Gangaur 2027: Dates, Where to Celebrate and Travel Tips

Gangaur in 2027 is expected on Friday 9 April 2027, which is Chaitra Shukla Tritiya, the third day of the bright half of the Hindu month of Chaitra ¹. The Jaipur procession leaves the City Palace on the evening of Gangaur itself and runs again the following evening, so the second outing is expected on Saturday 10 April 2027 ². The organisers have not yet published a 2027 programme; confirm the start time with the Department of Tourism counter in Jaipur in early April.

The date moves every year because Gangaur follows the lunar calendar. Worship begins the day after Holi, on the first day of Chaitra, and lasts about 18 days until the Tritiya ^{1 2}. Newly married women keep the full 18 days, while the usual cycle is 16 days ³.

Recent and upcoming dates for comparison:

• Gangaur 2025 fell on 31 March 2025 ¹.
• Gangaur 2026 was celebrated on Saturday 21 March 2026 ^{1 4}.
• Gangaur 2028 is listed for 29 March 2028 ¹.

What happens in the days before the procession:

• Holi ash: women collect ash from the Holi bonfire in clay pots and sow wheat and barley in it ¹.
• Clay idols: after about seven days, families shape images of Gauri and Isar ¹.
• Ghudlia evenings: from the seventh evening, unmarried girls carry clay pots with a lamp inside and collect small gifts from neighbours ^{1 3}.
• Sinjara: the day before Gangaur, families send gifts to married daughters ^{1 13}.

Tip: Book Jaipur for the nights of 8, 9 and 10 April 2027. That covers Sinjara, the main Gangaur evening and the second procession, whichever night your plans slip to.

The festival runs on the day the panchang gives for Tritiya, not on a fixed weekday, so check a 2027 Hindu calendar again in March before booking flights.

Watching the Gangaur procession in Jaipur costs nothing. The palanquin moves along public streets in the walled city, from Tripolia Gate through Tripolia Bazaar, Chhoti Chaupar and Gangauri Bazaar ², and anyone can stand on the pavement. Domestic and foreign visitors gather at Tripolia Gate to see the goddess leave ⁵.

There is no public ticket for the procession. The 2017 Gangaur procession was organised jointly by the Department of Tourism, the district administration, the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust and the Jaipur Municipal Corporation, and arrangements were made for tourists to photograph it from a hotel terrace opposite Tripolia Gate ². Ask the tourism office whether a similar terrace is set aside for 2027.

Where money does come in:

• City Palace museum: entry is 400 INR for Indian adults and 200 INR for students or children under 12 (October 2026) ⁹. The palace website does not list foreign-visitor rates in its admission text.
• Museum hours: 9:30 to 18:30, with the last tickets sold by 18:00 ⁹.
• Royal Tour of the Chandra Mahal: 4,000 INR for Indian adults, sold only at the counter (October 2026) ⁹.
• Golf carts inside the palace: 150 INR per person (October 2026) ⁹.

Tripolia Gate itself is reserved for the royal family, and visitors enter the City Palace through Udai Pol near Jaleb Chowk or Virendra Pol near Jantar Mantar ⁸. Inside, the image of the goddess is placed in a palanquin in the Sarvato Bhadra hall before the procession sets out ⁸.

Tip: Visit the City Palace museum in the morning of Gangaur, then leave before the afternoon crowd builds at Tripolia Bazaar. You will not be let out through Tripolia Gate with the goddess.

The best free spots are the arcade steps facing Tripolia Gate and the corners of Chhoti Chaupar, where the line turns and slows.

The Jaipur Gangaur procession starts at the Zanani Deodhi, the women's wing of the City Palace on Tripolia Bazaar ⁷, at about 26.926 N, 75.824 E ⁸. Jaipur International Airport is in the southern suburb of Sanganer, about 10 km from the city centre ¹¹, and an app cab or prepaid taxi takes you to the edge of the walled city.

Foreign visitors can land in Jaipur on an Indian e-Visa, because Jaipur is one of the designated e-Visa airports ¹⁶. Applications go in at least 4 days and up to 120 days before arrival ¹⁶. Terminal 1 handles international flights and Terminal 2 domestic ones ¹¹.

How to reach the route:

• Jaipur Metro Pink Line: 11 stations from Mansarovar to Badi Chaupar, running from 5:30 to 22:30 ¹⁰.

• Stops for the procession: Chhoti Chaupar sits on the route itself, and Badi Chaupar is the nearest stop for the City Palace ^{9 10}.

• From the railway: the Pink Line has a Railway Station stop, so arrivals by train can change straight onto the metro ¹⁰.

