Land of the Rising SunNorth East in 11 nights

Welcome to the North East. Your driver meets you at Guwahati airport or railway station and you drive to Tezpur on the Brahmaputra. Check in; the evening is free.

After an early breakfast, drive into Arunachal Pradesh. On the way, visit the Tipi Orchidarium on the Bhareli river, with more than 500 kinds of orchid, and the Nag Temple, with waterfalls and big views along the road. Check in at Dirang.

After breakfast, a day around Dirang: walk through the Monpa villages and meet the people who live there, then the Sangti valley, 25 km from Bomdila, a winter home of the black-necked crane. Visit an apple orchard and kiwi farm (in season), Li-ung Gompa and the Kalachakra Gompa. Dirang is also known for its hot springs.

After an early breakfast, the drive to Tawang, the highlight of Arunachal. Cross Sela Pass (13,700 ft) and Sela Lake, frozen for much of the winter, then stop at Jaswantgarh War Memorial, which honours a soldier who held the pass almost alone in the 1962 war. Later, Nuranang Falls, where scenes of the film Koyla were shot. Check in at Tawang; the evening is free.

After breakfast, visit Tawang Monastery (Galden Namgyal Lhatse), founded in the 17th century and the largest monastery in India, high above the Tawang valley at about 10,000 ft. Its prayer hall holds an eight-metre gilded Buddha, and the library old scriptures written in gold. Then Urgelling Gompa, birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama, and the Tawang War Memorial, a stupa-shaped memorial to the soldiers who fell in 1962. End at the craft centre for masks, hand-woven carpets and silver jewellery. The evening is free.

After an early breakfast, drive towards the China border to Sangetsar Lake, better known as Madhuri Lake, about 35 km from Tawang. On the way you pass bunkers from the 1962 war. The lake was formed by the 1950 earthquake, and dead tree trunks still rise from the water. The army runs a café here for momos, Maggi and hot tea. Continue to Bum La Pass, about 37 km from Tawang at over 15,200 ft on the India–China border (separate army permit, weather permitting), and stop at PT Tso lake on the way back. The evening is free.

After breakfast, drive down to Bomdila (8,200 ft), headquarters of West Kameng and a town of Buddhist monasteries. Check in, then visit the Upper and Lower Gompas, with wide views of the snow peaks. In the evening, the local market.

After breakfast, drive to Kaziranga and check in. The evening is free.

Kaziranga is home to about two-thirds of the world's one-horned rhinos. At first light, ride an elephant into one zone of the park for the best chance of seeing rhino up close, along with hog deer, swamp deer, wild buffalo, wild elephants and, with luck, a tiger. The wetlands are full of pelicans, storks and darters. Back at the resort for breakfast, then a jeep safari through the park in the afternoon, and a visit to the Kaziranga Orchid Park.

After breakfast, drive to Guwahati, stopping at the Maha Mrityunjay Temple at Nagaon, built in the shape of a Shiva linga. Check in, then visit the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra, a centre for Assam's history and culture.

After breakfast, a day around Guwahati: the Kamakhya Temple on Nilachal Hill (open 8 am to 1 pm and 3 pm until dusk), the Tirupati Balaji Temple, the Navagraha Temple, the Assam State Museum, the state zoo and botanical garden, the Regional Science Centre and the Sukreswar Temple on the Brahmaputra. In the late afternoon you can take a sunset cruise on the Brahmaputra (optional, paid directly).

After breakfast, check out and transfer to Guwahati airport or railway station for your journey home.