What's on in Bengaluru (Bangalore), India through the year

Peak crowds — Lalbagh Republic Day flower show, Cool dry season

• Festival

  Lalbagh Republic Day flower show

  14–26 JanWildflowers & bloomsCrowded

  The Glass House at Lalbagh is packed with a themed floral build for the fortnight to Republic Day. It is the city's single busiest ticketed event and the queue on the 26th runs down Double Road. Source ↗

Still on: Cool dry season (1 Dec – 15 Feb (usually))

Busy — Cool dry season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Cool dry season (1 Dec – 15 Feb (usually))

Busy — Bengaluru Karaga, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  Pre-monsoon heat and water cuts

  1 Mar – 25 May · usuallyExtreme heat

  The weeks before the rains are the hottest of the Bengaluru year, and the borewells drop with them; tanker deliveries and apartment rationing make the news most Aprils. Source ↗

• Festival

  Ugadi

  15 Mar – 15 Apr · usuallyMajor festivalClosures

  The Kannada new year in spring: mango leaves over doorways, bevu-bella eaten bitter and sweet together, and a quiet city for a day as offices and most restaurants close. Source ↗

• Festival

  Bengaluru Karaga

  20 Mar – 20 Apr · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  An all-night procession on the Chaitra full moon from the Dharmaraya Swamy temple through the old pete, led by a priest carrying a flowered pot on his head. The lanes around Tigalarpet are impassable until dawn. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Bengaluru Karaga, Summer vacation (Kerala / far south) in India

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Pre-monsoon heat and water cuts (1 Mar – 25 May (usually)), Ugadi (15 Mar – 15 Apr (usually)), Bengaluru Karaga (20 Mar – 20 Apr (usually))

Busy — Summer vacation (north & east) in India

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Pre-monsoon heat and water cuts (1 Mar – 25 May (usually))

Busy — Summer vacation (north & east) in India, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Southwest monsoon

  1 Jun – 15 Sep · usually

  The plateau's rain comes in bands rather than downpours and the city stays workable through it, with the parks at their greenest. It is the cheapest and least crowded stretch of the year.

Quiet — school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Southwest monsoon (1 Jun – 15 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Lalbagh Independence Day show, Ganesha Chaturthi

• Festival

  Lalbagh Independence Day show

  5–18 Aug · usuallyWildflowers & bloomsCrowded

  The second of the two annual shows at Lalbagh, built around a different theme and running to 15 August. Smaller than the January edition and easier to see on a weekday morning. Source ↗

• Festival

  Ganesha Chaturthi

  25 Aug – 20 Sep · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  Pandals go up on every other street corner for ten days and the immersion processions close roads on the last night. Loud, late and entirely local. Source ↗

Still on: Southwest monsoon (1 Jun – 15 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Ganesha Chaturthi, Dasara and the Mysuru exodus

• Season

  Retreating monsoon downpours

  15 Sep – 15 Nov · usuallyRisk

  The wettest weeks of the Bengaluru year arrive after the main monsoon has gone: short violent evening storms that flood the underpasses and lock the Outer Ring Road solid for hours.

• Festival

  Dasara and the Mysuru exodus

  20 Sep – 15 Oct · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Karnataka's state festival runs ten days and the city empties down the Mysuru road for the palace lights and the Jamboo Savari elephants. Trains, buses and Mysuru hotels all go weeks ahead. Source ↗

Still on: Southwest monsoon (1 Jun – 15 Sep (usually)), Ganesha Chaturthi (25 Aug – 20 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Dasara and the Mysuru exodus, Autumn break (Dussehra / Diwali) in India

• Festival

  Deepavali

  15 Oct – 15 Nov · usuallyDiwaliRiskClosures

  Three nights of firecrackers in every layout, and the morning after is the worst air of the Bengaluru year. The state limits sales to green crackers in a two-hour window, with mixed success. Source ↗

Still on: Retreating monsoon downpours (15 Sep – 15 Nov (usually)), Dasara and the Mysuru exodus (20 Sep – 15 Oct (usually))

Busy — Kadalekai Parishe

• Festival

  Kadalekai Parishe

  15 Nov – 15 Dec · usuallyHarvestCrowded

  The groundnut fair around the Bull Temple in Basavanagudi, where farmers bring the season's first crop to be blessed and sold. Two days that shut the streets of the neighbourhood completely. Source ↗

Still on: Retreating monsoon downpours (15 Sep – 15 Nov (usually)), Deepavali (15 Oct – 15 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Kadalekai Parishe, Cool dry season

• Season

  Cool dry season

  1 Dec – 15 Feb · usuallyCrowded

  The stretch the city is known for: dry, mild and clear, with the evenings genuinely cool. It is also wedding and conference season, so hotel rates run at their highest.

Still on: Kadalekai Parishe (15 Nov – 15 Dec (usually))