India Festival Calendar 2027: Diwali, Holi and More
India festival calendar 2027: expected dates for Diwali, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid and 18 more festivals, the best places to see them, and how to plan your trip.
India runs on two festival clocks. National days such as Republic Day (26 January) and Independence Day (15 August) never move, but most religious festivals follow lunar calendars and shift by days or weeks each year. For 2027, Holi is expected in late March and Diwali in late October. Use the calendar below to pick your month, then confirm the exact dates closer to your trip.
## Why do festival dates in India change every year?
Most Hindu festivals are set by the lunar month and the phase of the moon. Diwali falls on the new moon of the month of Kartik, and Holi on the full moon of Phalgun. A lunar year is about 11 days shorter than a solar one, so every two or three years the Hindu calendar adds an extra month to catch up. That is why Diwali can land anywhere from mid-October to mid-November.
Islamic festivals such as Eid al-Fitr follow a purely lunar calendar, so they move about 11 days earlier every year, and the final date depends on the sighting of the new moon.
A handful of festivals track the sun instead. Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Baisakhi and Christmas stay on or very near the same date every year, which makes them the easiest to plan around.
The practical rule: book flights using the expected window, then check the list of official holidays the Government of India publishes for the year. You can find official notices through the [National Portal of India](https://www.india.gov.in/). Regional festivals also vary by state, so a festival that is a big public holiday in one state may be an ordinary working day in another.
## India festival calendar 2027 at a glance
Dates marked "expected" are estimates based on the lunar calendar. Treat them as a guide, not a booking confirmation.
| Festival | Timing in 2027 | Best place to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Lohri | 13 to 15 January | Ahmedabad (kites), Tamil Nadu, Punjab |
| Republic Day | 26 January | New Delhi (parade on Kartavya Path) |
| Maha Shivratri | February or March | Varanasi |
| Eid al-Fitr | Expected early March, by moon sighting | Old Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow |
| Holi | Expected late March | Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana |
| Baisakhi | 13 or 14 April | Amritsar |
| Rongali Bihu | Mid-April | Assam |
| Hemis Festival | June or July | Hemis Monastery, Ladakh |
| Rath Yatra | June or July | Puri, Odisha |
| Independence Day | 15 August | New Delhi, and every town |
| Janmashtami | August or September | Mathura, Mumbai (Dahi Handi) |
| Onam | August or September | Kerala |
| Ganesh Chaturthi | Expected early September | Mumbai, Pune |
| Navratri | Late September to early October | Gujarat (garba nights) |
| Durga Puja | Expected early October | Kolkata |
| Dussehra | October | Mysuru, Kullu |
| Diwali | Expected late October | Varanasi, Jaipur, Amritsar |
| Chhath Puja | About six days after Diwali | Bihar, especially Patna |
| Pushkar Camel Fair | October or November | Pushkar, Rajasthan |
| Guru Nanak Jayanti | November | Amritsar |
| Hornbill Festival | 1 to 10 December | Kisama, near Kohima, Nagaland |
| Christmas | 25 December | Goa, Kerala, Shillong |
## January to April: kites, colours and harvest new years
January opens with harvest festivals. In Gujarat, Makar Sankranti (locally called Uttarayan) fills the sky with kites, and Ahmedabad's rooftops are the place to be. In Tamil Nadu the same days are Pongal, a four-day festival built around a sweet rice dish of the same name. In Punjab, Lohri bonfires burn the night before.
Republic Day on 26 January brings a military and cultural parade in New Delhi. Tickets for the parade seating are sold in advance, and security around central Delhi is tight that week, so plan your movements early.
Holi is the festival most visitors ask about. It is loud, joyful and messy. The towns around Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, linked to the god Krishna, celebrate for days, with Barsana known for its Lathmar Holi. Wear clothes you can throw away, protect your phone in a zip bag, and oil your hair and skin beforehand so the colour washes out more easily. Solo women travellers often prefer a hotel or homestay party over open street crowds.
Eid al-Fitr, which ends the month of Ramadan, is expected in early March 2027. The mood around Jama Masjid in Old Delhi on Eid morning, and the food streets of Hyderabad and Lucknow through Ramadan evenings, are worth seeing.
Mid-April is new-year season in several regions. Baisakhi in Punjab marks the harvest and has deep meaning for Sikhs; the Golden Temple in Amritsar draws large crowds. Assam celebrates Rongali Bihu with dance and music, and Kerala and Tamil Nadu mark their own new years around the same days.
