What to Pack for Meghalaya: A Season-by-Season List, and What to Leave at Home

Pack for two climates. Shillong and Sohra sit at around 1,400 to 1,500 metres and get cold at night, while Dawki and the river valleys are lowland, with winter days around 20 to 28 C. And in any month, bring a rain layer: this is the wettest region in India, and it doesn't check the calendar.

Every season

• A light rain jacket that packs small
• Shoes with real grip (more on this below)
• Cash. ATMs in Sohra are unreliable and there are none in most villages.
• A power bank and a small torch
• Government photo ID: homestays and hotels record it
• Sunscreen and sunglasses, because the glare off the Umngot is fierce
• Motion-sickness tablets if you need them. The hill roads wind for hours.
• A small daypack and a refillable water bottle

By season

Winter, in detail

People underpack for Sohra and Shillong in December and January. Mornings are properly cold, and most properties have no central heating, so the room is cold too. Bring something warm to sleep in.

If the Nongjrong sunrise is on your plan, bring thermals and gloves. You'll stand on an open ridge at 5am in roughly 5 to 10 C, with wind. Then, two days later, you may be swimming at Dawki. Pack for both and layer.

Monsoon, in detail

• Poncho as well as a jacket. On ridges and viewpoints the wind turns an umbrella inside out. Keep the umbrella for town.
• No cotton. Jeans that get soaked on day two are still wet on day five.
• Leech socks for Nongriat and forest walks, plus a little salt to remove any that get through.
• Dry bags or zip-lock bags for your phone, documents and cash.
• Keep a sealed bag of dry clothes in the car. You'll thank yourself after the root bridge trek.

More on the season itself in Meghalaya in monsoon.

The shoes question

This is the one item that changes your trip. Wet limestone and wet concrete steps are slippery in a way that ordinary trainers handle badly, and much of Meghalaya is wet steps: about 3,500 of them at Nongriat, the bamboo ladders at Wei Sawdong, the cave floors at Mawsmai.

• Bring trekking shoes or trail runners with a deep, soft-rubber tread.
• Break them in before the trip. Day two at Nongriat is a bad time to discover blisters.
• Pack a pair of sandals for the river, camps and evenings.

What to wear

Shillong dresses like any Indian hill city: jeans, jackets, whatever you'd wear at home in cool weather. Nothing special is expected of visitors, women included.

In villages and churches, dress as you would visiting someone's home. Khasi villages are lived-in places rather than attractions, and on Sundays a lot of people are on their way to church.

What to leave at home

• A large hard suitcase. Some homestays are a walk from the road, and at Nongriat everything goes down 3,500 steps on your back. A soft bag is easier, and the big case can stay in the car.
• New shoes you haven't walked in.
• Single-use plastic. Villages like Mawlynnong work hard to keep it out.
• Expensive jewellery you'd worry about at a camp.

Travelling with children or parents? The family guide has a short medicine list too.