Nepal's festivals worth planning around, and the ones that close the banks

Dashain, in September or October, will affect you

Dashain is the biggest Hindu festival in Nepal. It runs for about fifteen days, and for the busiest four or five of them the country more or less shuts down. Families travel home, shops and offices close, and the buses fill with people going back to their villages.

For a visitor the effects are practical. Transport is heavily booked and costs more, some teahouses on quieter routes close because the family has gone home, and government offices shut for several days, permit offices included.

The atmosphere is worth seeing. Homes get repainted, huge bamboo swings go up in the villages and kites fly everywhere. Elders give tika with jamara barley shoots, and the tika itself is rice, curd and vermilion pressed onto your forehead. If you're staying with a family you'll be included, and you should let yourself be.

Book transport well ahead, get your permits before the holiday starts, and expect a slower Nepal for a week. On our treks the permits are arranged for you.

Tihar, a fortnight after Dashain

Tihar is five days of lights, and the most beautiful festival in the country to look at. Oil lamps and marigold garlands hang on every doorway, rangoli patterns cover the floors, and groups go from house to house singing deusi and bhailo for small change.

Each day honours something different, and visitors love this part. Crows come first. On the second day every dog in Nepal, street dogs included, gets a marigold garland and a tika. Then come cows, then oxen, and finally Bhai Tika between brothers and sisters. Tihar is less disruptive than Dashain, but it's still a holiday period. Lakeside is lovely at Tihar, and these are good days to be in a town instead of on a trail.

Tiji, in May, is worth planning a trip around

Tiji is three days of masked dances in the square below the palace at Lo Manthang, in Upper Mustang. The dances tell the story of a deity defeating a demon. They have been performed for centuries, in a walled medieval town in a Tibetan desert landscape.

This is the one festival we'd tell you to build a whole itinerary around. It's also the hardest to organise. Upper Mustang needs a restricted-area permit through an agency, rooms in Lo Manthang are limited, and the whole thing books out well ahead. On our Upper Mustang trek that permit is included.

The dates follow the Tibetan calendar and move, so they're confirmed only a few months out. If you want Tiji, talk to us a year ahead and we'll watch the date for you.

Mani Rimdu, Janai Purnima, Losar and Holi

Mani Rimdu is held at Tengboche monastery in the Khumbu, usually in October or November. It's nineteen days of ritual with three days open to the public, masked dances included. If the dates line up, it fits neatly into an Everest Base Camp trek.

Janai Purnima falls on the August full moon. Hindu men change the sacred thread they wear, and pilgrims walk up to sacred lakes such as Gosaikunda above Langtang and Khayer Lake above Khopra. Seeing a normally empty cirque full of pilgrims who have walked up in sandals is an extraordinary thing. Our Khayer Lake trek goes up to that lake from Khopra.

Losar, the Tibetan and Sherpa new year, comes in February. It's celebrated in the high Buddhist regions and at Boudhanath in Kathmandu.

Holi falls in February or March and means colours, water and a lot of enthusiasm, much of it aimed at foreigners. The hill regions celebrate a day before the lowlands. Wear something you don't mind ruining, and expect the enthusiasm to get boisterous.

Indra Jatra and Buddha Jayanti

Indra Jatra comes in September and is mostly a Kathmandu event. There are chariot processions through the old city, and the Kumari, the living goddess, is pulled through the streets. These are the best few days of the year to be in Kathmandu Durbar Square.

Buddha Jayanti falls on the May full moon and marks the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. Lumbini, Boudhanath and Swayambhunath are the places to be. Both festivals are worth catching if your dates happen to fall on them, but neither is worth rearranging a trip for unless you have a particular interest.

How to plan around them

Because the calendar is lunar, published dates for next year are approximate until they aren't. Don't book non-refundable flights around a festival date you found on a blog.

If a festival matters to you, say so when you send your dates. We'll confirm the festival date as it firms up and build the itinerary around it. For Tiji, that means starting a year out.

And if festivals don't interest you at all, the only two you need to know about are Dashain and Tihar, because they change what's open and how easily you can get around.

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