Curated Itinerary · 7N / 8D

Tawang & the Western Passes

Guwahati → Dirang → Sela Pass → Tawang → Sangti → Guwahati

From ₹46,500 per person · 7N/8D (indicative · 2 adults sharing · land only)

7 Nights · 8 Days

Duration

Mar - Jun, Sep - Nov

Best time

Bumla, ~15,200 ft

Highest point

Inner Line - we arrange it

Permits

Where you'll stay

Two of the seven nights are in Monpa family homes - a farmstay in Dirang and a homestay in Sangti Valley - because in this part of Arunachal the homestays are simply better than the hotels, and they are the nights guests write to us about afterwards.

Tailored for you

Get an exact quote for these 8 days

The plan is all here. The price depends on your dates, rooms and who is travelling, so tell us those and we send an exact quote by WhatsApp & email - usually within 24 hours.

Most people who want to see Arunachal mean this journey. Here it is in one state. Eight days take you from the Brahmaputra plains over Sela Pass, at 13,700 ft, to Tawang and the Monpa heartland.

There is a 400-year-old monastery above a valley. There is a border pass you need written permission to stand on. And there are two nights in villages where visitors still come in handfuls.

We arrange every permit.

The journey at a glance

8 days, shaped around you.

Day 01
Arrival in Guwahati
Arrival
Arrival at Guwahati Airport or Railway Station, where our driver meets you. Transfer to your hotel and check in. The rest of the day is at leisure - Fancy Bazaar is a short ride away if you want to walk off the flight, and the Brahmaputra sandbanks are worth the sunset. We use tonight to hand over your Inner Line Permit and talk through the drives ahead, because tomorrow is the long one.
- Airport pickup
- Hotel check-in
- ILP handover
- Leisure
Guwahati - 3★ hotel, central Breakfast next morning
Day 02
Guwahati → Dirang
Guwahati → Dirang
An early start and the longest drive of the trip - out along the north bank, across the Kameng at Bhalukpong where your permit is checked and stamped, and then up. The road climbs out of the sub-tropical foothills into pine and cloud through Bomdila, and by late afternoon you are in Dirang, a wide stone-and-timber valley on the Kameng river. Check into a Monpa farmstay and eat dinner where it is cooked.
- Bhalukpong ILP checkpost
- Bomdila viewpoints
- Kameng river valley
- Farmstay arrival
This is a 9-10 hour driving day including permit formalities and meal stops. It is the price of admission for everything that follows, and we start early precisely so it ends in daylight.
Dirang - Monpa village farmstay Breakfast & Dinner
Day 03
Dirang → Sela Pass → Tawang
Dirang → Tawang
The day the landscape changes completely. After breakfast the road climbs to Sela Pass at 13,700 ft, where the treeline stops and Sela Lake sits frozen or mirror-still depending on the month. Below the pass, Jaswant Garh - the memorial to Jaswant Singh Rawat, held here in 1962 - is still run by the army and still serves tea to anyone who stops. Nuranang Falls drops 100 metres just off the road further down. Reach Tawang by evening.
- Sela Pass (13,700 ft)
- Sela Lake
- Jaswant Garh memorial
- Nuranang Falls
Tawang - mountain-view hotel Breakfast
Day 04
Bumla Pass & Madhuri Lake
Tawang
The excursion everyone comes for. Bumla is the Indo-China border at roughly 15,200 ft, and standing on it requires a separate permit issued in Tawang the day before - we file it for you. On the way back, Sangestar Lake, which everybody calls Madhuri Lake after the film shot beside it, sits in a bowl of dead trees and snow peaks. Back in Tawang by mid-afternoon.
- Bumla Pass
- Indo-China border post
- Sangestar (Madhuri) Lake
- PTSO Lake
Bumla and Madhuri Lake are served only by mandatory local union vehicles, paid directly on the day, and both are subject to permit availability, army clearance and weather. If Bumla is closed - it happens - we run the same day to PTSO Lake and Y-Junction instead, and nothing else in the itinerary moves.
Tawang - mountain-view hotel Breakfast
Day 05
Tawang town and monastery
Tawang
A slower day at 10,000 ft, which your body will thank you for. Tawang Monastery is the largest in India and the second largest in the world - founded in the 1680s, home to hundreds of monks, and best seen early when the prayer hall is actually in use rather than being photographed. Then the War Memorial above town, the Giant Buddha, and Urgelling Monastery, the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama. The afternoon is yours for the market.
- Tawang Monastery
- War Memorial
- Giant Buddha statue
- Urgelling Monastery
- Local market
Tawang - mountain-view hotel Breakfast
Day 06
Tawang → Sangti Valley
Tawang → Sangti
Back over Sela - and it is a different pass in the other direction, in different light - down to Dirang and then the short turn into Sangti. Sangti is a flat river valley of apple orchards and grazing land, quiet in a way that is hard to explain until you are standing in it, and in winter the black-necked cranes come. Tonight is a family-run Monpa homestay and dinner by the fire.
- Sela Pass return
- Dirang
- Sangti Valley
- Apple orchards
Sangti Valley - Monpa family homestay Breakfast & Dinner
Day 07
Sangti → Guwahati
Sangti → Guwahati
A slow riverside breakfast, then check out and begin the long descent - Dirang, Bomdila, Bhalukpong, and out of the permit zone at Tezpur. The plains arrive suddenly. Reach Guwahati in the evening and check in for the night.
- Riverside breakfast
- Bomdila
- Bhalukpong exit
- Tezpur
Another 9-10 hour driving day. We deliberately do not fly you out tonight - a same-day connection off this road is a bet on landslides not happening.
Guwahati - 3★ hotel, central Breakfast
Day 08
Departure
Guwahati → Airport
After breakfast, check out and transfer to Guwahati Airport or Railway Station for your onward journey.
- Check-out
- Airport transfer
Departure Breakfast