Travelling in Nepal During Tihar: What’s Open, What’s Closed and How to Plan

Tihar is one of the most beautiful times to be in Nepal. For five days the country honours crows, dogs, cows and oxen, lights thousands of small oil lamps, and ends with sisters blessing their brothers. But it is also a family festival, and families travel. If you plan a little, Tihar can be the highlight of your trip instead of a week of full buses and closed offices.

This is what I tell my own guests.

When Tihar is

Tihar follows the lunar calendar, so the dates change every year. It usually falls in late October or November, about three weeks after Dashain. In 2026 it runs from Saturday 7 November to Wednesday 11 November:

• Day 1 · Kag Tihar: the crows are fed.
• Day 2 · Kukur Tihar: every dog gets a tika and a garland. In 2026 Laxmi Puja falls on the same evening.
• Day 3 · Gai Tihar: the cow is worshipped.
• Day 4 · Govardhan Puja and Mha Puja: the ox is honoured, and Newar families celebrate their new year.
• Day 5 · Bhai Tika: sisters put tika on their brothers’ foreheads.

For next year, look up the dates in a Nepali calendar a few months ahead. If you want to see the festival, plan to be in a city or a village on Laxmi Puja night.

Offices and banks close

Government offices and banks close for several days. In 2026 the public holiday runs from Laxmi Puja to the day after Bhai Tika, 8 to 12 November. In practice this means:

• Get your trekking permits before the holiday. Permit counters and agency offices may be closed or working slowly.
• Extend your visa before it starts if your dates are close.
• Carry enough cash in rupees. ATMs work, but some run empty when banks do not refill them for a few days.

Hotels, most restaurants in Thamel and Lakeside Pokhara, and the shops that live from tourism stay open. Many small local shops close on Bhai Tika, when everyone is with family.

Buses and flights are full

Before Tihar, and right after Dashain, a big part of Kathmandu goes home to the villages. In 2025 news reports expected about half a million people to leave the Kathmandu Valley for Tihar. Long-distance buses fill up days ahead, and the days just before Laxmi Puja and just after Bhai Tika are the busiest.

• Book tourist buses and domestic flights early, especially to Pokhara and Lukla.
• Avoid travelling on the day before Laxmi Puja and the day after Bhai Tika if you can.
• Choose a tourist bus or a private car over a crowded local bus. Festival buses are often overloaded.
• Inside Kathmandu, taxis and ride apps work, but the evenings around Laxmi Puja are slow and busy.

Your guide and porters have families too

For most guides and porters, Bhai Tika is the one day of the year they really want to be at home. Their sisters wait for them, sometimes in a village days away. A good plan respects that:

• If you can, start your trek after Bhai Tika, or finish before Laxmi Puja.
• If you trek through Tihar, book early and ask your guide openly. Some are happy to work and celebrate on the trail; others will need a day.
• Agencies have fewer people in the office during the festival, so confirm everything before the holiday starts.

Tihar on the trail

Tihar falls in the middle of the autumn trekking season, so the trails and tea houses are busy anyway. In the villages you will still feel the festival: lodge families light diyos in the evening, and groups of children and young people go from house to house singing Deusi and Bhailo songs. If they sing at your lodge, enjoy it, clap, and give a small note if you like. It is a blessing for the house, and you are part of the house that night.

How to be a good guest during Tihar

• Do not step on the lamps or the coloured patterns at the doors. Many families also paint small footprints from the door into the house, the path for the goddess Laxmi.
• Ask before you photograph people, especially during a puja. “Photo khichna milchha?” means “May I take a photo?”
• Bhai Tika is private. It happens inside homes, between brothers and sisters. If a family invites you, it is a real honour.
• Expect firecrackers on the main nights. If you sleep lightly, bring earplugs.
• Be gentle with the dogs. On Kukur Tihar even street dogs wear garlands and are very well fed. Many have eaten more in one morning than in a whole week.

Where to feel it

The old Newar towns are the best places. Walk through Bhaktapur, Patan and the old bazaars of Asan and Indra Chowk in Kathmandu in the evening of Laxmi Puja, when every doorstep is lit. In the days before, the flower markets are full of marigold and makhamali garlands, beautiful for photos. On Laxmi Puja night, go up to a hill above the valley, or to Swayambhu, and watch the whole city glow. On Mha Puja, the Newar new year, Bhaktapur is alive in every lane.

My honest advice

If Tihar is the reason for your trip, stay in the valley for those days and trek before or after. If your trek is the reason for your trip, plan around Bhai Tika and book early. Either way, slow down for at least one evening. Sit on a rooftop when the lamps are lit and listen to the songs in the lanes. That is Tihar.

I wrote about our own Tihar at home in Bhaktapur, and about missing our dog Jessy this year, in Missing Jessy This Tihar.

If you are planning a trip around the festival and are not sure how to fit it in, write to me. I will tell you honestly what works.