Manipur

Manipur's defining feature is Loktak Lake and the phumdis floating on it: mats of matted vegetation and peat, solid enough to carry huts, fishermen and, at Keibul Lamjao, an entire national park. It is the only floating national park in the world, and the sangai, the brow-antlered deer it protects, was thought extinct in 1951 before being found again here. Indian visitors need an Inner Line Permit. A realistic trip is three or four days in Imphal, including Ima Keithel, the market in the centre of the city where several thousand women trade and men are not permitted to sell, then Loktak, then the hills. People try to fold Nagaland or Mizoram into the same week; each needs its own permit and its own long drive, and the week disappears. The Tangkhul hills east of Imphal around Ukhrul are the part almost nobody sees. Manipur has less tourist infrastructure than its neighbours, so plan it with a local operator rather than improvising. October to March, and November if you can choose.