Best time to visit Meghalaya, month by month

Meghalaya has two very different faces and most disappointment comes from expecting one and getting the other.

October to February — clear

The best window for photographs. The Umngot at Dawki runs genuinely transparent, skies are open, and the hills are comfortable rather than cold. Shillong gets down to single digits at night in December and January.

Waterfalls are at their weakest. Nohkalikai still falls, but it is a ribbon rather than a torrent.

March to May — the compromise

Water levels rising, crowds thinner, temperatures pleasant. Krang Suri is at its best in this window: enough water to be impressive, still clear enough to swim.

June to September — the monsoon

This is the Cherrapunji people have read about. The waterfalls are extraordinary and the cloud is constant. In exchange: the Umngot is brown, some hill roads become unreliable, the Nongriat trek is slippery, and views disappear for days at a time.

Kaziranga, if you are adding Assam, is closed from mid-May to mid-October.

November

The month most locals would pick. Cherry blossom in Shillong, water still high from the monsoon, skies clearing.

Plan a trip — fixed-departure day trips run all year.