North East India
Water that grows its own islands. Hills that keep their own weather. A lily that waits all year to open.
Where would you like to begin?
Sixteen districts
for every kind of traveller: lake, ridge, fort and forest.
A garden on the eastern edge of Imphal, on the Andro road
Phuba Thapham cave
A named cave in a Poumai village few outsiders reach
Reviews single it out for sunrise and sunset. Close to Imphal — an obvious addition to a city itinerary.
Listed separately from Kangla Fort. Confirm whether it is inside the fort complex or adjacent.
About 45 km from Imphal on Loktak. Adjacent to the Loktak Aquamarine homestay site at Takmu.
The Marjing hill complex — site of the giant polo statue. Polo originated in Manipur, which makes this one of the strongest culture-plus-nature stories available. Reviews: walk up
Ukhrul district. Reviews describe it as a trekking peak and overnight camping base — a real adventure-tourism asset.
Lakoi Pat
A small boating lake on the Tiddim Road most Loktak visitors drive straight past
Hosted by Manipuris
you join rather than watch: a loom, a kitchen, a canoe at dawn.
With Bina Devi
Singjamei, Imphal West, Imphal West
₹1,400 per person
With Tomba Singh
Thanga, Loktak Lake, Bishnupur
₹900 per person
With Radha Devi, Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy alumna
Uripok, Imphal West, Imphal West
₹1,600 per person
With Moirangthem Bina
Singjamei, Imphal West, Imphal West
₹1,200 per person
With Nongthombam Prem
Andro village, Imphal East
₹1,100 per person
With Ningthoujam Somorjit, wildlife guide
Keibul Lamjao National Park, Bishnupur
₹1,800 per person
With Thoibi Devi
Khwairamband Bazar, Imphal, Imphal West
₹950 per person
Planned end to end
routed day by day, so the hill roads work in your favour.
1 day
Districts covered: Bishnupur · Imphal West
Pre-dawn departure for the watchtowers, then the lake by canoe, lunch on the water and the Sendra viewpoint before returning via Moirang.
from ₹3,200 per person
1 day
Districts covered: Imphal West · Imphal East
A 4 km morning walk linking the fort, the royal temple, the women's market, the martyrs' column and the world's oldest polo ground.
from ₹1,600 per person
2 days
Districts covered: Ukhrul
Drive up through the Tangkhul hills, settle into the homestay, walk the Ukhrul bazar and get an evening briefing on the climb.
from ₹7,800 per person
3 days
Districts covered: Senapati · Kangpokpi
Drive north on NH-2 through Kanglatongbi and Karong, acclimatise at Senapati and prepare kit.
from ₹11,500 per person
1 day
Districts covered: Imphal West · Thoubal
Start at Ima Keithel when the produce arrives, visit a fermentation household in Thoubal, then cook and eat a full Meitei meal in an Imphal home.
from ₹2,800 per person
7 days
Districts covered: Imphal West · Imphal East · Bishnupur · Thoubal · Ukhrul · Senapati
Airport transfer, an afternoon at Kangla and the State Museum, and an evening briefing over dinner.
from ₹42,500 per person
The year, month by month
a calendar of raas, drums, lilies and hill harvests.
Usually held: 21–30 November each year
Hapta Kangjeibung and satellite venues, Imphal
Usually held: Five days from the Lamta full moon, late February to mid-March
Statewide, with thabal chongba in every Meitei locality
Usually held: April to June, dates set separately by each locality
Village courtyards across the valley; Moirang, Andro and Kanglatongbi are notable
Ningol Chakkouba
Usually held: Second lunar day of Hiyangei, usually early to mid-November
Every Meitei household across Manipur
Sajibu Nongma Panba Cheiraoba
Usually held: First lunar day of Sajibu, late March to mid-April
Statewide; hill climbs at Nongmaijing, Langol, Kaina and Cheiraoching
Usually held: 1 November each year
Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Chandel and Imphal
Usually held: Four days in the second half of May
Ukhrul town and Shirui village
Bought from the maker
of a thousand-year loom
Handloom
ꯃꯣꯏꯔꯥꯡ ꯐꯤ
A handwoven wrap-around phanek carrying the Moirang Phee motif, the stepped temple-spire border that is among the most recognisable patterns in Manipuri handloom.
Made by Binodini DeviMoirang, Bishnupur
₹1,200varies with border width and thread count
Pottery
Cooking and serving pots shaped entirely without a wheel, then fired in an open pit until the clay turns its characteristic black.
Made by Andro Potters' CollectiveAndro, Imphal East
₹850per set of three vessels
Handloom
A light silk shawl with woven motif bands at either end, worn at Ningol Chakouba and given as a gift between families.
Made by Silk Route ManipurImphal East
₹3,500
Sculpture
Carved pieces drawing on Manipuri iconography (the kangla-sha, the polo rider, the sangai), made as table pieces.
Made by Kanglei CraftersImphal West
₹2,200
Off the obvious route
worth the extra hour on the road
Park
Likely the Noney district viewpoint near the world's tallest railway pier bridge. Confirm what the pin actually marks.
Allow about 2 hr
Museum
Inside Kangla. Worth a sub-entry under the Kangla Fort record rather than its own listing.
Allow about 2 hr
Park
Reviews describe primitive camping. Near the Khangkhui caves in Ukhrul.
Allow about 2 hr
Waterfall
Khunkhu Naga Waterfall / Ariang Waterfall
Allow about 2 hr
In their own words
worth a thousand stories
We were on the water at Thanga by half past five and the mist was still sitting in the channels. Tomba paddled us out to his own fish ring and explained how it is built. Nothing I had read about Loktak prepared me for actually being on it at that hour.
Ukhrul in November is cold, quiet and completely unlike anywhere else I have been in India. Somi's family fed us smoked pork and bamboo shoot every night and got us onto the Shirui ridge for sunrise. I have already booked to go back in lily season.
The heritage walk made sense of Imphal for us on our first morning. Our guide took us round Kangla and then through Ima Keithel, and by the end we understood why the market matters so much here. Everything afterwards landed better because of it.
I came for the food and it exceeded everything. Pounding my own eromba in Bina's kitchen, then eating it off a leaf with chak-hao kheer afterwards. I have made it twice at home since, though the ngari is impossible to source.
My grandfather fought at Imphal in 1944 and I had wanted to see it for thirty years. The battlefield tour took us from the war cemetery out to Red Hill and Shenam with a historian who knew the ground properly. It was a difficult and very worthwhile two days.
We took the children to Andro and they spent the whole morning with their hands in clay. Prem never hurried them once. The pots arrived by post three weeks later, fired and intact, and they are still on the shelf.
Inspired?
tell us the shape of the trip, we will fill in the road
Say how many days you have, what month you are coming and whether you would rather be on water or on a ridge. The concierge writes the route, names the homestays and tells you what is actually open.
Loktak Lake
The largest freshwater lake in North East India, floored with floating phumdi islands.
Floating national park
Keibul Lamjao is the world's only floating national park, and the last wild home of the sangai.
Ima Keithel traders
Asia's largest market run entirely by women, held in the heart of Imphal for centuries.
Recognised tribes
Thirty-four Scheduled Tribes across sixteen districts, each with its own weave and calendar.
