Diwali at a glance
What it honours: Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, and Rama's return home to Ayodhya.
- When
- The new moon of Kartik, late October or November
- Where
- Jaipur first, then Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Nathdwara
- Lasts
- Five days, Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj
- Best day
- Diwali night, from a walled-city rooftop
- Book by
- Several months ahead, this is a peak week
- Good for
- First-time visitors, families, couples
- For merchants: Diwali is also New Year, when the account books are worshipped.
- Our view: of all the festivals in Rajasthan, this is the one we would choose if you could only see one.
- The honest part: it is loud and smoky, the bazaars are packed and some shops close for a day.
Why Rajasthan lights its lamps
After fourteen years of exile and his victory over the demon king Ravana, Rama came home to Ayodhya with Sita and his brother Lakshmana on the darkest night of the year, and the people lit rows of lamps to show him the way. Every clay lamp on a Rajasthani parapet still remembers that night.
The name: from deepavali, a row of lamps. The best-known story is from the Ramayana.
For Jains: many among Rajasthan's merchant families, Diwali also marks the day Mahavira, the last of their great teachers, attained nirvana, liberation.
- Lakshmi's night: in Rajasthan, above all, Diwali belongs to Lakshmi, believed to wander the earth on the new moon of Kartik and enter homes that are clean, bright and welcoming.
- Weeks of cleaning: families whitewash their walls, paint new mandana on the floors and leave the doors open on the night of the puja.
- Something new: gold or silver if they can, a steel pot if they cannot, because it brings luck for the year ahead.
- A merchants' New Year: on the night of the Lakshmi puja, the red cloth-bound account books called bahi-khata are worshipped with the goddess.
- The first page: a new book is opened with an auspicious mark in vermilion.
- Carried across India: the Marwari merchant families took this tradition everywhere, and in Jaipur's jewellers' lanes it is kept exactly as their grandfathers kept it.
- A city planned for trade: when Sawai Jai Singh II laid out Jaipur in 1727, he planned its bazaars around trades, and the same families have lived in the same lanes ever since.
- Shops become shrines: on Diwali night shopkeepers sit on white cotton sheets in new clothes, and the walled city's grid glows like a map drawn in light.
When Diwali falls, and the order of the five days
The usual month: the new moon of Kartik usually falls in late October or November.
This year: in 2026 it falls in the first half of November.
- Diwali night
- The new moon of Kartik
- In 2026
- The first half of November
- Starts
- Dhanteras, two days before
- Ends
- Bhai Dooj, two days after
- Late October days
- Often the low thirties
- November days
- The high twenties, cool evenings
- It moves: the calendar is lunar, so the dates shift each year, and sometimes two of the festival days fall together.
- Confirmed each year: we confirm the exact dates each year and build your days around them.
- The weather: among the best of the year, warm days and pleasantly cool evenings.
- The air: usually clear just after the rains, though the fireworks of Diwali night leave a haze of smoke for a day or two.
- Month guides: Rajasthan in November and Rajasthan in October explain the wider season.
Dhanteras, the day of new things
When: two days before Diwali.
- What: families buy metal: gold coins, silver, jewellery or at least a new steel pot for the kitchen.
- The bazaars: the jewellers' lanes are packed from morning until late. It is the busiest shopping day of the year.
- The lights: they come on in earnest that evening.
Roop Chaudas, the day of beauty
When: the day before Diwali, called Roop Chaudas in Rajasthan.
- The bath: families wake early and bathe after rubbing in ubtan, a paste of gram flour, turmeric and oil.
- The last touches: the last cleaning is done and the mandana are finished.
- At dusk: the first lamps appear on the parapets.
Diwali, the night of lamps
At dusk: homes and shops hold the Lakshmi puja on the new moon.
- Then: every roof, gate and balcony is lined with lamps and lights.
- Fireworks: across the city until late. It is the brightest night in Rajasthan.
Govardhan Puja and Annakut
The offering: Krishna temples heap up great mountains of food called Annakut, then share them with devotees.
- The story: it recalls the hill Govardhan, which Krishna lifted to shelter the cowherds from Indra's storms.
- The mood: in Rajasthan this is also a day for visiting and for rest after a long night.
Bhai Dooj, the day of brothers and sisters
- The ritual: sisters mark their brothers' foreheads with a tilak and feed them sweets, and brothers bring gifts.
- The end: families visit each other all day, and the festival winds down.
Where to spend Diwali in Rajasthan
Jaipur, the bazaars lit end to end
The contest: each bazaar's traders' association decorates its own street, often around a theme.
- The rivals: Johari Bazaar, Bapu Bazaar, Tripolia and MI Road compete to outshine each other.
- The view: from a walled-city rooftop at dusk, lamps on every parapet and the hills of Nahargarh dark behind. It is the most beautiful sight of the Jaipur year.
- Read more: our Diwali in Jaipur journey is built around it, and our page on the bazaars of Jaipur explains the streets.
Udaipur, lamps on the water
The scene: lamps line the ghats of Lake Pichola, the old city glows above the water and fireworks burst over the lake.
- The best seat: a private boat at dusk on Diwali night, with the City Palace lit above you, one of the loveliest evenings in India.
