Jorhat Tea Estates

Assam grows more tea than anywhere else in India, and Jorhat sits at the centre of the upper Assam belt, calling itself the tea capital; the Tocklai Tea Research Institute here, founded in 1911, is among the oldest tea research stations in the world. What draws visitors is the bungalow stay: planters' houses built through the colonial period on the estates, timber and brick with wide verandas, deep lawns and staff establishments, several of which now take paying guests, with estate walks and factory tours attached. Assam tea is made from a different plant variety than Chinese tea, grown on flat plains rather than hills.

What you actually see

• The planters' bungalows - colonial estate houses taking guests.
• The flat estates - Assam tea grown on plain rather than hillside.
• The factories - withering, CTC rolling and drying of the crop.
• Tocklai - one of the world's oldest tea research institutes.

When to go

November to March for comfortable weather; the second flush from May to June produces the most prized Assam tea and factories are then at full work, but the season is hot and wet.

Honest expectations

Bungalow stays are expensive and book out. Factory tours run only during processing. Assam summers are hot and humid, and the monsoon brings serious flooding to the region.

Nearby

Majuli lies north across the river; Sivasagar is east.