Mizoram

Understand one thing about Mizoram before anything else: it is quiet on purpose. The state is overwhelmingly Christian, and on Sunday Aizawl closes — shops, restaurants, most transport — while the churches fill. Plan around it, or plan to sit still for a day. Aizawl is a city built along a single ridge, houses stacked down both sides of one spine. From there the run is Reiek for the views, Champhai east through terraced rice country towards the Myanmar border, and Phawngpui, the Blue Mountain, in the far south. Trying all three inside a week is the usual mistake. The roads are narrow and slow, and two of the three makes a better trip. An Inner Line Permit is required, Indian citizens included. Apply online or at the entry points, and carry it: nobody gets past the Vairengte checkpost or out of the airport without one. Very few travellers come here, which is the appeal and also the caveat. English and Mizo do more work than Hindi does, and outside Aizawl the options for a bed thin out fast. October to March. From May the monsoon takes the hill roads apart.