- Read more: our Udaipur guide.
Jaisalmer, the fort of lamps
- The scene: the families inside Jaisalmer Fort light oil lamps along its lanes and bastions, and the golden fort glows against the desert night.
- The feel: quieter than Jaipur and wonderfully atmospheric.
Nathdwara, the Annakut of Shrinathji
Where: Nathdwara, the temple town of Shrinathji near Udaipur.
- When: the day after Diwali, one of the great events of the temple year.
- The tradition: a vast offering of food is presented to the god, and by long tradition villagers from the surrounding hills are invited to carry it away.
- Go with a guide: the crowds are enormous, so we go with one who knows the temple.
Jodhpur, below the fort
- The scene: in Jodhpur, the blue lanes below Mehrangarh are lit with lamps.
- The view: from a rooftop or the fort's ramparts at dusk, unforgettable.
A village or a fort in the hills
- The feel: simpler and in some ways more moving, with clay lamps in every doorway, mandana on mud floors and the whole community visiting from house to house.
- Where: Samode, an hour from Jaipur, gives you a village Diwali in a painted palace.
Diwali day in Jaipur, hour by hour
Morning, a slow start
- Why slow: families are busy at home with the last preparations.
- What we do: a gentle sight such as the Jantar Mantar near midday, or a swim and a long breakfast at your hotel.
Afternoon, dressing for the evening
Something new: everyone wears it on Diwali, and so should you.
- Dressing: we arrange for a sari to be draped by someone who knows how, or a safa, a Rajasthani turban, tied by a master.
- Read more: our pages on turban tying and how to wear a sari.
Dusk, the Lakshmi puja
When: at the auspicious hour, in homes and shops across the city.
- Where you join: the puja of a family we know well, or a puja at your hotel, with lamps, marigolds, sweets and prayers to the goddess.
- Manners: leave your shoes at the door and sit where you are shown.
After dark, the rooftop
- The view: every roof, gate and balcony lined with lamps, fireworks rising over Hawa Mahal and the bazaars full of families in new clothes.
- Bring: a scarf for the smoke.
Late, dinner and sweets
- Dinner: late, festive and full of sweets, on a rooftop or palace terrace, or back at your hotel, where the gardens are lit with lamps.
- Read more: our page on rooftop dining has our favourite settings.
The people who make Diwali happen
The potters
Where: in the potters' neighbourhoods on the edge of the old city and in the villages around it.
- The work: families throw thousands of small clay diyas in the weeks before, dry them in the sun and stack them in towers to sell by the dozen.
- The best lamps: plain, slightly uneven and almost free.
- The oldest way: a row of them lit with mustard oil and cotton wicks. We can take you to a potter's courtyard to try the wheel.
The mandana painters
What: the floor paintings of Rajasthan, drawn in white lime on a ground of red earth or ochre, with fingers or a twist of cloth.
- The patterns: lotuses, footprints of the goddess and geometric borders, laid at thresholds to welcome Lakshmi.
- Every family's own: each has its own designs.
- Try it: we arrange an hour with the women of a Jaipur family so you can draw one yourself.
Everyone else
Through the night: bangle-makers, jewellers, sweet cooks, flower sellers and the electricians who string the bazaars, most working through the night before the lights go on.
- Buy from makers: a garland, a box of lamps or lac bangles, at the asked price with a smile.
- Where we go: our crafts of Rajasthan page and our shopping guide.
- Gold on Dhanteras: our gems and jewellery page explains how to buy gold or silver well.
The sweets and food of Diwali
Milk sweets: mostly barfi in squares, kaju katli in silver-leafed diamonds and the round laddoo of every kind.
Boxes everywhere: carried to every relative, neighbour and colleague, and you will be offered one in every shop you enter.
Mawa kachori: Jaipur's own, a flaky pastry filled with sweetened milk solids and dipped in syrup.
- Feeni: a fine nest of fried dough threads, eaten soaked in milk in the colder months.
- In the iron pans: the halwais of the old city fry jalebi and imarti.
- Family meals: puri and spiced potatoes, dahi bada and sweet rice across the five days.
- For the Annakut: on Govardhan Puja, a dish of mixed seasonal vegetables.
- A royal table: laal maas or the gentler safed maas, or a Rajasthani thali on a palace terrace.
- Buy well: boxed sweets from the old, busy shops where stock turns over by the hour.
- Our favourites: our food of Jaipur guide and our Rajasthani sweets guide list them.
Etiquette, safety and respect
Wear something new: or at least your best. It is part of the festival, and your hosts will notice and be delighted.
Take sweets: a box when you visit a home is the expected gift, and you will be sent away with another.
Shoes off: before entering a home, a temple or a shop that has become a shrine for the puja.
- The greeting: Diwali ki shubhkamnayein, best wishes for Diwali, or simply Happy Diwali. Both are welcome.
- Fireworks: stay well back from them in the street, keep children close, and use ear protection for small ones.
- Asthma: bring your medicines and a mask. Smoke can hang over the city on Diwali night and the morning after.
- Firecracker rules: they change from year to year, and we keep you informed.
