Diwali

The five days

Diwali is a five-day festival timed to the Hindu lunisolar calendar. Its middle day, Lakshmi Puja, falls on the new moon, which is why the date moves between October and November. In 2026 that day is Sunday 8 November. In 2027 it is Friday 29 October.

The days around it in 2026 are these. Dhanteras is Friday 6 November, the day set aside for the god of medicine Dhanvantari and for Lakshmi, and the day people buy gold, silver or kitchen utensils for luck. Naraka Chaturdashi, also called Choti Diwali, is Saturday 7 November. Govardhan Puja is Monday 9 November, when devotees shape a small hill to honor the mountain Krishna is said to have lifted to shelter a village from rain. Bhai Dooj is Tuesday 10 November, when sisters pray for their brothers and brothers give gifts.

Lakshmi Puja is an evening rite at home, so the lamps and fireworks peak after dark on the 8th. The exact window differs by city. For Delhi in 2026 the Pradosh evening window runs from 5:48pm to 7:14pm.

Sikhs mark the same night as Bandi Chhor Divas, which remembers the release of the sixth guru from prison, and Varanasi holds its own festival of lamps two weeks later.

Where to go

Every Indian city celebrates Diwali, so the choice is which version to watch. The four below fall on different nights.

Ayodhya's Deepotsav holds the Guinness record for the largest display of oil lamps. In 2025 it was held on 19 October, the eve of Diwali, and was the ninth edition. Guinness World Records verified 26,17,215 lamps (about 2.6 million) using drones, lit at Ram Ki Paidi and along 56 ghats of the Saryu river. A second record was set the same evening, when 2,128 priests and devotees performed the Saryu aarti together. The state tourism department, the Ayodhya administration and the Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University organize it, and around 33,000 volunteers were reported to have set the lamps.

For Sikhs the same night is Bandi Chhor Divas. It remembers 1619, when Guru Hargobind returned to Amritsar after the Mughal emperor Jahangir freed him from Gwalior fort together with 52 princes. The Harmandir Sahib is lit at night and thousands of devotees come to the complex. The shrine's committee, the SGPC, replaced the old strings of bulbs with a computer-controlled lighting system in 2017 and keeps a short, scaled-down fireworks show at four designated spots inside the complex, with low-noise crackers.

Everyone covers their head and leaves shoes at the free deposit counters at the entrances, then washes their feet at the pools by the doors. Langar, the free meal, is served almost continuously.

Varanasi's big night is not Diwali but Dev Deepawali, on Kartik Purnima, fifteen days after Diwali. In 2026 that is Tuesday 24 November. The Incredible India tourism site describes millions of earthen lamps lit along the ghats as dusk settles, and names Assi Ghat and Raj Ghat among the lit stretches. The Ganga aarti and cultural programs run around the lighting. The site recommends watching the illuminated ghats from a boat on the river.

The Varanasi in 2 days plan covers the dawn boat and the ghat walk.

Travel guides name Johari Bazaar and Bapu Bazaar in the walled city as the streets strung with lights each evening and crowded with buyers before the main night. Read Jaipur in 2 or 3 days for the sights beyond the bazaars.

Trains and getting around

Since 1 November 2024, Indian Railways opens reservations 60 days before the journey, excluding the travel date, down from 120. For Diwali 2026 the window for the 8th opened around 10 September. Foreign tourists keep a 365-day window, so a train for 29 October 2027 can be booked from about the end of October 2026.

Ayodhya, Amritsar, Varanasi and Jaipur all have stations. Book the train into the festival city before the room, because the booking window decides which train you get.

Entry is the other practical item. Most visitors need a visa for India; the India e-Visa guide covers which one to pick.

Where to sleep

Choose the base by what you plan to watch.

In Varanasi, stay near the ghats so that you can walk to a boat landing before dusk; Assi Ghat is one of the two ghats the tourism board names for Dev Deepawali. Where to stay in Varanasi compares the ghats, Assi, the Cantonment and Sarnath. In Jaipur, Johari and Bapu bazaars are in the walled city, and where to stay in Jaipur covers four bases.

In Amritsar, a room within walking distance of the Golden Temple lets you go back on foot after the lighting.

Air and fireworks

Diwali ends in smoke in north India. The morning after Diwali 2025, Delhi's air was in the very poor range, with the city-wide index near 350 at 8am and a number of stations above 400. Punjabi Bagh was reported at 437. Fireworks were the main cause, and many people lit them outside the permitted hours.

In 2025 the Supreme Court had relaxed a year-long ban on firecrackers in Delhi and the surrounding region for two days: only green crackers approved by the national environmental institute NEERI, sold at designated places, and burned between 6am and 7am and between 8pm and 10pm on the day before Diwali and on Diwali. That order covered 2025 only.

The worst readings in 2025 came on the morning after the main night.

What to plan around

The usual mistake is to land on 8 November and look for the festival. By the main night the lamps and markets have been up for days, so arrive for Dhanteras on the 6th and use the 7th to move between cities.

The second is to treat Diwali as one night. Ayodhya's lamp-lighting is the evening before. Varanasi's is two weeks later. If you can choose your week, go to Ayodhya on the eve and to Varanasi on 24 November.