timing.