Diwali Getaways 2025: Issue 78 Guide

Welcome to Issue 78 of Travel Viewpoint, our October 2025 issue: Diwali Getaways: Where to Celebrate the Festival of Lights. This page is your guide to everything inside. Diwali in 2025 falls on Monday, 20 October in most calendars, with Dhanteras on Saturday 18 October and Bhai Dooj around Thursday 23 October. That long festive stretch is one of the most popular times of the year for Indians to travel, and this issue is about doing it well: finding quieter places, travelling sensibly, joining in respectfully and coming home with the festival in your heart rather than the traffic in your bones.

Why this issue

Every year we hear the same wish from readers: a Diwali that feels like Diwali. Not a crowded mall road, not a smog-choked city night, not a hotel party that could be anywhere. Instead, a few lamps on a stone wall, a family puja, a neighbour with a plate of sweets, a river with diyas floating on it. This issue is our attempt to help you find that festival, wherever in India you choose to spend it.

Inside this issue

1. Editor’s letter: Diwali Getaways

Our editor, Khushi Anand, introduces the issue and explains why she believes the best Diwali getaways are the quiet ones, and why going a little further, a little earlier, makes all the difference.

2. A hill Diwali that is not a mall

How to choose a hill town where the festival is still lived by residents, why a homestay beats a resort on Diwali night, and how to beat the traffic up the mountain.

3. Varanasi can wait: this is the small-town version

Chitrakoot, on the Mandakini river, where Rama is believed to have spent his exile and where pilgrims float lamps at Diwali. A small sacred town with a big festival on a human scale.

4. One courtyard, one diya, one neighbour

An essay on the household Diwali: the cleaning, the rangoli, the puja, the lamps and the visiting, and how a traveller can be a welcome guest in it.

5. Fireworks, smoke and the towns that skip them

Why the air gets so bad around Diwali in parts of north India, what the rules on firecrackers broadly say, and the kinds of places where the festival is traditionally quieter.

6. Train versus road that week

The trade-offs between rail and road in India’s busiest travel week, with practical advice on booking, timing and the often-forgotten journey home.

7. A guest week in a family house

Our guest post this month: a first-person account of a week spent as a guest in a family home over Diwali, from the great annual clean to Bhai Dooj.

8. Markets before the 20th, not on it

Why the week before Diwali is the best time to explore India’s festive bazaars, what to look for, and how to shop well.

9. Closures and surge fares

Our practical news guide to the 2025 festival dates, what closes and when, how fares rise, and how to plan around it all.

10. A less-lit town worth the detour

Orchha, on the Betwa river in Madhya Pradesh, where Rama is worshipped as a king, where the palaces stand dark above the lamps, and where the dawn after Diwali is unforgettable.

11. What to carry for a night of lamps

Our packing list for the festival: puja items, gifts, clothes that are safe near flames, a first-aid kit, and what to leave at home.

How to use this issue

If you are still deciding where to go, start with the hill Diwali, the small-town version and the less-lit town. If you have decided and are now worrying about logistics, read train versus road and closures and surge fares first. If you are going to stay with a family, read the courtyard essay and our guest post. And whatever you do, read the packing list before you leave.

Planning at a glance

If you have only a few minutes, here is the issue in brief. Book transport as early as the reservation windows allow, and aim to travel a few days before Dhanteras rather than on the weekend of the festival. Choose a small town or a family-run stay. Visit the markets in the week before Diwali. Check local rules on firecrackers and the air quality forecast. Pack cotton clothes, a torch, a small first-aid kit and a gift for your hosts. On Diwali night itself, stay put, light your lamps and enjoy the evening where you are. And plan your return journey as carefully as your outward one, because the days after Bhai Dooj and around Chhath are among the busiest of the year.

A few principles

Across all of these pieces, a few principles recur. Travel a little earlier and return a little later than everyone else. Choose smaller places and family-run stays. Ask before you photograph, and before you join a puja. Buy your lamps and sweets locally. Be careful with fire. And remember that wherever you are, you are a guest in someone else’s festival.

A note on facts and dates

Festival dates, rules on firecrackers, train schedules and fares change from year to year and sometimes from week to week. We have checked what we can and hedged where we could not. Please confirm dates, timings and rules locally before you travel. We do not recommend specific hotels or businesses in this issue, because availability and quality change; ask trusted hosts and local tourism offices instead.

From previous issues

If you enjoy this issue, you may also like our September 2025 issue on Navratri and Garba in Gujarat, and our November 2025 issue on Varanasi and Dev Deepawali, which together with this one make a trilogy of India’s autumn festivals of light, dance and devotion.

Share your Diwali

We love hearing from readers. If you spend Diwali somewhere special this year, write to us and tell us about it. The best stories may appear as guest posts in future issues.