Losar 2027: Dates, Where to Celebrate and Travel Tips

Losar 2027 begins on Sunday 7 February 2027 by the Tibetan calendar, while Nepal’s holiday calendar lists Gyalpo Lhosar on Tuesday 9 March 2027, so the two dates sit 30 days apart ^{3 2}. The Tibetan Nuns Project gives 7 February 2027 as the first day of the Year of the Fire Sheep, year 2154 ³. Tibetan Events lists Losar as the first day of the first Tibetan month on the same Sunday, and also shows a leap second Tibetan month in 2027 ⁴. Bhutan and Sikkim list 7 February 2027 as well, and Bhutan adds Monday 8 February 2027 as a second holiday ¹.

The Nepali side comes from the Bikram Sambat calendar. Katigate and Hamro Patro both list Gyalpo Lhosar on 25 Falgun 2083, which is 9 March 2027 ^{2 10}. Wikipedia gives the festival’s Nepali date as Falgun Shukla Pratipada, a day tied to the Nepali month of Falgun rather than to the Tibetan month count ⁷. The two systems do not always split: in 2026 Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal all marked Losar on Wednesday 18 February 2026 ¹.

Losar follows the lunisolar Tibetan calendar and falls in February or March ⁸. The date is set each year by astrologers based in Dharamsala, India ¹, and there has never been one unified Tibetan calendar across all Himalayan communities ⁵.

Losar lasts 15 days, with the main celebrations on the first three ⁸. Counted from 7 February 2027, those 15 days run to 21 February 2027, so the Nepal holiday on 9 March 2027 falls after them ^{3 8 2}.

• Sunday 7 February 2027: Tibetan calendar sites, Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal’s Sonam Lhosar ^{1 3 2}
• 7 to 21 February 2027: the 15-day Losar period counted from the Tibetan date ^{3 8}
• Tuesday 9 March 2027: Nepal’s public holiday for Gyalpo Lhosar ^{2 10}

Neither date is confirmed by a Boudha monastery yet, so the monastery you plan to visit is the place to ask which day its ceremonies begin.

Tip: Do not book non-refundable flights on one date alone. Ask a Boudha monastery or guesthouse which day its Losar ceremonies start, then fix your travel around that.

Nepal has three Losar festivals because three groups of communities keep three new years: Gyalpo Losar for Tibetan and Sherpa families, Tamu Losar for the Gurung and Sonam Losar for the Tamang and Hyolmo ⁵. Gyalpo Losar is the most widely observed version ⁵, and Wikipedia gives its Nepali date as Falgun Shukla Pratipada ⁷. It lasts 15 days, with monastery visits in the first three ⁶. The Sherpa new year was once kept in 12 mountain districts and is now celebrated in 22, Setopati reported in February 2025 ¹¹.

Tamu Lhosar is the Gurung new year, held on the 15th day of the Nepali month of Poush ⁹. “Tamu” is the name the Gurung use for themselves ⁵. Gurung families wear traditional dress, dance, drink homemade raksi and hang new prayer flags at major stupas such as Swayambhunath and Boudhanath ^{5 9}. It is a one-day festival ⁶.

Sonam Losar belongs to the Tamang and Hyolmo and follows a more lunar reckoning, on the second new moon after the winter solstice ⁵. Tamang ritual specialists known as jhakri gather on this day ⁵. Wikipedia notes that Nepal observes Sonam Lhosar about eight weeks before the Tibetan Losar, though in 2027 the Nepali list puts it on the same day, Sunday 7 February 2027 ^{8 2}.

Nepal’s 2083 holiday calendar lists the three festivals on these days:

• Tamu Lhosar (separate Gurung festival): Wednesday 30 December 2026, 15 Poush 2083 ^{2 10}
• Sonam Lhosar: Sunday 7 February 2027, 24 Magh 2083 ^{2 10}
• Gyalpo Lhosar: Tuesday 9 March 2027, 25 Falgun 2083 ^{2 10}

Katigate warns that each Lhosar belongs to specific communities and that a festival on the calendar is not automatically a day off, so the notice from an office or school is what counts ².

Note: Most visitors in Boudha meet Gyalpo Losar, because Tibetan refugees settled around the stupa after 1959 and Sherpa families gather there ^{12 11}. Tamu and Sonam Losar are community days that visitors meet mainly through prayer flags and family gatherings.

