Every October we are asked the same thing: can we still trek during Dashain? The answer is yes, without qualification. Teahouses do not close for the festival, the trails are in their best condition of the year, and in the high valleys of the Khumbu and Mustang the festival is somebody else's holiday.
What Dashain does is squeeze the edges of a trek. The permit office is shut, the jeep driver wants to be home, your guide is giving up the most important family day of his year, and half of Kathmandu's twenty-somethings have had the same idea as you about Poon Hill. All of it is manageable, and all of it needs doing before the festival rather than during it.
What Changes and What Does Not
| Stays the same | Changes |
|---|---|
| Lodges are open on all main routes | Restricted-area permits cannot be issued while offices are closed |
| Weather: the most stable of the year | Buses and jeeps to trailheads are scarce around the tika day |
| Trail conditions: dry, clear, well-trodden | Guides and porters are harder to find at short notice |
| Lukla and Pokhara flights operate | Flights sell out earlier and at the top fare |
| Park gates and checkposts are staffed | Popular short treks fill with Nepali holidaymakers |
| Rescue and helicopter services run | Banks are closed; cash must be carried in |
The left-hand column is the trek. The right-hand column is the week before it. The festival dates are in our Dashain calendar.
Region by Region
| Region | How much Dashain is felt | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Everest (Khumbu) | Hardly at all above Lukla | Sherpa villages are Buddhist. October crowds are the issue, not the festival — see Everest Base Camp during Dashain |
| Annapurna foothills | Strongly | Gurung and Magar villages celebrate; swings at every settlement; short treks very busy — see Annapurna treks during Dashain |
| Langtang | Lightly in the upper valley, more below | Tamang villages mark it modestly. The road to Syabrubesi is the difficulty on the tika day — Langtang Valley trek |
| Manaslu and Tsum | In the lower valley only | The permit is the constraint: it must be issued before the holiday — Manaslu Circuit |
| Upper Mustang | Not at all in Lo | Same permit constraint. Herds of goats come down the Kali Gandaki for the festival — Upper Mustang trek |
| Mid-hills and village treks | Completely | The best place to see the festival itself — Mohare Danda, Tamang Heritage Trail |
| Far west and remote routes | Strongly in Hindu districts | Flights and jeeps to remote airstrips are disrupted; build in spare days — Rara Lake |
Lodges and Food on the Trail
Teahouses stay open because October pays for the rest of their year. In Hindu villages the family running your lodge will be celebrating around you: expect a goat in the yard on the eighth day, a tika offered at breakfast on the tenth, and possibly goat curry on the menu where it normally is not. Some lodges run short-handed because hired kitchen staff have gone home.
Nothing about the food or the rooms changes otherwise — teahouse trekking explained and food on the trail describe the normal arrangement. One caution: festival meat is often kept without refrigeration for days. Above the roadhead we suggest staying with dal bhat.
The Domestic Holiday Rush
The change that surprises visitors most has nothing to do with ritual. Dashain is the longest holiday of the Nepali year, and a growing number of young Nepalis spend the days after the tika trekking. They go where a week is enough: Mardi Himal, Poon Hill, Annapurna Base Camp, Langtang, Gosaikunda and Tilicho Lake.
From the day after the tika until the full moon, lodges on these routes can be full by mid-afternoon, dining rooms are loud and cheerful, and beds at the small high stops — Mardi's High Camp, Machhapuchhre Base Camp — run out. It is good company and a poor time to turn up without a booking. If quiet matters, pick a route from our guide to off-the-beaten-path treks, or see short treks for the Dashain holiday for which of the popular ones cope best.
Getting to the Trailhead
Flights to Lukla, Pokhara and Jomsom run through the festival. Road transport is the weak point. In the days before Phulpati the highways out of Kathmandu are jammed with people going home; on the tika day and the day before, drivers are at home themselves; and in the days after, the jam reverses.
- Start before Phulpati or from the day after the tika. Avoid a road transfer on the tika day itself.
- Book the vehicle, not just the trek. A private jeep arranged in advance will run when shared jeeps and buses do not.
- Fly where you can. Kathmandu to Pokhara takes twenty-five minutes by air and can take ten hours by road in festival traffic.
- For Lukla, allow for the drive. Peak-season flights leave from Manthali, four to five hours from Kathmandu, on a road that is one of the main routes east.
The details, route by route, are in getting around Nepal during Dashain and our domestic flights guide.
Guides, Porters and Permits
Most guides and porters come from families that celebrate Dashain, and being on a mountain on the tika day means missing the one gathering of the year. Many do it anyway — October is when the work is. They should be confirmed early, paid a festival bonus, and where the itinerary allows, given the tika day as a rest day in a village. See guides and porters at Dashain.
Permits divide in two. Those sold at a gate — Sagarmatha at Monjo, Langtang at Dhunche — are unaffected. Those issued by an office in Kathmandu are not available while it is closed, and for restricted areas that office also needs your passport, in Nepal, on a working day. Trekking permits during Dashain has the timetable.
Weather and Conditions
A Dashain in mid or late October brings the classic autumn pattern: clear mornings, some cloud building in the afternoon, cold nights above 3,500 m and frost above 4,000 m. Passes such as the Thorong La and Larkya La are normally snow-free. A Dashain in late September can still see monsoon cloud, rain in the afternoons and leeches below 2,500 m.
Pack for the altitude rather than the festival — our trekking packing list applies unchanged — and read the altitude guide if you are going above 3,000 m. A crowded trail tempts people to push on to the next village for a bed; do not let a full lodge rewrite your acclimatisation plan.
Three Ways to Fit a Trek Around the Tika
| Approach | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Be high on the tika day | Start four to six days before the tika, so the festival's peak passes while you are deep in the mountains | Everest, Manaslu, Annapurna Circuit — long treks through Buddhist country |
| Tika first, then trek | Spend the festival in the valley or a village and start walking the day after | Short Annapurna treks, Langtang; anyone who wants to see the festival |
| Trek through a celebrating village | Plan the tika day as a rest day in a Gurung or Magar village on the route | Poon Hill via Ghandruk, Mohare Danda, the lower Manaslu valley |
Whichever you choose, the paperwork happens before Phulpati. Our guide to first-time trekking in Nepal covers the rest of the preparation.
