📍 Snow🏞️ Lake🌄 Viewpoint🪂 Adventure

Sela Pass

Arunachal Pradesh, India

4.6 (0)

Overview

A wind-scoured 4,170-m gateway to Tawang where prayer flags snap over the sacred, often-frozen Sela Lake — one of India's highest motorable passes, held by legend to be guarded by the brave Sela of the 1962 war.

Why visit: High-altitude drama — a glacial lake and snow walls on the roof of Arunachal.

Things to do

›Photograph Sela Lake's mirror (or ice) beneath the pass
›Tea at the army canteen — highest chai of your life
›Pay respects at Jaswant Garh war memorial en route
›Watch for yaks and snow pheasants on the slopes

Mountain DrivePhotographySnow Play

Location & MapDirections

Reviews (0)

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Travel Information

Best time

Apr–Oct

Entry fee

Free (ILP required)

Hours

Daylight; can close in snow

Est. budget

Part of Tawang trip

Duration

1–2 hrs stop

Nearby attractions

Within

0.1 km

🪂 Adventure

4.3

Sela Pass Tunnel & Nuranang Valley Drive

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

The new Sela Tunnel — the world's longest bi-lane high-altitude tunnel — and the dramatic drive down through the Nuranang valley toward Jang and Tawang.

Year-round (tunnel)Half dayExplore

0.6 km

🏞️ Lake

4.5

Sela Lake & Paradise Lake (Sela Pass area)

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

The sacred high lakes around the 4,170-m Sela Pass — Sela (Paradise) Lake beside the road, frozen much of the year, holy to Buddhists and stunning under snow.

Apr–Oct (snow year-round near pass)2–3 hrsExplore

1.6 km

📍 Nature

4.3

Sela–Tawang Rhododendron & Alpine Flowers

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

The high rhododendron sanctuary and alpine meadows around Sela and Tawang — dozens of rhododendron species and primulas ablaze in the April–June bloom.

Apr–Jun (bloom)Half dayExplore

5.3 km

🏛️ Historical

4.4

Jaswant Garh War Memorial

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

A moving memorial below Sela to Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat, who held off Chinese forces alone in 1962 — tea and langar served by the army to travellers.

Apr–Oct1 hrExplore

5.3 km

💧 Waterfall

4.5

Nuranang (Jang) Falls

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

A magnificent 100-m waterfall plunging off a cliff near Jang, film-famous and thunderous — one of the north-east's most spectacular cascades.

Apr–Oct1–2 hrsExplore

14.1 km

💎 Hidden Gem📍 Nature

3.9

Regyong & Sangti Yak Pastures

West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh

The high Brokpa yak-herding pastures above Dirang and Sangti — summer grazing meadows, stone herder huts and the pastoral life of the West Kameng highlands.

May–OctFull dayExplore

15.8 km

💎 Hidden Gem📍 Nature

4.4

Sangti Valley (Black-Necked Cranes)

West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh

A serene river valley near Dirang wintered by the rare black-necked crane — apple orchards, trout streams and Monpa hamlets under snow peaks.

Nov–Mar (cranes)Half–full dayExplore

18.5 km

💎 Hidden Gem🥾 Trekking

4.3

Sangti to Mandala Top Trek

West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh

A rhododendron-and-forest trek to Mandala Top above Dirang — 108 planned stupas, high meadows and a grand panorama of the eastern-Himalaya snow ranges.

Mar–Jun (blooms); Oct–Nov1–2 daysExplore

21.1 km

📍 Nature

4.4

Dirang Valley & Dzong

West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh

A gentle valley of stone Monpa villages, the old Dirang Dzong fort, hot springs, kiwi orchards, a national yak research centre and apple-blossom springs.

Mar–Oct1–2 daysExplore

24 km

💎 Hidden Gem🛕 Religious

4.4

Urgelling Monastery (6th Dalai Lama's Birthplace)

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

A small, sacred gompa where the Sixth Dalai Lama was born in 1683 — a serene pilgrimage a short drive below Tawang, prayer flags and old relics within.

Mar–Oct1 hrExplore