Festivals
Festival guides
Nepali festivals — when, where, what to say
Nepal is a country of festivals. Most days of the Bikram Sambat calendar are observed somewhere by someone. These guides cover the three biggest tourist-accessible ones — Bisket Jatra in Bhaktapur, Indra Jatra in Kathmandu, and Krishna Janmashtami in Patan — with dates, etiquette, viewing spots, and the Nepali phrases that help you participate respectfully.
Bisket Jatra — Bhaktapur's Wild New Year
Bhaktapur's nine-day chariot festival marks the Nepali New Year (Baisakh 1) with a tug-of-war between rival neighborhoods, a towering wooden pole, and crowds that test every traveler's nerve.
- Dates
- April 10–15 (varies slightly)
- Location
- Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley
Indra Jatra — Kathmandu's Eight-Day Mask Dance
Kathmandu's biggest old-city festival — the rain god Indra is worshipped, the Living Goddess Kumari rides a chariot through Durbar Square, and masked dancers fill the lanes for eight nights of pageantry.
- Dates
- Mid-to-late September (varies)
- Location
- Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, Kathmandu
Krishna Janmashtami — The God's Midnight Birth
The birth of Krishna at midnight in Bhadra, observed with fasting, candle-lit vigils, and music at Patan's Krishna Mandir — the most important Krishna temple in Nepal.
- Dates
- Mid-August to mid-September (varies; usually late August)
- Location
- Krishna Mandir, Patan Durbar Square (and Hindu temples nationwide)
Dashain — Nepal's Biggest Festival
The fifteen-day Hindu festival of the goddess Durga's victory over evil — families reunite, elders bless the young with red tika and jamara, and the whole country slows to a near-stop for Vijaya Dashami.
- Dates
- Late September to late October (varies)
- Location
- Nationwide; family homes, Durga temples, and the Kathmandu Valley
Tihar — The Festival of Lights
Nepal's five-day festival of lights honours crows, dogs, cows and the goddess Lakshmi, fills doorways with oil lamps and marigold, and ends with Bhai Tika — sisters blessing brothers with a seven-colour tika.
- Dates
- Late October to mid-November (varies)
- Location
- Nationwide; homes, courtyards and temples across Nepal
Holi — The Festival of Colours
The boisterous spring festival of colours — Nepal celebrates Holi on the Falgun full moon, with coloured powder (abir), water balloons (lola) and music, a day earlier in the hills than in the Terai.
- Dates
- Early-to-mid March (varies)
- Location
- Nationwide; Kathmandu's Basantapur and Thamel, Pokhara, and the Terai
Teej — The Women's Festival of Red
Hartalika Teej is the women's festival of Nepal — a day of fasting, red and green saris, songs and dance for marital well-being, centred on the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
- Dates
- Late August to mid-September (varies)
- Location
- Nationwide; Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu, and Shiva temples everywhere
Maha Shivaratri — The Great Night of Shiva
On the great night of Shiva, Pashupatinath becomes the centre of the Hindu world — hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, naked ash-smeared sadhus, all-night vigils, bonfires and the legal haze of ganja.
- Dates
- Late February to early March (varies)
- Location
- Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu (and Shiva temples nationwide)