Boudhanath Stupa charges foreign visitors NPR 400 and SAARC visitors NPR 100, as listed in a guide updated in May 2026, with Nepali citizens and children under 10 entering free ¹⁵. A Nepal Traveller report from 8 September 2022 gave the same NPR 400 and NPR 100 split and named the Bouddhanath Area Development Committee as the body collecting it ¹⁴. Visitors who stay at a local guesthouse in Boudha pay only once ¹⁵.

The Boudhanath ticket counter was reported open from 10:00 to 17:00 in 2022 ¹⁴. The same committee warned it would act against tourist guides and hotel operators who bring tourists into the area without tickets, and planned a list of hotels from Chuchchepati to Jorpati as a first step ¹⁴. The stupa itself is open daily from 5:00 to 21:00, and ticket booths close in the evening ¹⁵.

Swayambhunath, the second stupa most visitors combine with Losar, charges NPR 200 to foreigners and NPR 50 to SAARC citizens, with locals and children entering free ¹⁶. It is open seven days a week all year ¹⁶.

• Boudhanath, foreigners: NPR 400 ¹⁵
• Boudhanath, SAARC visitors: NPR 100 ¹⁵
• Swayambhunath, foreigners: NPR 200 ¹⁶
• Swayambhunath, SAARC citizens: NPR 50 ¹⁶

Fees can change, so confirm the amount at the counter before you hand over cash.

The Boudhanath area ticket is collected by the Bouddhanath Area Development Committee, not by the monasteries ¹⁴. A Losar puja or cham dance you are allowed to watch is therefore a guest’s privilege, and butter lamps, incense and food offered at stupas and gompas are the usual way to give thanks ⁶. If you pay a guide or hotel to bring you in, check that the NPR 400 area ticket is included, since the committee warned in 2022 against bringing tourists in without one ¹⁴.

Tip: Carry small rupee notes. Ticket counters and monastery donation boxes are easier with exact change than with a large note.

Boudhanath Stupa is close to Tribhuvan International Airport: the airport lies about 6 km east of central Kathmandu and Thamel ¹⁹, and the stupa is about 7 km east of the city centre ¹⁵. By the published coordinates, the airport and the stupa sit only about 3 km apart in a straight line ^{12 19}.

Metered and prepaid taxis wait at both airport terminals at all hours, and Sajha Yatayat buses run from the international terminal to central Kathmandu and central Lalitpur ¹⁹. A taxi from central Kathmandu to Boudhanath costs about NPR 400, and a mini-van from the Jamal bus stop costs about NPR 25 ¹⁵. Ask the driver for the Boudhanath main gates ¹⁵. Pashupatinath Temple is within about 30 minutes’ walk of Boudhanath ¹⁵.

For Swayambhunath, about 5 km from central Kathmandu, a taxi costs roughly USD 4 to 5 and a bus under USD 1 ¹⁶. A 2024 hop-on hop-off bus plan linking Durbar Square, Boudha, Swayambhu and Pashupatinath listed NPR 1,000 for non-Nepalis, though the plan had not been formalised ¹⁵.

Most visitors need a visa on landing at Tribhuvan. Tourist visas on arrival cost USD 30 for 15 days, USD 50 for 30 days and USD 125 for 90 days, according to a guide updated in January 2026 ¹⁸. You need a passport with six months’ validity, one photo and a completed form, and you can pre-register online for a barcode slip valid for 15 days ¹⁸. Fees can be paid in US dollars or another convertible currency, and Indian nationals do not need a visa ¹⁸.

• Land at Tribhuvan, pay the visa fee, then take a prepaid taxi ^{18 19}
• Ask for the Boudhanath main gates, not just “Boudha” ¹⁵
• Carry rupees for the NPR 400 taxi and the NPR 400 stupa ticket ¹⁵

Tip: Boudha is so close to the airport that a first night there makes sense: you can be at the stupa for the evening kora and skip a long drive across the valley.

Boudhanath Stupa at Losar is a mix of household preparation, monastery ceremonies and the daily kora, not a single staged event. In Boudha the approach of the new year is marked by the smell of khapse, a deep-fried holiday pastry, and by incense and juniper smoke around the stupa ⁵. Families clean their homes thoroughly and buy new clothes in the days before ^{6 8}.

The evening before Losar is the time for guthuk, a noodle soup with hidden dough balls or other items that each carry a meaning ⁶. In 2027 that evening falls on Saturday 6 February by the Tibetan date ^{3 6}. Wikipedia’s Gyalpo Losar entry describes a soup cooked with nine kinds of beans and meat, served with dumplings, and a first-day drink called changkol, an equivalent of chhaang ⁷.

