Amritsar Festivals and Events 2026: 5 Dates

5 Amritsar festivals and events for 2026

Amritsar’s calendar runs on the Sikh festival cycle, and the Golden Temple is where almost all of it converges. Building a trip around one of these? See the 4-day itinerary for how the timing fits a longer stay.

  1. Baisakhi, mid-April (traditionally 13 or 14 April): the Sikh new year and Punjab’s harvest festival, marking the 1699 founding of the Khalsa order. It’s the temple’s biggest single day for crowds, kirtan, and Langar volume, but the date is shared with the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, a heavier resonance worth knowing going in.
  2. Guru Nanak Gurpurab, early-to-mid November: the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, Sikhism’s founder, marked by a 48-hour continuous scripture reading (Akhand Path), nagar kirtan processions, and the Akal Takht and Golden Temple illuminated through the night. A gazetted public holiday in Punjab.
  3. Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti, date shifts yearly (verify): the birth anniversary of the 10th Guru and founder of the Khalsa, observed with kirtan and processions at the Golden Temple. It follows the Nanakshahi lunar calendar, so confirm the current year’s date before planning around it.
  4. Bandi Chhor Divas, coincides with Diwali (October-November): marks Guru Hargobind’s release from imprisonment at Gwalior Fort. The Golden Temple complex is illuminated with thousands of lights, with fireworks and continuous kirtan, widely considered the single most spectacular night to see the temple.
  5. Lohri, 13 January: a midwinter harvest bonfire festival marking the passing of the winter solstice, celebrated across Punjab with sesame seeds, gajak, and jaggery thrown into community fires.

Weekends and any of the five dates above bring noticeably heavier crowds to the Golden Temple and the security checks around it; if a quiet visit matters more than a festive one, plan around these dates rather than into them.

Checking the current year’s dates

Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti and, to a lesser extent, the exact Guru Nanak Gurpurab date both shift with the Nanakshahi lunar calendar rather than falling on a fixed Gregorian day every year, so confirm both against a current Sikh calendar rather than last year’s dates before booking flights or a hotel around either one. Baisakhi and Lohri are the two fixed points on this list, 13 or 14 April and 13 January respectively, and are safe to plan against well in advance.

What a festival day changes about a budget trip

None of these five dates add an entry fee anywhere on this list; the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, and Durgiana Temple stay free regardless of the calendar. What changes is everything around them: old-city hotel rates climb, e-rickshaws and autos get harder to flag down near the temple, and the Langar itself scales up rather than running short, since kar seva volunteers turn out in larger numbers on the busiest days. Budget extra time for security checks and crowd movement on the causeway, not extra money for tickets.