Incredible India
7 Things to Do in Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh
Home to the Apatani people and their distinctive rice-and-fish paddy fields ringed by pine-covered hills, Ziro Valley is one of Northeast India's most quietly striking landscapes.
Sep 24, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Ziro Valley, in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh at around 1,700 metres, is best known for a farming system found almost nowhere else: wet-rice paddies that double as fish ponds, cultivated for generations by the Apatani people on a valley floor ringed by pine-covered hills. Here are seven ways to spend time there.
1. Walk through the Apatani paddy-cum-fish fields
The valley floor is laid out in a wet-rice cultivation system unique to the Apatani people, who farm rice and fish together in the same flooded plots without ploughs or draught animals. UNESCO has kept the landscape on its tentative World Heritage list since 2014 for this combined system alone.
2. Explore Hong village
One of the larger traditional Apatani villages in the valley, Hong is a dense cluster of bamboo-and-wood houses raised on stilts along narrow lanes, still home to a working farming community rather than arranged for visitors.
3. Catch the Ziro Festival of Music, if the dates align
Held outdoors on the valley floor, usually in September, since 2012, this independent music festival draws performers and visitors from across India and beyond; it is worth checking exact dates before planning a trip around it, as accommodation books out well ahead.
4. Hike into Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
A protected forest reserve a few hours from the main valley, Talley Valley rises through old-growth temperate forest and rhododendron groves and is best attempted with a local guide, given the limited infrastructure.
5. Take in the valley from Kile Pakho viewpoint
A short climb above the valley floor gives a wide view over Ziro's patchwork of paddy fields and pine-covered hills, a useful orientation point on a first day in the valley.
6. Visit a Donyi-Polo shrine
The Apatani traditionally follow Donyi-Polo, an indigenous faith centred on the sun and moon as divine figures; small shrines and prayer sites around the valley reflect a belief system that predates, and continues alongside, Christianity and Hinduism in the region.
7. Try Apatani food and apong
Meals built around rice, fish from the paddy fields, bamboo shoot and locally grown vegetables are typically washed down with apong, a mildly fermented rice beer brewed in most Apatani households rather than sold commercially.
Traveller tips
- The nearest airport is Lilabari in Assam, around 3.5 to 4 hours by road; Naharlagun, near Itanagar, has rail connections and is a similar distance away.
- Indian citizens need an Inner Line Permit to visit Arunachal Pradesh, arranged online or on arrival at designated checkpoints before travel.
- The Ziro Festival of Music brings a significant crowd when it runs, and books out valley accommodation well in advance.
- Evenings stay cool even in summer given the elevation; carry warm layers year-round.
Where this is
Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh