Dashain 2026 and 2027 Dates: A Day-by-Day Calendar for Travellers

Dashain moves. It follows the lunar calendar, so it can begin in the last week of September one year and the second week of October the next. For a traveller the dates matter more than the mythology, because they decide which days the permit office is shut, which days the highway is jammed and which day almost nothing is open.

This guide gives the dates for 2026 and 2027, explains an oddity in the 2026 calendar that puts the tika on the eleventh day rather than the tenth, and translates the festival days into planning terms. For what happens on each day, see the fifteen days of Dashain explained.

Dashain 2026: The Full Calendar

In the Nepali calendar this is Dashain 2083 BS. The festival opens on Sunday 11 October and closes with the full moon on Sunday 25 October.

Why the Tika Falls on the Eleventh Day in 2026

Count ten days from 11 October and you land on Tuesday 20 October. The tika is on Wednesday 21st. The reason is the unit the calendar counts in.

Festival days are set by the tithi, the lunar day, which is defined by the angle between the sun and the moon rather than by the clock. A tithi can be shorter or longer than a solar day, so in some years one is skipped and in others one is stretched across two sunrises. In 2026 the eighth tithi, ashtami, runs over two calendar days — Sunday 18 and Monday 19 October — and everything after it moves back by one.

It matters because a great many itineraries, and a few websites, are built by counting. If a flight or a homestay is booked for the tika, book it for 21 October.

Dashain 2027 and Beyond

Dashain 2027 (2084 BS) falls about eleven days earlier. The dates below come from published almanacs; the official Nepali calendar for the year is issued the spring before, and a one-day adjustment is possible.

As a rule of thumb the tika falls between about 25 September and 25 October. An early Dashain can coincide with the last of the monsoon; a late one, as in 2026, sits in the driest and clearest weeks of the year. Our Nepal festival calendar places it among the year's other festivals.

How the Dates Are Set

Nepal runs on the Bikram Sambat calendar, a solar calendar about 56 years and eight months ahead of the Gregorian one, with festival dates fixed by the lunar cycle within it. Dashain occupies the bright half of the month of Ashwin, from the day after the new moon to the full moon.

A national committee of astrologers publishes the calendar each year, including the sait — the auspicious moment at which the main tika should be given, usually late in the morning of Vijaya Dashami. Families plan the day around it, which is why tika day begins slowly and then happens all at once.

Planning Around the Dates

The festival has three phases for a traveller: the build-up, when everything works but transport is filling; the shutdown, from Phulpati to two days after the tika; and the return, when the roads into Kathmandu are at their worst.

An arrival on 14 or 15 October is the sweet spot for most trips: two working days for paperwork and money, the markets at their busiest, and then the festival itself. Our guide to your first 48 hours in Kathmandu covers the arrival, and the visa on arrival desk at the airport works through the holiday as normal.

Short trips slot neatly either side of the tika. The five-day Glimpse of Nepal Tour and a Kathmandu day tour cover the festival days in the valley; the week-long Everest View trek and the Poon Hill trek fit the days after it, and neither needs a permit from an office that is closed.

The Rest of the Autumn Calendar

Dashain is the first of three festivals in quick succession, and a trip of three weeks can take in more than one.

Tihar, the festival of lights, comes about two and a half weeks after the tika. It is shorter, closes far less, and is easier for a visitor to see from the street. We compare the two in Dashain vs Tihar.