• Fares: single tokens cost 10 to 30 INR, and a one-day tourist card costs 50 INR plus a 50 INR refundable deposit (October 2026) ¹⁰.

• Parking: City Palace visitor parking is only at Gate Number 2 near Jaleb Chowk ⁹.

Expect roads inside the walled city to close to cars on procession evenings. The metro avoids that problem completely, because the Chaupar stations open straight onto the bazaars.

Tip: Leave your cab at Sindhi Camp or Chandpole and ride the Pink Line the last few stops into Chhoti Chaupar. You arrive on the route instead of stuck behind barricades.

The Jaipur Gangaur procession is a slow parade of royal regalia that ends with the goddess herself. Gauri's image leaves the Zanani Deodhi of the City Palace and travels through Tripolia Bazaar, Chhoti Chaupar, Gangauri Bazaar and Chaugan Stadium before converging near Talkatora ⁷. Chaugan Stadium, the ground used for elephant polo and Teej, lies between Gangauri Bazaar and the City Palace ¹⁸. The 2017 route ended at Pondrik Park, close to Talkatora ².

The order of the line matters more than the clock. In the 2017 procession, recorded by Rajasthan Tourism, the line ran roughly like this ²:

• Cannon carriage, a decorated rath, ornamented horses and camels.

• Brass bands marching between groups.

• Folk performers: Kachhi Ghodi dummy-horse dancers, Kalbeliya, Behrupiya impersonators, Algoza flute players, Gair and Chakri dancers, and shehnai players.

• The Gangaur sawari at the very end, followed by the Dhalet chobdar and women in traditional dress carrying kalash pots.

Elephants and horses have also walked in recent years, with a group of gunmen beside the artists ⁵. A royal aarti for Gauri is performed at Tripolia Gate as the procession leaves ⁴, and the former royal family worships the goddess before the procession ends ⁵.

The procession has left the City Palace every year since 1828, with 2020 the first time it did not run, because of COVID-19 limits on gatherings ⁶. On the same evenings, women all over Jaipur carry their own clay idols of Gauri and Isar on their heads, singing ⁴.

Tip: Do not leave once the camels and dancers have gone by. The palanquin of the goddess is the last thing in the line, and that is the moment people came for.

Jaipur in early April is hot and dry, so plan Gangaur around the evening. Long-term India Meteorological Department averages for Jaipur give April a mean daily high of 37.6°C and a mean low of 22.8°C, with 7.1 mm of rain on about 0.9 rainy days ¹². March averages are cooler, with a 32.0°C high and a 17.4°C low ¹², which matters in years when Gangaur falls in late March.

For a 9 April 2027 Gangaur, assume afternoons close to the April average and pleasant nights. The procession moves at dusk, after the worst heat, but the wait on the pavement starts in full sun.

Crowd level, on a scale of 1 to 5:

• Morning of Gangaur: 2, with women worshipping at home and at temples.
• Mid-afternoon on Tripolia Bazaar: 3, as families claim arcade steps.
• Departure from Tripolia Gate: 5, the densest point of the evening ⁵.
• Second evening: 4, slightly lighter, with more local families.

What to bring for the wait:

• A litre of water per person, refilled at shops along the bazaar.
• A cotton scarf or cap against the sun on the stone pavement.
• Light, covered clothing, which also suits temple visits.
• A small torch for the lanes after the line has passed.

Tip: Arrive at Tripolia Bazaar by mid-afternoon if you want an arcade step in the shade. Latecomers end up several rows back, watching between heads.

Dust is the other nuisance. Camels, horses and the crowd on the bazaar stones kick up fine grit, so carry a cloth for your camera lens.

The best base for Gangaur in Jaipur is inside or just outside the walled city, close enough to walk to Tripolia Bazaar. The old city was laid out by Sawai Jai Singh II, who founded Jaipur in 1727, behind walls with seven fortified gates ¹², and its UNESCO World Heritage listing came in 2019 ¹².

Areas that work:

• Inside the walls near Chhoti Chaupar or Chandpole: haveli guesthouses on the procession side of the city. You walk out of the door into the crowd.
• Around Chandpole Gate and Sindhi Camp: a short metro ride to Chhoti Chaupar on the Pink Line ¹⁰, with more choice of mid-range rooms.
• Civil Lines and Bani Park: quieter garden hotels, one or two metro stops further out ¹⁰.
• Near the airport in Sanganer: only for a late arrival, since the airport is about 10 km from the centre ¹¹.

Gangaur is mostly a local festival, so rooms do not sell out the way they do for the Jaipur Literature Festival in January. The busier risk is Chaitra Navratri, which overlaps Gangaur week, when Indian families travel to Rajasthan's temples and forts.

