Trips with friends
The longer, harder routes that are better shared: enough of a challenge to be worth doing together, and worth the leave you spend on them.
How this list was made. Nothing here was hand-picked. Five days or more, graded moderate or challenging. The shared effort is the point. Every figure it uses is published on the page it came from, so if the data changes this list changes with it. 16 of our places currently qualify.
Destinations
Himachal PradeshSpiti Valley
Monasteries above the treeline, the world's highest post office, and a road window that shuts by October.
3,800 mTrekking & adventure
MeghalayaLiving Root Bridges
Ficus roots trained across river gorges over sixty years by Khasi families. The wettest place on earth, still growing.
1,180 mTrekking & adventure
LadakhZanskar & the Chadar
Frozen-river walking in January, monastery circuits in July, the same valley, two completely different trips.
4,270 mTrekking & adventure- Suðurland
Þórsmörk
A valley ringed by three glaciers, reachable only by river-crossing bus. Ash, moss and braided meltwater.
340 mTrekking & adventure - Nagano
Kamikōchi
The Northern Japan Alps' front door. Closed to private cars, closed entirely all winter.
1,500 mTrekking & adventure 
Jammu & KashmirKashmir Valley
Shikara-worked lakes, Mughal gardens and alpine meadows, and the Great Lakes trek, one of the finest walks in the Himalaya.
1,585 mTrekking & adventure
SikkimSikkim
Kanchenjunga on the skyline, rhododendron forest in spring, and the permit rules that decide where you can actually go.
1,650 mTrekking & adventure
Andaman & NicobarAndaman Islands
Radhanagar's sand, some of Asia's best-value diving, and a colonial prison whose history is the reason most Indians come.
0 mBeaches & islands
Andhra PradeshKonaseema
The Godavari delta: coconut groves, canals and backwaters between two arms of the river. Kerala's landscape without Kerala's prices or crowds.
5 mBeaches & islands
Routes
ChallengingGoecha La
The classic Sikkim route to a viewpoint beneath Kanchenjunga's south-east face, via Dzongri.
11 days · 4,940 mApr–May, Oct–Nov
ChallengingChadar, the frozen Zanskar
Walking the frozen Zanskar river gorge in deep winter. Almost no ascent, and one of the hardest treks in India, but suspended for the 2026 season.
9 days · 3,390 mJan–Feb
ModerateKunzum – Chandratal
Over the 4,590 m Kunzum La to the crescent lake at Chandratal, with Spiti's monasteries on the way in.
6 days · 4,590 mJun–Sep
ModerateHampta Pass
A crossing, not a there-and-back: green Kullu on one side, the bare Lahaul desert on the other, over a 4,287 m pass.
5 days · 4,287 mJun–Sep
ModerateValley of Flowers
A UNESCO World Heritage valley that blooms only in the monsoon. Roughly 300 flowering species, and a park that opens 1 June and closes in October.
6 days · 4,329 mJul–Sep
Places of worship
Jammu & KashmirVaishno Devi
A 12 km climb from Katra to a cave shrine at 1,584 m. The yatra slip is mandatory, and the walk is the trip.
Vaishno Devi5-step arrival guide
UttarakhandKedarnath
A 16 km climb to a jyotirlinga at 3,583 m. Registration is mandatory and checked at Sonprayag, and altitude, not devotion, is what defeats most people.
Shiva, as the Kedarnath jyotirlinga5-step arrival guide