Across the Himalayas, monasteries mark Losar with meditation and worship retreats focused on wrathful deities such as Vajrakila, meant to clear the misdeeds of the past year, and Shechen Monastery lamas perform the cham dance on Gyalpo Losar to clear obstacles and welcome the new year ⁵. Holy torches are passed among the crowd, firecrackers are fired to drive off ill spirits and monastery dances show the struggle between demons and gods ⁷.

In Kathmandu the Sherpa community celebrated the 2152nd Gyalpo Lhosar at Bauddha on Friday 28 February 2025 ¹¹. The first three of the 15 days are the busiest, when families visit monasteries to pray and give gifts to monks, family and friends ⁶.

• Dawn: the quietest kora, from the 5:00 opening ¹⁵
• Morning: monastery visits in the first three days ⁶
• Dusk: butter lamps and incense at the stupa ^{6 15}

Tip: Walk the kora once at dawn and once at dusk. The same circuit feels like two different places.

Swayambhunath is about 7 km west of Boudhanath in a straight line, judging by the two published coordinate sets, and it sits about 5 km northwest of central Kathmandu ^{12 13 16}. The hill is a separate pilgrimage with older roots: the Swayambhu Purana tells of a lotus in a lake, and Emperor Ashoka is said to have visited in the third century BCE ¹³.

The east approach is the stair of 365 flagstone steps of King Pratap, and monkeys slide down the railings ^{13 16}. A 12-foot Tibetan prayer wheel stands at the main gate, three 17th-century Buddha statues sit before the stairs, and the Dharmadhatu mandala with its gold-plated vajra lies beside the stupa ¹⁶. A temple to Hariti, a Dharma protector goddess, stands near the main stupa ¹³. A car road circles the hill to a southwest entrance, which is easier for anyone who would rather not climb ¹³.

At Losar the draw is the prayer flags. Gurung communities hang new flags at Swayambhunath and Boudhanath during Tamu Lhosar, which in the 2083 calendar falls on Wednesday 30 December 2026 ^{9 2}. Nepal Alternative Treks lists Swayambhunath, along with Boudhanath, as a place where Losar prayer sessions are held ⁶. UNESCO inscribed both stupas as part of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site in 1979 ^{12 13}.

• Climb the 365 steps in the morning, before the stairway is full ¹⁶
• Keep food and drinks out of sight; monkeys live around the shrine ¹⁶
• Buy the ticket at the booth, NPR 200 for foreigners ¹⁶

Tip: Visit Swayambhunath on a different day from your Boudhanath morning. Each deserves half a day, and the taxi between them crosses the busiest part of the valley.

February in Kathmandu averages a high of 22.1 C and a low of 5.3 C, with 23.6 mm of rain, while March averages 26.0 C and 8.8 C, with 38.0 mm ¹⁷. These are 1991–2020 normals from the weather station at Tribhuvan International Airport, which sits at 1,337 m, about 3 km from Boudhanath ^{17 12 19}.

That makes the Losar window cold at dawn and mild by afternoon. A Losar on 7 February 2027 sits in the colder month, with early mornings near the February low of 5.3 C, and Nepal’s Gyalpo Lhosar holiday on 9 March 2027 falls in a warmer, slightly wetter month ^{17 3 2}. The Boudhanath kora is outdoors, so the cold is felt most at dawn, which is also the best time to see pilgrims ¹⁵.

Crowds follow the festival rather than the weather. Boudhanath draws the most people on the first three days of Losar, when monasteries hold their ceremonies ⁶, and on days that Nepal’s government lists as a public holiday ². Dawn and dusk are quieter ¹⁵.

• Dawn: layers, a scarf and a warm jacket; the stupa opens at 5:00 ¹⁵
• Midday: a light shirt and sun protection, with highs of 22.1 C in February ¹⁷
• Evening: a jacket again before the stupa closes at 21:00 ¹⁵

The gap between the daily high and low is the detail to plan around: in February the average low of 5.3 C and high of 22.1 C are almost 17 degrees apart ¹⁷. A visitor who dresses for the afternoon will be cold on the dawn kora, and one who dresses for dawn will be carrying a coat by lunch, so layers you can take off are the practical answer.

Rain matters less than cold. With 23.6 mm in February and 38.0 mm in March on average ¹⁷, a thin rain jacket is usually enough on the kora, and a warm layer matters more than an umbrella.

Tip: Pack gloves for a 5:00 start at the stupa; the stone paving of the kora holds the night cold until the sun reaches the square.

