Trekking & adventure

Routes with the numbers stated up front: distance, maximum altitude, total ascent, grade and the months the route is genuinely open.

• Devotional places
• Heritage & ruins
• Wildlife & nature
• Beaches & islands
• Hill stations & coffee

Destinations

Himachal Pradesh

Spiti Valley

Monasteries above the treeline, the world's highest post office, and a road window that shuts by October.

3,800 m · best Jun–SepTrekking & adventure

Meghalaya

Living Root Bridges

Ficus roots trained across river gorges over sixty years by Khasi families. The wettest place on earth, still growing.

1,180 m · best Oct–AprTrekking & adventure

Ladakh

Zanskar & the Chadar

Frozen-river walking in January, monastery circuits in July, the same valley, two completely different trips.

4,270 m · best Jan–Feb, Jun–SepTrekking & adventure

Suðurland

Þórsmörk

A valley ringed by three glaciers, reachable only by river-crossing bus. Ash, moss and braided meltwater.

340 m · best Jun–SepTrekking & adventure

Nagano

Kamikōchi

The Northern Japan Alps' front door. Closed to private cars, closed entirely all winter.

1,500 m · best Apr–NovTrekking & adventure

Jammu & Kashmir

Kashmir Valley

Shikara-worked lakes, Mughal gardens and alpine meadows, and the Great Lakes trek, one of the finest walks in the Himalaya.

1,585 m · best Apr–OctTrekking & adventure

Sikkim

Sikkim

Kanchenjunga on the skyline, rhododendron forest in spring, and the permit rules that decide where you can actually go.

1,650 m · best Mar–May, Oct–DecTrekking & adventure