Delhi to Shillong: the honest route (2026)

Shillong has no airport worth landing at. Everything from Delhi arrives through Guwahati, and then you drive the last 125 km. The flight-plus-taxi combination is the only sensible route from Delhi; this post is the timings, the costs, and the common mistakes.

The three options

1. Direct flight to Guwahati + shared taxi. 2h 40m flight, 3h 30m drive. Total door-to-door around 8 hours including airport transit.

2. Guwahati–Shillong Helitaxi. Operated when weather allows, 25 minutes airport-to-Shillong. Rare, expensive, often cancelled in monsoon. Not worth planning around — treat as a bonus if you find a slot.

3. Train from Delhi to Guwahati + taxi. 28 to 32 hours by Rajdhani, then the same 3.5-hour drive. Right for people who dislike flying or want to see the plains. Wrong for anyone optimising time.

For 95% of travellers, option 1 is the trip.

Flight to Guwahati

Delhi–Guwahati runs several daily on IndiGo, Air India, Vistara and SpiceJet. Prices vary by season — ₹5,000–₹8,000 one-way in the clear months (October–March) and ₹3,500–₹6,000 in monsoon. Book 3–6 weeks out for the best fares; last-minute (<10 days) spikes above ₹10,000.

Choose an arrival time before 2 PM. The drive to Shillong takes 3.5 hours, and arriving at your hotel after 7 PM in Shillong is dark, cold and limits your first evening to Police Bazar. A morning arrival gives you Umiam Lake on the way up.

Terminals: LGBI (Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi) is Guwahati's only airport. Domestic uses Terminal 1 for most carriers; confirm as you book.

From Guwahati airport to Shillong

Two sensible choices.

Shared taxi seat. ₹1,200 for a Dzire seat, ₹1,400 for an Ertiga, ₹1,500 for an Innova Crysta. One seat, one person; the rest of the cab fills from the stand queue. Flat per-seat fare — airport pickup does not cost extra. Cab leaves inside a 1-hour window after the time you pick. Right for solo travellers and couples.

Reserve a whole cab. Dzire ₹3,350, Ertiga ₹8,150, Innova ₹10,250 (per-seat × capacity, less a ₹250 whole-cab discount). Leaves at your chosen time, no fill wait, no co-passengers. Right for a family of three or more, anyone with heavy luggage, and anyone with a tight schedule.

Both are booked at the top of the homepage. The two tabs show the right prices before you confirm.

What it costs end-to-end

Rough all-in for one person, Delhi to a Shillong hotel, in the clear season:

Leg	Cost
Flight Delhi → Guwahati	₹6,500
Shared taxi airport → Shillong (Dzire seat)	₹1,200
Online advance	included in the fare
Total	₹7,700

A family of four, same leg, Reserve an Ertiga:

Leg	Cost
Flights (4 × ₹6,500)	₹26,000
Ertiga whole cab, reserved	₹8,150
Total	₹34,150

Agency private cabs quote this leg at ₹9,500 to ₹12,000 for the same Ertiga, no public price list. Reserve is the same vehicle, booked in advance, at a published fare.

The two mistakes

Booking the Shillong leg at the Guwahati airport taxi stand. The walk-up queue is 30–60 minutes long on inbound evenings and pricing is negotiable, not fixed. Book online 24 hours ahead and walk out of arrivals straight to the pickup.

Trying to combine the Guwahati airport drop with Kaziranga. Kaziranga is 200 km east of Guwahati; Shillong is 125 km south. These are not on the way to each other. If you want both, see our Kaziranga + Meghalaya combined trip post.

For the return

The Shillong → Delhi direction is the same route reversed, but the timing is different because you are catching a flight. Allow 6 hours from Shillong to boarding — details in our Shillong-to-Guwahati airport guide.

In one line

Fly Delhi → Guwahati in the morning, Share-a-seat if solo, Reserve if three or more, done by evening in Shillong.