- Hands off the puja: don't touch the lamps, offerings or account books in a shop's puja, and ask before photographing a family at prayer.
- No commission: say no, politely, to anyone who suggests a shop. Our guides are paid never to play the commission game.
How we plan around Diwali
Why it fills: Indian families travel across the country for the Diwali holidays, and the wedding season begins soon after.
Book early: the best palace rooms in Jaipur and Udaipur go months ahead, and we check each hotel's calendar for large celebrations.
- Book
- Several months ahead
- Busiest traffic
- Dhanteras and Diwali evening
- Sightseeing
- Mornings in the days before
- Day after
- The city sleeps late
- Week before
- Almost as beautiful as the festival
- Traffic: heavy in the walled city on Dhanteras and Diwali evening, so we park outside the gates and walk you in.
- Quieter monuments: in the days before Diwali the monuments are quieter than you might expect.
- Closures: on the day after, much of the city sleeps late, and some shops close for the puja and Govardhan Puja.
- The week before: with the lights going up and the sweet shops at full steam, it is almost as beautiful as the festival itself.
Where to stay in Jaipur
Samode Haveli: Samode Haveli, inside the walled city, lets you walk out into the lit bazaars and back without a car.
- Rambagh Palace: Rambagh Palace is the grandest address in the city, and its lawns are lovely on Diwali night.
- The Oberoi Rajvilas: The Oberoi Rajvilas gives you the festival in measured doses, with a spa to retreat to.
- Compare: our guide to luxury hotels in Jaipur.
Where to stay in Udaipur
- Taj Lake Palace: Taj Lake Palace, on its island, puts you in the middle of the lamps and fireworks on the water.
- Shiv Niwas Palace: Shiv Niwas Palace, inside the City Palace complex, is a short walk from the lit old city.
Journeys and festivals to combine with Diwali
Diwali in Jaipur
- Length: five nights through the five days, four in the walled city and one at Samode Palace in the hills.
- Inside it: a family puja, a mandana afternoon and a rooftop on Diwali night.
Then the Pushkar fair
Timing: the Pushkar Camel Fair builds to the full moon of Kartik, about two weeks after Diwali.
- Distance: Pushkar is about three hours from Jaipur.
- The journey: our Pushkar Camel Fair journey can follow straight on.
Before, Navratri and Dussehra
- Timing: about three weeks before Diwali, the nine nights of Navratri end with Dussehra.
- Ravana burns: effigies are burnt across Rajasthan, most famously at the Kota Dussehra.
Tigers or lakes afterwards
- Ranthambore: reopens for safaris in October and is three to four hours from Jaipur, though its zones are busy in the holiday week.
- Udaipur: or fly there and finish by the water on our Golden Triangle and Udaipur route.
Diwali for families, couples and returning friends
For families
Why children love it: sweets, sparklers, new clothes and the chance to paint a mandana on the floor.
- The hotel: choose one with a garden, where the fireworks stay at a safe distance, and bring ear protection for small ones.
- Pacing: keep the busiest bazaar evening short, and let them light a row of diyas of their own.
- Read more: our family journeys show how we pace festival days with children.
For couples
The room: a suite with a terrace.
- Diwali night: a private dinner on a palace roof, with lamps around the table and the city's fireworks on the horizon.
- Afterwards: two quiet nights in the hills at Alila Fort Bishangarh or Samode.
- Ideas: our private palace dinners page.
For photographers
The light: the blue half hour after sunset, when the lamps are lit but the sky still holds colour.
- The spot: a rooftop with a clear line over the bazaar, reached early, with a tripod's worth of space.
- Read more: our photography tips explain how to work with lamplight and smoke.
For repeat visitors
Craftspeople: spend the days with them as they finish festival orders: a block-printing family in Bagru, the lamp potters, the lac-bangle makers of Maniharon ka Rasta.
- Shekhawati: some haveli owners come home from the cities for Diwali and open doors that are locked the rest of the year.
- The journey: our painted towns of Shekhawati journey can be timed for it.
What we tell our cousins before Diwali
Your new outfit: buy it a few days before Dhanteras, when the tailors still have time for alterations.
Gold and silver: shop on the morning of Dhanteras, before the evening crowds make the jewellers' lanes impassable.
- Small notes: for tips, sweets and offerings. Many shops take phone payments, but in festival crowds cash is quicker.
- In your bag: a scarf and a small torch on Diwali night, for the smoke and the dark stairways of old rooftops.
- Eat first: a proper meal before the puja. Dinner on Diwali is late, and the sweets come first.
Who will love Diwali, and who won't
You will love it if: you enjoy celebrations, families, shopping and light, and would like to be welcomed into a home rather than shown a monument.
Sharing the city: you don't mind it full of a great many happy people.
- First-timers: those who want to feel the life of Rajasthan, not just its history, find it unforgettable.
- Harder if: you dislike noise and smoke, or want the great sights at their quietest.
- What to expect: fireworks late into the night, packed bazaars and some shops closed for a day.
- For a calm Jaipur: come in February, and choose Jaipur in three nights instead.
- Quieter alternatives: our festival calendar shows them.