Tawang New Year Tour Package from Guwahati (6 Days)

Our driver picks you up from your hotel or home in Guwahati in the morning. Drive from Guwahati to Tezpur (about 161 km, 3 hrs 15 min) and from Tezpur to Dirang (about 198 km, 4 hrs). Check in at your hotel in Dirang. Start at about 6 am: this is the longest drive of the trip and it gets dark early in the hills. Cross the Brahmaputra plains past Tezpur and enter Arunachal at Bhalukpong, where the ILP is checked. The road climbs through Tenga and Bomdila to the Dirang valley; stop at Bomdila for a cup of tea if there is light left. Overnight stay in Dirang.

1. 1

   Bhalukpong

   The Arunachal border town on the Kameng river where the climb into the hills begins.

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   Dirang valley

   A gentle valley of apple and kiwi orchards beside the Dirang river, ringed by snow ridges in winter.

Today's travel: from Dirang to Tawang (about 136 km, 2 hrs 45 min). Drive up through Baisakhi to Sela Pass at 4,170 m and the frozen Sela lake (if the old road over the pass is open; otherwise the Sela tunnel takes you through). Stop at Jaswant Garh, the memorial to Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat of the 1962 war, for a cup of army tea, and see the Nuranang (Jang) falls on the way down. Reach Tawang by afternoon. Overnight stay in Tawang.

1. 1

   Sela Pass and Sela Lake

   A high pass at 4,170 m with a lake beside the road that freezes over in winter.

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   Jaswant Garh

   The war memorial to Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat, who held his post here in 1962; the army serves visitors tea.

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   Nuranang Falls

   A tall waterfall near Jang, a short walk from the road below Sela.

Visit the Tawang Monastery in the morning, the largest in India, with its three-storey assembly hall and huge golden Buddha. Then see the Tawang War Memorial and, a little outside town, Urgelling, birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama. Spend the afternoon in the market, then gather for the New Year's Eve bonfire and dinner at the hotel. Overnight stay in Tawang.

1. 1

   Tawang Monastery

   Founded in the 17th century, the largest monastery in India, with a museum of old thangkas and manuscripts.

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   Tawang War Memorial

   A stupa-shaped memorial to the soldiers who died in the 1962 war, with a light and sound show in the evening.

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   Urgelling Monastery

   A small monastery marking the birthplace of Tsangyang Gyatso, the sixth Dalai Lama.

If the pass is open and the permit is in hand, drive up the army road to Bumla on the India–China border at about 4,600 m, passing frozen lakes on the way, and return via Sangetsar (Madhuri) lake. The road is rough and snow can close it at short notice; if it does, we visit Pankang Teng Tso lake and the Gyangong Ani Gompa nunnery instead. Overnight stay in Tawang.

1. 1

   Bumla Pass

   The border pass at about 4,600 m where Indian soldiers show visitors the boundary; permit needed, Indians only.

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   Sangetsar (Madhuri) Lake

   A lake in a valley of dead tree trunks, formed by an earthquake in 1950.

3. 3

   Pankang Teng Tso

   A small high-altitude lake near the Bumla road, frozen and snow-covered in winter.

Today's travel: from Tawang to Bomdila (about 169 km, 3 hrs 30 min). Drive back over Sela to Dirang and on to Bomdila, stopping at the Dirang Dzong, an old stone fort village. In Bomdila, visit the Gontse Gaden Rabgye Ling monastery above town before dark. Overnight stay in Bomdila.

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   Dirang Dzong

   An old stone fort and village of the Monpa people above the Dirang river.

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   Bomdila Monastery

   The Gontse Gaden Rabgye Ling monastery, with views over the Kameng valley.

An early start for the drive down through Tenga and Bhalukpong to the plains, with lunch at Tezpur. Drive from Bomdila to Guwahati (about 267 km, 5 hrs 15 min), and drop at your hotel, home or the railway station in Guwahati. The tour ends here.

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   Tenga valley

   A green army valley on the road down from Bomdila.