Dog Friendly Getaways From Guwahati: 3 Places, Honestly Assessed
3 places worth taking a dog from Guwahati, ordered by drive time, each with the month to avoid, the hazard that matters and where dogs cannot go.
The northeast is the wettest travelling in India, which shapes everything about going there with a dog. Leeches from May to September, roads that close in the rain, and some of the kindest year round temperatures in the country.
The drive is the part people underplan. A dog does not experience four hours in a car the way you do, and the difference between a three hour destination and an eight hour one is not twice the effort, it is a different kind of trip. So this is ordered by drive time rather than by how good the place is.
Within four hours of Guwahati
These are the ones you can leave after breakfast and arrive at before your dog gets restless. For a senior dog or a flat faced breed, this is the range to stay inside.
Shillong, Meghalaya
About 3 hours from Guwahati. Mild temperatures suit most dogs. Meghalaya's rainfall is extraordinary, so monsoon travel means genuinely constant rain rather than showers.
- Best months: October to April. Worth avoiding June to September, because of among the heaviest rainfall in the world.
- Watch out for: leeches, which are relentless from May to September, sudden heavy rain that can trap you on a trail, slippery moss and rock on every path in the wet months.
- Someone stays back for: the sacred grove interior without permission, cave systems such as Mawsmai, which are wet, tight and unsuitable.
- Suits: Nearly everything. The mild year-round temperature makes this one of the kindest climates in India for a dog.
- Stays: Vivanta Meghalaya Shillong, Latei Ville Inn, Arkay's Boutique Homestay, all worth confirming directly before booking.
Carry salt or a leech stick from May onwards and check paws and ears after every walk. Meghalaya leeches are the single thing that catches out visitors with dogs, and they are painless until you look down.
Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Shillong with a dog.
Cherrapunji (Sohra), Meghalaya
About 4 hours from Guwahati. The living root bridge treks involve very long stair descents that are unsuitable for most dogs and dangerous for senior ones. Beautiful in the dry months.
- Best months: October to April. Worth avoiding June to September, because of extreme rainfall.
- Watch out for: the heaviest leech pressure in India during monsoon, flash flooding in gorges with no upstream warning, thousands of wet stone steps, which wreck a dog's pads and joints.
- Someone stays back for: the double decker root bridge descent, the cave systems.
- Suits: Fit, sure-footed, weather-tolerant dogs in the dry season. This is a demanding destination.
- Stays: Cloud Guesthouse, Odyssey Stays, Cloud Valley Inn, all worth confirming directly before booking.
Go in October or November. The waterfalls are still running, the leeches have gone, the steps are dry, and you can actually see the gorge instead of standing inside a cloud.
Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Cherrapunji (Sohra) with a dog.
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Worth the longer drive
Everything below is five hours or more. Break the journey if you can, stop every two hours regardless, and travel on a light stomach because car sickness is the most common thing that ruins the first day.
Kaziranga, Assam
About 5 hours from Guwahati. Pets are not permitted inside the national park under any circumstances, which is true of Indian national parks generally. If you travel here with a dog, someone stays outside the park with them.
- Best months: November to April. Worth avoiding May to October, because of park closed during monsoon flooding.
- Watch out for: wild elephants and rhinos that regularly cross the highway and enter resort fringes, leopards on the park boundary, which take dogs, leeches and ticks in the tea estates.
- Someone stays back for: every safari, which is the entire reason people come to Kaziranga, all four park ranges.
- Suits: Honestly, none particularly. This is a park trip and the park is closed to dogs.
- Stays: Kaziranga Tea Nest Homestay, Nimo Homes, Juihal Residency, all worth confirming directly before booking.
Think hard before bringing a dog here at all. The safaris are the trip, one person sits out every single one, and the boundary is genuinely risky for a dog because of leopards. Kaziranga is one of the few destinations where the honest advice is to leave your dog with someone at home.
Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Kaziranga with a dog.
Before you book anything
Two things decide whether a trip works, and neither is the destination. The first is the month. Several places above are genuinely unkind to a dog in the wrong season, and the difference is not comfort, it is safety. The second is where you are staying, because pet policies in India are set per property and change with the owner, so a place that welcomed dogs last year may not this one. Call and get the pet permission added to your booking confirmation in writing.
If you are taking the train rather than driving, read the rules for taking a dog on an Indian train first. Dogs are barred from 2AC, 3AC and Sleeper, which catches out almost everyone, and the parcel office step has to happen on the day.
And if you would rather not plan it yourself, our trip planner will build a day by day plan for your dates, your dog and how you are travelling, and email it to you.
The unglamorous part
A dog who will not go to the toilet in a strange place holds it far longer than is good for them, and a long drive followed by an unfamiliar room is exactly that situation twice over. Carrying a familiar surface from home is the single easiest fix, which is the reason we make a portable coir potty.