Is Meghalaya or Sikkim better for a first trip?

Meghalaya, for most people. It is easier to reach from the rest of India via Guwahati, needs no permit for Indian citizens, and delivers waterfalls, caves and living root bridges in a compact area. Sikkim is better if you want high mountains and monasteries.

Which is cheaper, Meghalaya or Sikkim?

They are close. Meghalaya's costs are dominated by vehicle hire, because the distances between sights are long and public transport is thin. Sikkim's costs are dominated by permits and shared jeeps to the high-altitude points.

Do you need a permit for Meghalaya or Sikkim?

Indian citizens need no permit for either state's main areas. Sikkim requires additional permits for specific high-altitude places such as Nathu La and Tsomgo Lake. Foreign nationals need a Restricted Area Permit for parts of Sikkim.

Which has better weather?

Sikkim, in the sense of being drier. Meghalaya contains some of the wettest places on earth and the monsoon there is genuinely extreme. Both are best from October to April.

Meghalaya or Sikkim: Which One For Your First Northeast Trip

The short answer

Meghalaya for a first trip, unless you specifically want high mountains.

It is easier to reach, needs no permit for Indian citizens, and puts waterfalls, caves, living root bridges and one of the wettest landscapes on earth within a few hours of each other.

Side by side

	Meghalaya	Sikkim
Nearest airport	Guwahati, then 3 h by road	Pakyong, or Bagdogra then 4 to 5 h
Permit, Indian citizens	None	None for main areas, needed for Nathu La and Tsomgo
Permit, foreign nationals	None	RAP for parts
Known for	Waterfalls, caves, root bridges, Cherrapunji	Kangchenjunga views, monasteries, high passes
Terrain	Plateau and gorges, 1,500 m	Himalaya, 1,500 m to over 4,000 m
Altitude sickness	Not a factor	A real factor above Gangtok
Getting around	Vehicle hire, effectively essential	Shared jeeps work well
Best months	October to April	October to December, March to May
Wet season	Extreme	Heavy but ordinary

Pick Meghalaya if

It is your first time in the Northeast and you are coming through Guwahati anyway.
You want water: falls, rivers, caves, the Umngot at Dawki.
You will walk. The Nongriat double decker root bridge trek is the trip’s centrepiece and it is a real descent and climb.
You have five to six days.

Start here: the Meghalaya 5 day itinerary.

Pick Sikkim if

You want to see Kangchenjunga, which is the reason most people go.
Monasteries interest you more than caves.
You are comfortable with altitude, or want to be.
You have a week, because the permit-gated high-altitude sections need buffer days for weather.

Start here: Gangtok tourist places and the Silk Route and Zuluk guide.

The things people get wrong

Meghalaya is not a relaxing trip. The distances are longer than the map suggests and the roads are slow. Shillong to Cherrapunji to Dawki looks compact and is not. People arrive expecting a hill station and find a driving holiday with excellent stops.

Dawki’s water is not always turquoise. The photographs everybody shares are dry season. After rain the Umngot is milky and ordinary. If that specific photograph is why you are going, go between November and March.

Sikkim’s high points are weather-dependent and permit-dependent at once. Nathu La and Tsomgo can be closed at short notice. Build in a spare day or accept that you may not get there.

If you can only take four days

Meghalaya. Sikkim in four days from most of India is two days of travel and two days of being somewhere, with no room for the weather to go wrong.

Doing both

Possible in two weeks, and the two are not near each other despite both being “the Northeast”. Guwahati to Gangtok is a long day or a flight via Bagdogra. Plan it as two trips joined, not one loop.

The Northeast India itinerary covers how they connect.

What we have not verified

Current permit costs and the exact process for Nathu La change year to year. Check them close to travel rather than trusting any article, this one included.