Boudha is the best base for Losar because the Tibetan neighbourhoods, gompas and the kora are within a few minutes’ walk. After the 1959 Tibetan uprising many Tibetan refugees settled around the stupa, and the diaspora has since built over 50 gompas and monasteries, along with restaurants, guesthouses and artisan businesses ¹².

Staying in Boudha also saves money on the ticket: visitors who stay at a local guesthouse pay the NPR 400 area ticket only once ¹⁵. You can walk to the kora for the 5:00 opening, and rooftop cafes such as Cafe Du Temple and Roadhouse Cafe look straight onto the dome ¹⁵. Mahaguru Gompa faces the northern entrance of the stupa ¹².

Thamel, about 6 km from the airport, has more tourist services and is a taxi ride from Boudhanath, at about NPR 400 each way from central Kathmandu ^{19 15}. Swayambhunath is about 5 km from central Kathmandu, so a Thamel base makes that day easier ¹⁶.

• Boudha: walkable to the kora and monasteries, about 3 km from the airport ^{12 19}
• Thamel: more restaurants and agencies, a taxi away from both stupas ^{19 15}
• Chuchchepati to Jorpati: the stretch where the Boudhanath committee planned its hotel list for ticket checks in 2022 ¹⁴

Because the 2027 dates run from 7 February to 9 March, book a flexible rate as early as plans allow and confirm with the guesthouse which day the nearest monastery plans its ceremonies ^{3 2}. A stay that covers 7 to 9 February 2027 catches the first three days by the Tibetan date ^{3 8}.

Tip: Ask your guesthouse for the date of the monastery’s cham dance before you decide how many nights to stay.

Walk clockwise around Boudhanath Stupa with the stupa on your right, and spin the prayer wheels clockwise too ¹⁵. That one rule matters more than any other on a Losar visit to Boudha, because the kora is a prayer, not a promenade.

Dress modestly with shoulders and knees covered, and take your shoes off before the dome or any inner shrine ¹⁵. Photography is allowed in the courtyard and around the stupa, but you need permission inside gompas and shrines ¹⁵. The Boudhanath guide at The Longest Way Home adds that the monasteries are not tourist attractions and some may be closed to visitors ¹⁵.

At Losar, ask before photographing or filming ceremonies ⁶. The cham dance is a ritual in which masked dancers are believed to drive away evil spirits, showing good triumphing over evil ⁶, so treat it as worship rather than a show. At Shechen Monastery the dance is performed on Gyalpo Losar to clear obstacles for the new year ⁵.

• Move clockwise on the kora and keep to the flow of pilgrims ¹⁵
• Switch your phone to silent inside a gompa
• Do not step into the dance space or between monks and an altar
• Offer butter lamps, incense and food as the offerings they are ⁶
• Cover shoulders and knees, remove shoes ¹⁵
• Ask permission before photographing people or ceremonies ^{6 15}

Tibetan and Sherpa families visit monasteries on the first three days of the 15-day festival to pray and give gifts to monks, family and friends ⁶. Join quietly at the edge, and a small donation to the monastery is a polite thanks. The same quiet manners apply on the 365 steps at Swayambhunath ¹⁶.

Tip: If a monk or caretaker asks you to stop filming, put the phone away at once and smile. The request is never about you.

Mobile data is worth having around Boudhanath Stupa on Losar because the square fills with pilgrims, taxis and families at the same hours, and signal in a crowd is never guaranteed. The stupa reaches a maximum height of 36 metres ¹². With narrow lanes behind the ring of shops, one map pin is often all that lets a group find the main gate again.

An eSIM installed before the flight lets a phone connect with data on landing at Tribhuvan Airport, about 6 km from central Kathmandu, rather than starting with a SIM counter ¹⁹. For a short trip, a plan from eSIM for Nepal can be set up at home. Check that the phone supports eSIM and is not locked to one carrier before relying on one.

For Losar itself, the useful apps are a map for the Boudhanath gates and the Swayambhunath stairway, a translation app for Tibetan notice boards and a messaging app for the person you came with. Pilgrims, phones and cameras all crowd the same narrow circuit on the first three days of the festival ⁶.

• Download an offline map of the Boudhanath and Swayambhunath areas before you leave
• Share a live location with your group before entering the kora
• Photograph the notice boards at the monastery gate, then translate them later
• Keep emergency numbers saved: police 100, tourist police 1144, fire 101, ambulance 102 ²⁰

The UK government notes that the tourist police on 1144 have good English ²⁰. A small power bank is worth carrying for a long day between the two stupas.

Tip: Screenshot your guesthouse address in both English and Nepali, so a taxi driver can read it even if your phone is out of battery.