East in September

Tea estates, the UNESCO toy train and sunrise over Kanchenjunga from Tiger Hill.

A quieter hill town of flower nurseries, monasteries and old colonial buildings.

A lake town ringed by tea gardens and orange orchards, near the Nepal border.

Sikkim's tidy hill capital — MG Marg, Rumtek monastery and Kanchenjunga on clear mornings.

A hill town with a large monastery, apple orchards and views over the Kameng valleys.

A river valley of Monpa villages, a stone dzong, hot springs and kiwi orchards on the Tawang road.

India's largest monastery in a high valley near Bhutan and Tibet, reached over the snowy Sela Pass.

A wide valley of Apatani villages, pine hills and paddy fields, home to the Ziro Music Festival.

The Kamakhya Shakti Peeth on Nilachal hill, Brahmaputra cruises and Umananda island.

A grassy rim above huge green gorges, with steps down to the hidden village of Rasong.

A spotless Khasi village with a living root bridge and a bamboo sky-view tower over Bangladesh.

Often called the wettest place on earth, with a limestone cave and a natural Shiva-linga stalagmite.

A steep stair-trek into a jungle valley to living bridges grown from rubber-tree roots, and the Rainbow Falls.

A hill capital of pine ridges, cafes, live music and colonial-era lanes.

Plunging waterfalls like Nohkalikai, limestone caves and gorge views over Bangladesh.