Assam Fourth In New York Times' '52 Places To Visit In 2025'

Kaziranga national park is 52nd in the list of must go places by New York Times.

Golaghat/Guwahati:The year 2025 has started on a positive note for Assam. The state, which struggled against insurgency for around four decades, has been listed fourth by the New York Times among its '52 places to visit in 2025'.

The list by the New York Times has placed Jane Austen's England, Galapagos island in Ecuador and the New York City Museum in first, second and third positions respectively. "Assam, a hilly state near the borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, has long been a gateway to Northeast India, a remote, culturally distinct and comparatively crowd-free region that hangs as if by a thread from the country’s mainland. Now, the area is seeing both more international recognition and increased accessibility. In 2024, the Charaideu Moidam, or Pyramids of Assam, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. These ancient burial mounds, constructed during the Ahom dynasty between the 13th and 19th centuries, offer a unique glimpse into the region’s royal legacy and spiritual essence. Travelers can also visit the state’s world-famous tea gardens and Kaziranga National Park, where endangered one-horned rhinoceros can be found. Improved infrastructure, including new roads, makes getting there even easier; an airport that serves Guwahati, Assam’s largest city, is set for a major expansion in 2025 that will quadruple its capacity and allow it to establish stronger links throughout the region," states the note on Assam in the list.

Charaideo Moidam (ETV Bharat)

Pride of Assam: Kaziranga and Charaideu Moidam

While Kaziranga national park in Assam is a major tourist destination, the Ahom era burial mound Charaideu Moidam received the much coveted UNESCO world heritage site status only last year. Kaziranga national park is home to world's largest one horned rhino population while the Moidams in Charaideu are basically the burial mounds of the Ahom Kings and members of the Ahom royalty. Rich in natural beauty and diversity of flora and fauna, Kaziranga has tigers, elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer apart from its one horned rhino population.

The Moidam, on the other hand, are characterized by vaulted chambers, often double-storied, accessed through arched passages. The chambers housed centrally raised platforms where the deceased were laid to rest along with their royal insignia, weapons, and personal belongings. The construction of these mounds involved layers of bricks, earth, and vegetation, transforming the landscape into undulating hillocks reminiscent of celestial mountains.

"It is a great day for us as Kaziranga national park is listed as 52 must go places in the world by the New York Times. We knew that Kaziranga was the best in the country but now we got a global recognition.The main reason behind this is the consistent effort of the government which other parks in the country had not. Subsequently, we have the recent visits to the park by the Prime Minister of India and the Royal King of Bhutan...this speaks in bounty about the government's will and vision for the park," said Kaziranga national park director Sonali Ghosh.