[jaysmokesleaves]

Hi Everyone !
Im heading out on a 25 day road tour of Arunachal in December. I will have approx 22 days in Arunachal. I request all those who have been there or have credible information about Arunachal, to help me plan this trip.
This trip will be in the end of December and requires advance planning.
This trip will be done in my 4x4 Safari and is camping equipped.
I am looking or the following Information -

1. Places to visit in the different districts of Arunachal.
2. Route maps and road suggestions.
3. Staying options available. Camping spots.
4. Offroad and offbeat trails.
5. Undiscovered or unvisited places/ routes, etc
6. Permit advice and contacts to help get these done in advance.
7. Any information on the Phangsau Pass festival or Phangsau Pass opening in January.
8. Any other advice and suggestions.

Best wishes and thanks in advance.

[wanderernomad]

Hmm, entire trip only for Arunachal? Camping is ill advised in most regions and stay options are at best rudimentary. The worst thing about travelling in Arunachal is that, you need to track your way back most of the time to the starting point to move ahead. And more often than not that west to east is better done through the Assam, north bank. Pangsau festival dates I will check and let you know. Most of the places will require an inner line permit and if you need the phone numbers ill get them for you.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Hmm, entire trip only for Arunachal? Camping is ill advised in most regions and stay options are at best rudimentary. The worst thing about travelling in Arunachal is that, you need to track your way back most of the time to the starting point to move ahead. And more often than not that west to east is better done through the Assam, north bank. Pangsau festival dates I will check and let you know. Most of the places will require an inner line permit and if you need the phone numbers ill get them for you.

Yes, entire trip for Arunachal. Its too vast a place to do justice to in whatever time i have. Thanks for offering to help with the fone numbers.
DO please PM me once you have them or I shall PM you a reminder within a week

[hemanth.anand]

If you are going to Arunachal Pradesh, then the first thing is the ILP, and the

There are two to three places where you can obtain an ILP, but I felt that the easiest way is to obtain it Via post-I got it done the same way last year. In a span of 15 days, I had it in the postbox outside my house.

Documents for Inner Line Permit are

• Written application with details of all the persons travelling, places to visit, duration of visit etc.
• 2 Photos of each person
• Photo ID Proof of everyone entering the state(Aadhar card or Driving licence)
• Self addressed envelope with a 40 rupees stamp
• Demand Draft of 25Rs per person In favour of “Office of the resident commissioner, Government of Arunachal Pradesh”

Send all this via courier/post to:
The Resident Commissioner,
Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh,Kautilya
Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110021.
Phone no. 011-23013915/ 23013956

The DD amount may have changed, so please call the numbers given to confirm with them (They were helpful).

Other than that, I visited Walong and Kibithoo(well, almost) on the 'Eastern most road' of the country.
Lodging options are pretty basic and most probably you have to arrange it in IBs or Circuit houses. I can PM you some phone numbers if you plan to visit any of these places

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Yes, entire trip for Arunachal. Its too vast a place to do justice to in whatever time i have. Thanks for offering to help with the fone numbers.
DO please PM me once you have them or I shall PM you a reminder within a week

Alternatively, you can send the documents to me and I shall get you the permits made by hand and courier them back to you. Choice is yours.

[motomaverick]

Hi waking up an old thread, planning to do an Arunachal trip this coming May with family. My mother mainly wants to visit Tezu her birthplace. So any updates on road conditions, places to see near Tezu and ILP is most welcome. Since we will be having very few days say 3 nights the sight seeing places should be near Tezu.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Hi waking up an old thread, planning to do an Arunachal trip this coming May with family. My mother mainly wants to visit Tezu her birthplace. So any updates on road conditions, places to see near Tezu and ILP is most welcome. Since we will be having very few days say 3 nights the sight seeing places should be near Tezu.

Two posts before your post, I've written about the ILP. That misght be helpful for you.

I've written in detail in the following travelogue of mine

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...st-safari.html

2nd post of this travelogue covers our experience about the ILP.
Although not much, but 12th and 13th posts cover what we did around Tezu.

I had driven in this area more than 2 years ago. Current road conditions would have changed by now.

Parasuram Kund, Walong and glow lake are good places to see around Tezu IMO.
If you decide to go to Walong, it will take two days to go and come back with some sightseeing.
This is what I have with me, but TBHPians from the area may give you more inputs

[wanderernomad]

Maverick your mode of travel and also the entry exit points please.

[pcpranav]

Hi all,

Inner Line Permit is required for Indian citizens to enter Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram : http://www.mdoner.gov.in/content/inner-line-permit
Online ILP can be for Arunachal Pradesh : http://arunachalilp.com/

Requesting for assistance:

Just impromptu, planning a road trip from Mumbai to Sikkim, Bhutan, AP, starting next week (W1-May'17), have 22 days in hands! Vehicle is my Xylo (4x2), I will be only one driving, trip accompanied by wife & daughter (12). Any pointers for road conditions, routes, weather, places to stay, really appreciated.

My high level wish list for places to see:
* WB = Sandakphu, may need to hire some 4x4 to take me there on top, pls guide
* Sikkim = Darjeeling, Namchi, Gangtok, Nathula La & Jalep La, Yumthang & Lachung, Thangu, Gurudongmar Lake & Lachen, Pelling & Yuksom
* Bhutan = Paro, Thimpu, Trongsa with exit on Gelephu, or further Jakar & Trashigang with exit on Samdrup Jongkhar
* AP = Tawang, Sela Pass, Bomdila, Ziro, Kibithoo (easternmost point), Optional = Anini, Tuting, Mechula.

Also pls let know, how good (accuracy perspective) are Google Maps now ? Additionally, I have installed OSMAnd+ with offline maps on my phone.


OT: As per my online reading, Bhutan entry/exit is possible via Phuentsholing, Gelephu, and Samdrup Jongkhar. However, at Pheuntsholing, entry permit is available only for visiting Paro & Thimpu. However, tourists desirous of going beyond Thimphu and Paro need to acquire a 'special area permit’ from the Royal Govt. of Bhutan Immigration Office at Thimphu on any working days (Monday to Friday). Which means, with the special permit, one can exit via Gelephu or Samdrup Jongkhar, and then travel to AP/Assam side. Ref: Link1 & Link2 These permits are for Indian nationals, and for other nationalities the process is different (typical Visa).


regards,
Pranav

[Mnjdnght]

Originally Posted by pcpranav

* Bhutan = Paro, Thimpu, Trongsa with exit on Gelephu, or further Jakar & Trashigang with exit on Samdrup Jongkhar

We recently did a road trip in Bhutan (Apr 3 - 15), entering through Samdrup Jhonkar, driving through Trashigang, Mongar, Bumthang, Trongsa, Gangtey (changed to Gelephu), Punakha, Thimphu and Paro. Took the flight out of Paro to Kolkatta. It was not a self-drive but in a hired vehicle with driver and guide. One observation from the trip, not to discourage any plans you are making, is about the road condition. A quick summary for you below:
Samdrup Jhonkar - Trashigang: Good. Most of the journey has a nice black top. However about 20 - 30 KM of heavy construction (road widening) is being done and that stretch was miserable (well, at least we thought so being our first day!). They also allow traffic only during certain times so you need to time accordingly.
Trashigang - Mongar: Almost the entire stretch is under construction (road widening). Very bumpy, dusty, treacherously narrow in places. We faced some delays due to blockages on the road.
Mongar - Bumthang: Road condition was better. There are stretches with decent black top. But there are lot of stretches where construction is in progress too and those stretches are quite arduous. Very scenic route but fog can play spoil sport (and also ups the risk a bit).
Bumthand - Trongsa (en route to Gangtey): Almost entirely under construction.
Trongsa - Gelephu: Our plans had to be changed as the construction activities caused a major landslide that blocked the highway to Punakha for 4 days. So we took a long detour from Trongsa to Gelephu. Roads were mostly good. Some stretches of construction but mostly good. Very scenic drive.
Gelephu - Punakha: Good roads and a very scenic drive.
Punakha - Thimphu - Paro: Amazing roads.

Trongsa - Punakha: Due to blockage we didn't do this stretch but the whole stretch is under construction and may be a very bumpy ride.

Due to the extensive construction activities, you need to plan lot of time for your drives. Distances seem deceptively short but it takes a very long time to cover those. Please also factor in rains, which will present a much more challenging road surface where construction is in progress. We were lucky to have escaped rains.

Take this just as caution to be used in planning and not to change much of what you want to do.

We loved the entire trip, in spite of all the above.

[pcpranav]

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

We recently did a road trip in Bhutan (Apr 3 - 15), entering through Samdrup Jhonkar, driving through Trashigang, Mongar, Bumthang, Trongsa, Gangtey (changed to Gelephu), Punakha, Thimphu and Paro. Took the flight out of Paro to Kolkatta.

thanks a lot for the valuable info on Bhutan.
any other inputs most welcome for AP / Sikkim regions.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

We recently did a road trip in Bhutan (Apr 3 - 15), entering through Samdrup Jhonkar, driving through Trashigang, Mongar, Bumthang, Trongsa, Gangtey (changed to Gelephu), Punakha, Thimphu and Paro.

We loved the entire trip, in spite of all the above.

That was very detailed and wonderful post. Not much information were available on road conditions beyond Thimphu (towards east) in Bhutan. I still have few questions for you.

- What vehicle did you take for this trip? Do you think Thimphu-Punakha-Trongsa-Mongar-Trashigang is good enough for a sedan?

- Where did you stay along the route from Trashigang - Thimphu? And do you have any recommendation?

- I have been hearing there are some trouble at the northern part of Assam before entering Samdrup Jhonkar. Did you face any issue? At what time of the day did you do cross the border at Samdrup Jhonkar?

Your response would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Mnjdnght]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

- What vehicle did you take for this trip? Do you think Thimphu-Punakha-Trongsa-Mongar-Trashigang is good enough for a sedan?

We had hired a Toyota Hi Ace which easily seats 10 adults, has decent boot space and enough grunt to haul all these along the rough terrain. It was a 2WD. You can manage with a 2WD vehicle unless rains pose challenging wet slush conditions which will need a 4WD vehicle.

I saw a lot of sedans along the road. You should be able to manage in a sedan though there are some places where you need to be extremely slow and careful. Due to road conditions, speeds will be slow in any case.

- Where did you stay along the route from Trashigang - Thimphu? And do you have any recommendation?

The list of places we stayed:
Trashigang - Druk Deothjung: This is a decent hotel with a great view. The drive up to the hotel from the main road will rival the steep Kalahatti hairpins (narrow steep inclines) though there are only 4 - 5 of them.
Mongar - Wangchuk hotel: Very good hotel with easy access to the town. Has small rooms but decently maintained.
Bumthang (Jakkar) - Kaila guest house: A wooden log cabin type ambience. Great host and well maintained.
Gangtey - Nga-Yapling Farm Lodge: We were booked there but didn't stay due to change in plans en route. Apparently a fairly new set up. There is also a Wangchuk hotel in Gangtey which had some mixed reviews on Trip Advisor.
Gelephu - Hotel Kuku: Average hotel and average rooms. Busy border town.
Punakha - Hotel Pema Karpo: The hotel is in Wangdue which is about 10 Km from Punakha. Great location by the side of Punatsang Chu (River). Well maintained.
Thimphu - Gakyil: In the town near the clock tower square. Small but decent hotel.
Paro - Tiger's Nest resort: About 10 Kms away from Paro town with a great view of Tiger's Nest monastery. Decent hotel with good rooms.

All the rooms we took were standard rooms. Food (Veg)) was not an issue anywhere.

There are tourist standard hotels (as the good ones are referred to normally) to stop for tea/ washroom/ lunch breaks. I don't seem to have noted down their names. I can try and dig up a bit in case you are travelling.

- I have been hearing there are some trouble at the northern part of Assam before entering Samdrup Jhonkar. Did you face any issue? At what time of the day did you do cross the border at Samdrup Jhonkar?

We didn't face or sense any trouble. We went from Guwahati airport to Samdrup Jhonkar by road. It is a 1.5 - 2 hrs drive. We crossed the border around 3 PM.