What's on in Cochabamba, Bolivia through the year

Quiet — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: The valley rains (1 Dec – 15 Mar (usually))

Busy — Corso de Corsos, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Corso de Corsos

  5 Feb – 20 Mar · usuallyCarnivalCrowded

  The valley's carnival parade runs in Quillacollo on the Sunday after Carnival week, a full day of morenada and caporales troupes with the whole department along the route and water thrown at everyone. Source ↗

Still on: The valley rains (1 Dec – 15 Mar (usually))

Busy — Corso de Corsos, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Corso de Corsos (5 Feb – 20 Mar (usually)), The valley rains (1 Dec – 15 Mar (usually))

Busy — FEXCO trade fair

• Festival

  FEXCO trade fair

  23 Apr – 3 MayTrade-fair weekCrowded

  Bolivia's largest trade fair takes over the Laguna Alalay fairgrounds for about ten days, with hundreds of thousands of visitors, food courts and concerts. Traffic around the lagoon is heavy on fair evenings. Source ↗

Busy — FEXCO trade fair

• Festival

  Santa Vera Cruz Tatala

  2–3 MayReligious feast

  At the sanctuary on the road to Valle Hermoso, pilgrims ask the Tatala for children, harvests and livestock, and women trade improvised coplas. A mix of Catholic devotion and Andean fertility rites. Source ↗

Still on: FEXCO trade fair (23 Apr – 3 May)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in June.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in July.

Peak crowds — Independence Day, Virgen de Urkupiña

• Holiday

  Independence Day

  5–7 AugNational holidayClosuresCrowded

  6 August is Bolivia's national day: schoolchildren, civic groups and the military parade around the main square, flags hang from every building, and banks, offices and many shops close. Streets in the centre are closed for the parades. Source ↗

• Festival

  Virgen de Urkupiña

  14–18 AugReligious feastCrowdedBook early

  Bolivia's biggest pilgrimage after Copacabana fills Quillacollo, half an hour west, for three days of dancing from dawn. Pilgrims chip a stone off the hillside as a loan from the Virgin and bring it back the year after. Source ↗

Busy — Día de Cochabamba, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Día de Cochabamba

  13–15 Sep · usuallyNational holidayClosures

  The department's holiday marks the 1810 uprising, with a torchlit parade toward El Prado and ceremonies on Plaza 14 de Septiembre. Offices close, and when the date falls on a Sunday the holiday moves to Monday. Source ↗

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Busy — Todos Santos

• