Editor's Letter: Diwali Getaways 2025

Dear reader,

There is a particular moment every Diwali that I wait for. It comes late in the evening, after the puja is done and the sweets have been exchanged, when most of the lamps have been lit and the house is quiet for a moment. I step outside, look back at the outline of small flames along the parapet, and for a few seconds everything is still. It is the moment that makes the whole festival make sense to me.

This issue is about finding that moment when you are away from home.

The Diwalis I remember

When I think back over the Diwalis of my life, it is not the grand ones I remember most. It is a cold evening in the hills, when the electricity failed and the whole village was lit only by lamps. It is a small courtyard in an old town, where a grandmother I had met that afternoon showed me how to roll a wick. It is a ghat at dusk, where a little girl floated a leaf boat with a single flame and watched it all the way out of sight. None of those moments was planned, and none was expensive. They happened because I was somewhere small, among people who were celebrating for themselves, and I was paying attention.

Why a Diwali getaway

For many of us, Diwali means going home. For millions of Indians it is the one time of year when the whole family gathers, and nothing would persuade them to be anywhere else. If that is you, I hope you have a wonderful festival, and I hope that some of the pieces in this issue, particularly the essay on the courtyard and the guest post on a week in a family house, will remind you of what you love about it.

But for others, the long Diwali weekend is a rare chance to travel. Perhaps your family is scattered, perhaps you are new to a city, perhaps you simply want to see how the festival is celebrated elsewhere. India has an astonishing variety of Diwalis, from the river lamps of the north to the pre-dawn oil baths of the south, from Kali Puja in the east to the burning of Narakasura effigies in Goa. A Diwali getaway can be a way of discovering that variety.

The problem with the obvious

The trouble is that everyone has the same idea at the same time. The roads to the best-known hill stations clog. The famous festival cities fill. Airfares climb. In parts of the north the air turns thick with smoke. And too often, the getaway that was meant to be restful turns into a test of patience.

When we planned this issue, we asked ourselves a simple question: how can a reader have the Diwali they hope for, rather than the one the crowds create? The answers we kept coming back to were simple too. Go a little further. Go a little earlier. Choose smaller places. Stay with families. Travel sensibly. Be a good guest.

What is inside

We begin in the hills, with a piece on finding a hill Diwali that is not a mall: a town where the festival is still lived by residents rather than staged for visitors. We then go to Chitrakoot, a small sacred town on the Mandakini where pilgrims float lamps on the river, as an alternative to the great festival cities. Later in the issue we visit Orchha, on the Betwa, where Rama is worshipped as a king and the old palaces stand dark above the lamps.

In between, we look at the household festival itself, in an essay on one courtyard, one diya and one neighbour. We take an honest look at fireworks and smoke, and the kinds of places where the festival is traditionally quieter. We weigh train against road in the busiest travel week of the year, explain why the markets are best visited before the 20th rather than on it, and set out what closes and when fares tend to climb. Our guest post tells the story of a week spent in a friend’s family house. And we end with a packing list for a night of lamps.

A word on care

Diwali is a festival of fire, and fire deserves respect. Please be careful with lamps near fabric and dry grass, with sparklers near children, and with firecrackers anywhere. Check the local rules on fireworks where you are going; they vary by place and change from year to year. And if the air is bad, stay in and keep the windows shut. A Diwali spent safely indoors is better than one spent in a clinic.

A word on respect, too. Many of the experiences in this issue involve being welcomed into other people’s homes and rituals. Ask before you photograph. Follow your hosts’ lead. Bring a small gift. Say thank you. The welcome you receive will be warmer for it.

A note on what we do not include

You will notice that we name very few businesses in this issue. That is deliberate. Hotels, homestays and restaurants change, and we would rather point you towards the kind of place to look for than send you to one that has closed or changed hands. Ask the local tourism office, ask your friends, ask your hosts. And please check dates, timings and rules close to your travel date. Festival calendars in India vary by region, and we have tried to note where the dates are uncertain.

Thank you

This is our seventy-eighth issue. Travel Viewpoint began in May 2019 with a simple idea: to write about travel in India with care, curiosity and honesty. Every month I am grateful to the readers who make it possible, and to the writers and guests who share their journeys with us.

This Diwali, wherever you are, I hope you find your moment: the quiet one, after the lamps are lit, when everything is still. And I hope it finds you somewhere beautiful.

Shubh Deepavali.

Khushi Anand, Editor