Umiam Lake: The Stop Most Itineraries Drive Past, and How to Use It

Umiam Lake, also called Barapani, is a reservoir about 15 km north of Shillong on the road up from Guwahati. It was created in 1965, when the Umiam river was dammed for the first hydroelectric project in the Northeast. Every traveller arriving in Shillong drives past it. Most don't stop, and that's a mistake if you arrive in the afternoon.

Three ways to see it

The sunset stop

If your flight lands in the morning, you reach Umiam in the afternoon. Stop. The reservoir with the pine ridges going dark behind it is a better first sight of Meghalaya than anything in Shillong itself, and it costs ten minutes.

The light is best in the last hour before sunset. In winter the sun sets at about 4:30pm, much earlier than people expect.

Boating and water sports

There's a lakeside park and a water sports complex on the shore, with boat rides, kayaking and water cycling. They usually run from about 9am to 5pm, and rates are posted on the day. Wear the life jacket you're given.

October to April is the season for being on the water. In June to August the lake is full and often under cloud, which is atmospheric from the bank but not when you want to be out on it.

Sleeping at Umiam instead of Shillong

It's about 100 km and two and a half to three hours from Guwahati airport to the lake, against about 118 km and three to four hours to Shillong. That difference matters on a first day after an early flight, and it matters more with elderly parents.

• Stay at Umiam if you want a quiet first or last night, a room facing water, and an evening with nothing in it.
• Stay in Shillong if you want cafes, live music and a walk to dinner. The lake is about 45 minutes from town, and evenings out there are quiet.

Ask one question when you book.

Does the room face the lake or the road? It's the one question that decides the stay.

When to go

Any month works for the viewpoint. October to February gives the clearest water and sky. In monsoon the lake is at its fullest, with cloud sitting right on it, and the viewpoint becomes a short stop between showers rather than an afternoon.

How it fits a trip

Umiam isn't a day out on its own. It's the first or last stop of the Guwahati drive, covered in Guwahati to Shillong, or a night that slows down the start of a trip.

Our Slow Meghalaya trip spends its first two nights at a lakeside property for exactly that reason, and most of our other routes stop here on the way up. Couples should also read Meghalaya for a honeymoon, where the lake comes up again.