Mawpun Waterfall: An Easy Weekend Trip We Took Near Umsning
Last Sunday, me and three of my friends wanted to go somewhere quiet. The usual plan was Cherrapunji, but everyone knows how crazy the traffic gets on that road on weekends. You spend two hours just trying to get past Upper Shillong, and once you reach, every viewpoint is packed with cars and people taking selfies.
So, we changed our mind and headed down toward Umsning instead. A cousin of mine had mentioned a river spot called Mawpun Waterfall a few months back, and we decided to just drive down and see what the place looks like.
If you are planning to go, here is our honest experience, what the road is like, and what you should carry.
The Drive and Finding the Place
We left Shillong around 9:30 in the morning on two bikes and one car.
Getting to Umsning is easy—the four-lane highway (NH6) is smooth, and you can easily reach there in an hour if traffic around Mawlai isn’t bad.
The tricky part starts once you need to take the turn for Mawpun village. There are no big green tourism boards pointing you to the waterfall. When Google Maps started acting confused near the village cut-off, we did what always works best: we pulled over and asked a guy sitting at a small betel nut shop. He pointed us down a narrow link road.
The village road is paved, but it is quite narrow. In some places, if another car comes from the front, one of you has to slow down and put two wheels off onto the mud shoulder to pass. So don't speed here. Also, there are village dogs, chickens, and kids playing near the corners, so take it easy.
After driving for about 15 minutes through pine trees and small wooden houses, the road ends near an open grassy patch. That’s where everyone parks. There is no official parking counter and nobody charged us anything. We just parked our car properly so we wouldn't block any village pick-up trucks.
The Walk Down to the Water
From the parking spot, it’s not a hard trek at all.
You follow a red-dirt walking path that goes gently downhill. It took us maybe 10 minutes to reach the riverbank.
A quick warning: the night before our trip, it had rained a little bit, and that red mud path was surprisingly slippery. My friend was wearing flat-bottom sneakers and almost took a bad fall on the slope. If you have shoes with good rubber grip or trail sandals, wear those. Leave your fancy white sneakers and leather shoes at home.
What the Waterfall Actually Looks Like
When you finally step out of the bushes, you are standing on a wide, open riverbed filled with massive, dark rocks.
Mawpun isn’t like Elephant Falls where water falls straight down from a huge height. It is a wide, roaring cascade. The river rushes hard across layers of flat boulders, creating white foam and a couple of nice, broad pools below.
The sound of the water here is loud and refreshing. What we loved the most was the peace. Aside from our group, there were only two local guys fishing a little further downstream. No loudspeakers, no crowds pushing you, and no plastic ticket booths.
The rocks near the water can be dangerous, though. Even if a rock looks completely dry on top, the side touching the water has a thin film of green river moss. It is like ice. Walk slowly from rock to rock.
We found a nice, flat boulder under some shade, took off our socks, and sat with our feet in the cold water. The water was clean, freezing, and felt amazing after the walk.
What to Eat and Drink
Here is the most important thing to know before you leave the highway: there are zero shops at the waterfall.
No tea stalls, no instant noodle corners, nothing. If you don't bring food, you will sit there starving.
Before turning into the village road, we stopped at Umsning market. We bought:
Three 2-litre bottles of drinking water
Some bananas, biscuits, and chips
A flask of hot tea that we packed from home in the morning
We sat on the flat stones, had our tea and snacks, and just spent two hours talking and taking photos.
One big request: Because this isn’t a commercial park, nobody comes to sweep the place. When we were packing up, we collected all our chip packets, plastic wrappers, and bottle caps into a plastic carry bag we brought with us. We put it in the car boot and threw it in a proper dustbin once we got back to the main highway. Please do the same—don't leave plastic bottles jammed between the rocks.
How Much Did It Cost Us?
This was one of the cheapest day trips we’ve done in a long time.
Fuel: About Rs. 400 for petrol (since Umsning is just around 32 km from Shillong).
Entry fee: Rs. 0.
Parking fee: Rs. 0.
Snacks at Umsning: Around Rs. 250 for biscuits, water, and snacks for all of us.
If you don’t have a vehicle and take a shared taxi from Shillong to Umsning, it costs around Rs. 80 to Rs. 100 per seat. From Umsning stand, you can hire a local local taxi to drop you and wait. They usually ask around Rs. 500 to Rs. 700 for the trip.
Best Time to Go
We went in late September, right after the monsoon. The water was full, loud, and looked great.
If you go in deep winter (around December or January), the water becomes very small, but it turns crystal clear. Winter is great if you just want to sit on completely dry rocks in the afternoon sun. But if you want to see the waterfall roaring, go between August and October.
Try to reach the spot by 11:00 AM and leave by 2:30 or 3:00 PM. That gives you plenty of time to enjoy the daylight and drive back up the village road before it gets dark.
Final Verdict
If you are looking for boating, fancy cafes, or giant cliffs, don't bother coming here.
But if you just want a low-cost weekend afternoon out with your friends or family, away from horn-honking and crowds, Mawpun is a really peaceful place. It only takes half a day, and you will be back home in Shillong before the evening traffic starts.
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