Kohima

Kohima is the capital of Nagaland and one of the most distinctive hill towns in India, a settlement of tin roofs and churches spread across steep, forested ridges in the homeland of the Angami Naga. It carries a weight of history far larger than its size. In 1944 it was the scene of the Battle of Kohima, where Allied forces halted the Japanese advance into India in savage close-quarters fighting; the battle is regarded as a turning point of the war in Asia and has been called the 'Stalingrad of the East'. That history is honoured at the beautifully kept Kohima War Cemetery, whose famous epitaph, 'When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today', is among the most quietly powerful in the world.

Kohima is best known today for the Hornbill Festival, held every December at the Kisama Heritage Village a short drive from town. Billed as the 'festival of festivals', it gathers Nagaland's many tribes for days of dance, music, warrior displays, crafts, and food, and is the single best window into the culture of a state that is otherwise proud, remote, and little visited. Beyond the festival, the old Kohima village (Bara Basti) is one of the largest and most historic in the region, and the surrounding highlands hold the celebrated Dzukou Valley, a high seasonal trek famous for its lilies and rolling green floor.

Two practical points matter. Visiting Nagaland requires an Inner Line Permit for Indian citizens and the equivalent registration for foreign nationals, which we arrange in advance. And Kohima has no airport of its own, the gateway is Dimapur, some 74 km away, from which the road climbs into the hills. MyTripMyTravel runs Kohima as a culture-and-history leg staged from Dimapur, with permits handled, an informed escort for the war history and Naga culture, and, for those who can time it, a place at the Hornbill Festival in December.