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Seven nights built around the Ziro Festival of Music each September. Stay five nights in the Apatani valley in the best homestay or small hotel available, with a driver for festival evenings and days in the villages and rice fields. Then rest for two nights in a planter's bungalow at Wild Mahseer.
The Ziro Festival of Music takes place over four days in late September, when the Apatani valley's rice fields are turning gold and the monsoon is easing. Most festivalgoers camp, and the campsites are lively and often muddy. We prefer a quieter approach: the best room in the valley, a driver on call, and days spent among the Apatani villages and paddy before evenings at the stages.
After the festival, we drive down through the Assam plains to the tea gardens at Balipara for two nights at Wild Mahseer, with its heritage bungalows, lawns and home cooking. It is the right place to recover from four late nights, and a reminder of how different the plains are from the hill valley you have left.
Highlights
Day by day
Land at Donyi Polo Airport near Itanagar, where your guide and driver meet you. The road climbs north through forested hills and small towns, with permits checked on the way, and enters the wide, flat Ziro valley in the afternoon. Check in to your homestay or small hotel in or near Hapoli, chosen for comfort, warmth and good food, and settle in before the festival.
Spend the morning with an Apatani guide in the villages of Hong and Hari, among stilted bamboo houses, lapang platforms and babo poles. Meet families, learn about the clan system and the Donyi-Polo faith, and share tea or rice beer in a family home. In the evening, the festival opens: your driver takes you to the grounds for the first sets and collects you when you are ready.
Walk the bunds and channels of the valley's paddy with an Apatani farmer, learning how rice and fish are raised together in the same terraces. In late September the fields are gold and harvest is beginning. Rest in the afternoon before a second evening at the festival, with independent bands from India and abroad playing on bamboo stages framed by pine hills.
A free morning to sleep late or walk in the pine and bamboo groves above the valley. Head to the festival grounds after lunch for the afternoon sets, explore the food stalls serving smoked pork, bamboo shoot dishes and local rice, and stay for the main evening performances. Your driver remains on call throughout.
The last day of the festival. In the morning, visit a weaver or a bamboo craftsman in one of the villages, or simply enjoy the view across the valley. The final evening at the stages is often the liveliest, ending late. Rain is still possible in September, so waterproof shoes and a jacket stay in the car.
A long but varied drive out of the hills and into Assam, through Itanagar's outskirts and across the plains via Gohpur to Balipara, with a lunch stop on the way. Arrive at Wild Mahseer in the late afternoon, where a heritage planter's bungalow, a hot bath and a quiet dinner await.
Walk the Addabarie tea estate in the morning with the estate team, watching plucking and visiting the factory before a tasting. After lunch, drive to Nameri for a gentle float on the Jia Bhoroli or a short walk at the forest edge, depending on park opening in late September. Return to the estate for a final dinner.
After breakfast, drive to Guwahati airport for your onward flight, with a lunch stop on the way. If Tezpur flights suit you, the transfer is only about 45 minutes. Your guide accompanies you to the terminal.
Included
Not included
Where you sleep
A group of restored British-era planters' bungalows inside the Addabarie tea estate near Balipara, north of Tezpur. Rooms open onto lawns and tea gardens, the food …
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Questions travellers ask
It takes place over four days in late September each year. The 2026 edition ran from 24 to 27 September, and the next is expected at a similar time. We confirm dates as soon as the organisers announce them. Check current status before you travel.
Camping is the festival's default and great fun for some, but tents can be crowded, cold and muddy if it rains. Our guests prefer a proper room with a private bathroom and good food, and a driver for flexible evenings. We book the best available rooms early.
Fly to Donyi Polo Airport near Itanagar and drive about 4 hours to Ziro. Lilabari in Assam and Naharlagun railway station are alternatives. We plan arrival a day before the festival opens so you can settle in.
Yes. Ziro is in Arunachal Pradesh, so Indian citizens need an eILP and foreign nationals a Protected Area Permit. We arrange both well before the festival. Check current status before you travel.
The line-up mixes Indian independent rock, folk, jazz and electronic music with international artists and musicians from the North East. It is known for discovering new acts and for its relaxed atmosphere among the rice fields.
From about ₹2,30,000 per person, twin sharing, including accommodation, the meals listed, festival passes, a private car and guide, and permits. Festival rooms are limited, so book early. Flights are extra.
Yes, with our approach. A comfortable room, a private driver and the freedom to choose which sets to see make it far easier than camping. The grounds are uneven and can be muddy, so good shoes matter.
After four festival evenings, two nights in a quiet planter's bungalow in the tea gardens are a welcome change of pace. Balipara is also on the way back to Guwahati and Tezpur, so it breaks the long journey out of the hills.
Yes, but it adds at least five or six nights, as the road to Tawang takes two days each way from Balipara. October, just after the festival, is an excellent time for Tawang, with clear skies and mild days.
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