Vrindavan & Braj festival calendar
Braj keeps its own calendar. Barsana’s Lathmar Holi falls days before the Holi the rest of India plays; the colour season here opens forty days early at Vasant Panchami; and Kartik matters more in Vrindavan than almost anywhere. Every date below is given with its tithi, and with a room five minutes from Shri Banke Bihari Ji.
September 2026
Shri Krishna Janmashtami
4 September 2026Bhadrapada Krishna Ashtami
The night Krishna was born, and the busiest night of the Vrindavan year. Temples stay open past midnight and the lanes around Banke Bihari Ji do not empty until the early hours. Rooms in the old town go months ahead.
Check availability for Shri Krishna JanmashtamiNandotsavBraj
5 September 2026Bhadrapada Krishna Navami — the day after Janmashtami
Nanda Maharaj’s celebration of the birth, kept most vividly at Nandgaon. Quieter than Janmashtami itself and, for many, the better day to actually be here.
Check availability for NandotsavShri Radha AshtamiBraj
19 September 2026Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami
Radharani’s appearance day, fifteen days after Janmashtami. In Braj this rivals Janmashtami — Barsana in particular. Several Vrindavan temples give darshan of the feet on this day alone.
Check availability for Shri Radha Ashtami
October 2026
Sharad Purnima
25 October 2026Ashwin Purnima
The full moon of the raas leela. Temples are dressed in white, kheer is set out under the moon, and the night carries a particular stillness in the groves.
Check availability for Sharad PurnimaKartik / Damodar Month
26 October 2026 — 24 November 2026Ashwin Purnima to Kartik Purnima — a full lunar month
The most auspicious month of the year to be in Vrindavan. Lamps are offered every evening for the whole month and the town fills with pilgrims doing parikrama. If you can only come once, come in Kartik.
Check availability for Kartik / Damodar Month
November 2026
Kartik / Damodar Month continues — began 26 October 2026, ends 24 November 2026.
Govardhan Puja / AnnakutBraj
9 November 2026Kartik Shukla Pratipada — the day after Diwali
The lifting of Govardhan Hill. Mountains of food are offered at every temple, and many pilgrims do the Govardhan parikrama — a full day out from Vrindavan.
Check availability for Govardhan Puja / AnnakutKartik Purnima
24 November 2026Kartik Purnima
The close of Kartik, and the last night of the month-long lamp offerings.
Check availability for Kartik Purnima
December 2026
No major Braj festival this month.
January 2027
No major Braj festival this month.
February 2027
Vasant PanchamiBraj
11 February 2027Magha Shukla Panchami
Spring arrives, and in Braj this is the day the Holi season formally opens — forty days of colour begin here, long before the rest of the country starts.
Check availability for Vasant Panchami
March 2027
Barsana Lathmar HoliBraj
16 March 2027Phalguna Shukla Navami
The famous one: the women of Barsana drive off the men of Nandgaon with staves. It falls DAYS BEFORE mainstream Holi — national calendars routinely get this wrong. Barsana is a ride from Vrindavan, so plan the day.
Check availability for Barsana Lathmar HoliNandgaon Lathmar HoliBraj
17 March 2027Phalguna Shukla Dashami — the day after Barsana
The return match at Nandgaon, when Barsana’s men come to play. Most people who come for Lathmar Holi do both days.
Check availability for Nandgaon Lathmar HoliPhoolon wali HoliBraj
18 March 2027Phalguna Shukla Ekadashi (Rangbhari / Amalaki Ekadashi)
Banke Bihari Ji’s flower Holi — perhaps twenty minutes of flowers thrown from the altar into the crowd. It is a five-minute walk from the house, and the crush is extreme. Being this close is the entire advantage.
Check availability for Phoolon wali HoliHolika Dahan / Gaura Purnima
22 March 2027Phalguna Purnima
The Holika bonfire, and the same full moon that Gaudiya Vaishnavas keep as Gaura Purnima, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance day.
Check availability for Holika Dahan / Gaura PurnimaDhulandi / Rangwali Holi
23 March 2027Chaitra Krishna Pratipada
Holi as the rest of India plays it. In Braj it is the tail of a season that started forty days earlier at Vasant Panchami.
Check availability for Dhulandi / Rangwali Holi
April 2027
May 2027
Akshaya Tritiya / Chandan Yatra
9 May 2027Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya
Deities are dressed in cooling sandalwood paste against the coming heat. In some Vrindavan temples this is the one day the feet are visible.
Check availability for Akshaya Tritiya / Chandan YatraShri Radha Raman Ji AppearanceBraj
20 May 2027Vaishakha Purnima
The appearance of the self-manifested deity at Radha Raman temple, fifteen minutes on foot. An abhishek is performed on this day and on no other.
Check availability for Shri Radha Raman Ji Appearance
June 2027
No major Braj festival this month.
July 2027
Guru Purnima
18 July 2027Ashadha Purnima
The full moon kept for one’s teacher. A steady stream of pilgrims, without the crush of the bigger festivals.
Check availability for Guru Purnima
August 2027
Jhulan Yatra
13 August 2027 — 17 August 2027Shravana Shukla Ekadashi to Purnima
The swing festival. Radha and Krishna are placed on decorated swings in every temple for several days, and the town is at its prettiest. It leads straight into Janmashtami season.
Check availability for Jhulan Yatra
These are the dates that fill first
Weekends and temple-season dates go months ahead. The entire 1BHK, sleeps four,₹2,796 a night all-in — instant confirmation, free cancellation until 24 hours before check-in.
Check dates & bookAlso useful: which temples you can walk to and how to reach Vrindavan.
Festival photograph credits
Festival photographs are used under Creative Commons licences from Wikimedia Commons. They are not photographs of Pyari Kunj.
- Shri Radha Rani Temple, Barsana — where Radha Ashtami is kept — Kridha20, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Shri Radha Rani Temple, Barsana — Kridha20, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The Sharad Purnima full moon — ShotgunMavericks, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Shri Banke Bihari Mandir, Vrindavan — Guptaele, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Govardhan Puja on the Vraja Mandala parikrama, Vrindavan — Milan Madhav Das, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The Govardhan parikrama gate at Mansi Ganga — Gyanendra_Singh_Chau… (Panoramio), CC BY 3.0
- Lathmar Holi — Arpan.basuchowdhury, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lathmar Holi at Barsana and Nandgaon — Vijay Sundararaman Iyer, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lathmar Holi at Nandgaon, 2022 — Sachinghai09, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Holi at Nandgaon, Mathura — KuldeepRawat07, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Flowers poured over devotees at Banke Bihari Mandir, Vrindavan — Saxenation, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Phool Bangla darshan at Banke Bihari Mandir, Vrindavan — Aliva Sahoo, CC BY-SA 3.0
- The Holika Dahan bonfire — Shoot stufz, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Holi in Vrindavan, 2018 — Joyrajsamanta, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Holi in Vrindavan — Azimronnie, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Shri Radha Raman Temple, Vrindavan — Kridha20, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The entrance to Shri Radha Raman Temple, Vrindavan — Ekabhishek, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Radha and Krishna on the Jhulan Yatra swing — AjayDas, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The lanes and temples of Mathura and Vrindavan — Shoot stufz, CC BY-SA 4.0