## May to August: monsoon festivals and Independence Day
This is the quietest stretch for big tourist festivals, because much of India is either very hot or under the monsoon. Eid al-Adha is expected around mid-May 2027 and is widely observed.
Two festivals make the trip worthwhile anyway. In Ladakh, the Hemis Festival at Hemis Monastery features masked dances by monks, usually in June or July. Ladakh's summer is its main travel season, so this pairs well with a high-altitude trip. Allow a couple of days in Leh to acclimatise before doing anything strenuous.
In Puri, Odisha, the Rath Yatra sees huge wooden chariots carrying the deities of the Jagannath Temple pulled through the streets by thousands of people. Crowds are enormous, and accommodation in Puri fills well in advance.
Independence Day on 15 August is marked by the Prime Minister's address from the Red Fort in Delhi, flag hoisting across the country, and kite flying in parts of north India.
## September to November: the big festival season
If you want to see the most festivals in one trip, come between September and November. The weather is cooling after the monsoon, and the major festivals arrive one after another.
**Ganesh Chaturthi** brings giant Ganesha idols to Mumbai and Pune. The festival ends with processions carrying the idols to the sea or to lakes for immersion.
**Onam** is Kerala's harvest festival, with flower carpets, a huge vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf, and snake-[boat](https://www.boat-lifestyle.com/) races on the backwaters.
**Navratri** means nine nights of garba and dandiya dancing in Gujarat. Many venues welcome visitors, and some sell passes.
**Durga Puja** in Kolkata is one of the great urban festivals anywhere. Neighbourhoods build elaborate temporary structures called pandals to house images of the goddess Durga. UNESCO added Durga Puja in Kolkata to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021; [Wikipedia's Durga Puja article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja) gives a good overview.
**Dussehra** follows. Mysuru's Dasara, with its illuminated palace and procession, is the grandest version in the south. Kullu in Himachal Pradesh holds a week-long fair that begins on Dussehra day.
**Diwali**, the festival of lights, is expected in late October 2027. Homes and streets are lit with lamps, families share sweets, and fireworks go on late into the night. Varanasi's riverside ghats, Jaipur's lit-up markets and the Golden Temple in Amritsar (where Sikhs mark Bandi Chhor Divas) are all memorable. Air quality in north Indian cities can be poor in the weeks around Diwali, so check forecasts if you have breathing problems.
**Chhath Puja**, about six days after Diwali, is a sunrise and sunset offering to the sun god made by devotees standing in rivers and ponds, centred on Bihar.
The **Pushkar Camel Fair** in Rajasthan runs in the days leading up to the full moon of Kartik, the same full moon on which Sikhs celebrate **Guru Nanak Jayanti**.
Planning a heritage-heavy itinerary at this time of year? Our guide to [UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India](/blog/unesco-world-heritage-sites-in-india) helps you link festival towns with major sites.
If you enjoy this kind of detail, you might like the [Bharat Ko Janiye Quiz](https://bkjquiz.com/?utm_source=dgamaf53&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_id=d53), the official quiz of India's Ministry of External Affairs. It is free to join and open to anyone in the world, so you do not need to be Indian to take part. Festivals and regional traditions are exactly the kind of knowledge it rewards.
## December: Hornbill, Christmas and the year's end
The Hornbill Festival in Nagaland runs from 1 to 10 December every year at Kisama Heritage Village, near Kohima. It brings together Nagaland's tribes for dance, music, crafts and food, and it is one of the best introductions to India's northeast. Read more on the [Hornbill Festival page on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbill_Festival).
Christmas is celebrated with midnight masses and lights in Goa, Kerala and the northeastern hill states such as Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.
## How to plan a trip around a festival
1. **Pick the festival, then the city.** The same festival looks very different in different places. Diwali in Varanasi is not Diwali in Mumbai.
2. **Book early.** Trains, flights and hotels fill fast around Diwali, Durga Puja, Holi and Christmas. Indian families travel home for these, so domestic transport is at its busiest.
3. **Expect closures.** Banks, government offices and some shops close on major festival days. Carry some cash and plan sightseeing around closure days.
4. **Check the official tourism site.** [Incredible India](https://www.incredibleindia.gov.in/), the Ministry of Tourism's official site, covers festivals by region.
5. **Read your government's travel advice.** Large crowds bring pickpocketing and crushes. The [UK travel advice for India](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/india) and the [US State Department](https://travel.state.gov/) both publish current guidance.
6. **Sort your visa well ahead.** Festival season is busy, and e-Visa processing still takes time. See our guide on [first trip to India tips](/blog/first-trip-to-india-tips) for what to prepare before you fly.
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