Tip: Ask any walled-city guesthouse whether its roof looks onto Tripolia Bazaar or Chhoti Chaupar. A rooftop facing the route turns the procession into a private viewing.

Book two to three months ahead for the nights of 8 to 10 April 2027, and check cancellation terms in case the panchang date shifts. Rooms inside the walls are small, often up steep stairs, which matters if you travel with older relatives.

Mobile data slows down sharply on Tripolia Bazaar when the Gangaur procession leaves the City Palace, because domestic and foreign visitors are filming and calling from one short stretch of street at once ⁵. The walled city's thick arcades and narrow lanes make the dead spots worse.

What visitors actually do with their phones at Gangaur shapes how much data to plan for:

• Video: most people film the palanquin, the Kalbeliya dancers and the aarti at Tripolia Gate, then send clips home that night.
• Maps: you will check the route from Tripolia Bazaar to Chhoti Chaupar and back to Badi Chaupar station several times.
• Messaging: live-location sharing keeps a group together in the crowd.
• Payments: sweet counters and metro top-ups often run on QR codes.
• Translation: songs, signs and conversations are mostly in Hindi or Rajasthani.

A day like this, heavy on video uploads and map checks, uses far more data than an ordinary sightseeing day, so pick a plan with headroom rather than the smallest one. Public Wi-Fi does not help on the street.

Tip: Install an eSIM for India before you fly and switch it on when you land in Jaipur. You will have maps and a cab app working at the airport instead of hunting for a SIM counter.

In an emergency, dial 112, India's single number for police, fire and ambulance ¹⁷. Upload your videos after you get back to the hotel, not on the pavement. The network clears quickly once the crowd leaves the bazaar, and your battery lasts longer for the second evening.

Ghewar is the sweet of Gangaur in Jaipur: people buy it to eat and to share with friends and relatives during the festival ³. It is a disc of batter made from maida, ghee, milk and water, fried in ghee and soaked in sugar syrup, often topped with almonds, pistachios, saffron or kewra ¹³.

The sweet is tied to Sinjara, the day before Gangaur, when families send gifts to newly married daughters ¹³. On Sinjara, women also decorate their hands with henna, and parents send a gift package to married daughters ¹.

Kinds of ghewar you will see on the counters:

• Plain ghewar: the honeycomb disc soaked in syrup ¹³.
• Mawa ghewar: topped with thickened milk solids ¹³.
• Malai ghewar: finished with cream, often with rabdi ¹³.
• Chhena ghewar: a Jaipur variety introduced in 1961 ¹³.

Ghewar is also strongly linked to the monsoon month of Shravan and to Teej ¹³, so April is one of two seasons when Jaipur's sweet shops stack it high.

Women fasting for Gangaur often eat only one meal a day during the festival weeks ^{1 3}, and the end of the festival is when families break the fast with a meal at home.

Tip: Buy ghewar on the morning of Gangaur rather than the evening. By the time the procession leaves, the good counters around the walled city may be sold out of the fresh batch.

Ghewar is crumbly and syrupy, so ask for a sealed box if you plan to carry it on a flight home.

Udaipur celebrates Gangaur as the Mewar Festival, which coincides with the Gangaur festival in Chaitra ¹⁴. Women in traditional dress carry idols of Isar and Gangaur on their heads in a procession that starts at the clock tower and goes down to Lake Pichola ¹⁴.

At the lake, the idols are moved onto boats for immersion ¹⁴. The ceremony centres on Gangaur Ghat, a main ghat on the Lake Pichola waterfront near Jagdish Chowk, best known for Bagore Ki Haveli ¹⁵. Kalbeliya and Ghoomar dances and Rajasthani folk songs fill the evening ¹⁴.

Ways to combine the two cities:

• Jaipur first: see the City Palace procession on 9 April 2027, then travel on to Udaipur.
• Udaipur first: the Mewar Festival runs over three days, as it did on 22 to 24 March 2023 ¹⁴.
• Jaisalmer: Gangaur there honours only Gauri, without Isar, because locals say the Isar idol was taken by Bikaner residents about 400 years ago ⁴.
• Bikaner and Jodhpur: both hold their own Gangaur celebrations ⁴.

Gangaur is the same festival across Rajasthan, but each city stages it differently. Jaipur gives you royal regalia in a bazaar, Udaipur gives you boats on a lake.

Tip: Check both cities' programmes before committing. Udaipur's Mewar Festival dates are set separately each year, and the two processions can fall on the same evening.

Udaipur needs at least two nights to see the procession, the boats and the lakefront, so plan a five-night Rajasthan trip rather than squeezing it into a day trip.