Meghalaya with Family: Kids, Elderly Parents and What to Skip

Meghalaya is a good family trip if you plan it as one, and a hard one if you take a standard itinerary and add grandparents. The difference comes down to three things: fewer hotels, shorter driving days, and being realistic about the Nongriat steps.

The Nongriat question

This comes first because it breaks more family trips than anything else.

The double decker root bridge at Nongriat is about 3,500 steps down and 3,500 back up. Fit adults usually take two to three hours going down and three to four climbing out. For young children that's a long, hard day. For older parents, or anyone with knee trouble, the descent is the real problem rather than the climb: thousands of steep stone steps load the knees in a way stairs at home never do.

Between June and September, when the stone is wet, we don't take children, elderly travellers or anyone with knee problems down at all.

You don't need Nongriat to see a living root bridge, though. The Riwai bridge near Mawlynnong is a short, gentle walk from the road, and it's a real living root bridge. Split the family if you need to. The fit ones do Nongriat; everyone else takes the easy one; nobody spends a day being helped up steps.

Build the trip around fewer bases

Every change of hotel costs half a day: packing, loading, the drive, unpacking. With children or older parents, that half day costs more than it does for anyone else. Two or three bases in a week is the right number: Shillong, Sohra, and perhaps a night beside Umiam Lake at the start or end.

Our Slow Meghalaya route is built on exactly this. Three bases in seven days, no day with more than about three hours in the car, and a rest afternoon at every base.

What works for families

The car

A private car is close to essential with a family, and the vehicle itself matters more than people think. If you're travelling with older parents, ask for one with a comfortable entry height; a tall SUV is harder to climb into ten times a day than it looks in a photo. Our slow route specifies this.

Some of the Sohra roads twist a lot. Bring whatever you normally use for car sickness.

Rooms and stairs

Hill-town hotels are often built down slopes, with stairs everywhere and no lift. If anyone in your group struggles with stairs, ask for a ground-floor or lift-served room at every property, and get the answer in writing before you pay.

On the slow route we request exactly that at every property and send you written confirmation of what we secured, before you pay anything.

Food, for kids and for vegetarians

Khasi food is meat-heavy, mostly pork. In Shillong, vegetarian families eat easily, with North and South Indian restaurants everywhere. In villages and homestays it's harder. Tell your accommodation in advance if you need vegetarian meals, and it can usually be arranged.

Carry snacks for the longer drives. Between towns, the roadside options are limited and not always open.

When to go

October to April is the family window. Trails are dry, the Umngot runs clear from November, Kaziranga opens on 1 November, and the Nongriat steps are as safe as they get.

Monsoon works for families who want the waterfalls at full roar, provided you drop the steep treks from the plan entirely. December is cold at night, so pack warm layers for the children. More in Meghalaya in December.

Medicine

Shillong has good hospitals. The remote places don't.

Carry children's medicines and any regular prescriptions for older parents, tell your operator about medical conditions ahead of time, and don't plan on finding a pharmacy in Mawlynnong at 9pm. For the broader picture, see is Meghalaya safe.