While travel booking for Arunachal Pradesh, main concern was the flight cost, which was always like 5k-6k one side. I was betting on getting the lowest fare, whichever may be the time. So, for this trip, I got early morning flight at 5 am, which meant, I had to leave by 3 am. It was fine, since I finished my remaining sleep in the flight.

My itinerary was as follows:

Day 1: Morning, leave home by 3 am. Catch Ola to Airport, reach at 3.30 am

Flight – Mumbai to Kolkata – 05:15 – 07:55  (2:40 hrs)

Reach Kolkata by 8:00 am, Put up the luggage at the Airport Storage Room (Book at arrival & departure area – Rs. 20 / bag for 24 hrs)

Exit Airport with small bag for Day Trip, Catch Auto, Sightsee

Start with Breakfast at Dakshineshwar Kali Temple (10 kms from Airport – 15 mins) – ferry can be taken to  Belur Math (4.8 Kms from DKT), Howrah Bridge (11 kms from DKT)

After Lunch, Reach Airport at 2:00 PM, Catch Flight to Guwahati @ 15:50 – 17:05 (1:15 hrs)

Reach Guwahati at 5:30 PM. Catch Volvo Bus (Outside Airport) to Guwahati

Night Stay at Guwahati

Day 2: 6.00 am Start for Bomdila

Reach by 03:00 PM, evening sightsee Bomdila (Upper & Lower Monastery)

Night Stay at Bomdila

Day 3: Bomdila – Rupa (Visit Chillipam Gompa)

Leave in the Afternoon for Dirang

Reach Dirang by 02:00 PM, Sightsee Dirang locally

Night Stay at Dirang

Day 4: Dirang – Sela Pass– Jaswant Garh – (twisty roads)- Jung Falls – Tawang

Hire Car one way from Dirang to Tawang

Dirang Dzong Fort  – Apple and kiwi orchards, National Yak Research and Breeding Center at Nigmadung, Sheep Breeding Farm – Nyukmadong War Memorial – (twisty roads) – Sela Pass- world’s second highest motorable pass-Sela Lake -Jaswant Garh-Tawang.
Night Stay at Tawang

Day 5: Tawang – Sightsee

Tawang Monastery, Tawang War Memorial,Tawang View,  Gaint Budha Statue,

Night Stay at Tawang

Day 6: Bumla Pass (India – China border) on another local car and visit India – China border, visit Sangetsar lake, Taktsang Gompa,

Overnight stay at Tawang
Day 7  -Tawang – Tezpur (Bomdila on the way (10-11 hrs)

Night Stay at Tezpur

Day 8: Tezpur to North Lakhimpur

Night stay at North Lakhimpur

Day 9: Ziro

Early morning leave for Ziro

Ziro Sightsee: Talley Valley WLS, Hapoli, Ziro Puto, Dolo Mondo Hillocks, Meghna Cave Temple, Siddheshwarnath Temple, Apatani Tribe, Tipi Orchid Research Centre, Tarin Fish Farm.

Night Stay At Ziro

Day 10: Ziro to Majuli (Via Naharlagun)

Reach by 3-4 pm,  Check in – Sunset Point

Night Stay at Majuli

Day 11: Majuli

Mahuli Sightsee: Mihing Village,  Kamlabari & Auniati Satra.

Leave by 2-3 pm for Jorhat

Catch Train from Jorhat Town to Guwahati – 18:52 – 04:45

Day 12: Catch Flight from Guwahati at 11.00 am – reach Kolkata by 12:30 PM

Catch Train to Mumbai from Shalimar Station at 15:00 hrs.

Reach Mumbai on 06^th Early Morning.

This was the plan that we wanted to follow:

1. Airport cloak room can be used only if you have another flight in the same day.
2. We couldn’t visit Belur Math due to time constraint, but we could view Howrah Bridge from Dakshineswar Temple. At DKT, you cannot take anything inside, Camera, Mobile etc everything has to be kept in Cloak Room.
3. Bomdila has an upper and lower monastery, had very bad experience in terms of stay. Details can be read here. Half a day is enough for exploring Bomdila
4. Dirang to Tawang, we were in two minds whether to hire a one way costly Car or take a bus. If we went by bus, we have to miss most of the sightseeing in between, it will be a direct journey. Fortunately, we were approached by a person for sharing the jeep hired by a group of guys from Delhi.
5. The road to Bumla and Sangetsar Lake is back breaking both ways. Whatever you do, after back breaking journey, if you ask to visit Taktsang Monastery, Driver shuts you down saying roads are closed etc. It is doable, if you insist at the start of journey. Because we reached back to Tawang by 3 PM.
6. Another bad experience at Tezpur was outage of electricity in the whole and only 1 luxury hotel had the generator. The journey from Tawang to Tezpur was 12-13 hours, exhaustive one.
7. All buses leave early morning by 6 am. We missed the next day Tezpur – Ziro bus. We had to take a break at North Lakhimpur, with hardly anything to explore.
8. Even from Lakhimpur, buses or share taxis are available only in the morning, which we booked one day prior.
9. Ziro is hot and humid, most of the bamboo home has been converted to Metal sheet – wall and roof. Very few of them have retained the originality. We missed out on Tipi Orchid Research Centre, Tarin Fish Farm etc. Our Driver took us around tribal areas. There is old Ziro and New Ziro. 1.5 days are enough to visit.
10. Instead of Naharlagun, we went through Banderdewa. The shared taxi left us at Banderdewa, took an auto to the port, thereon, ferry to Kamlabari, Majuli.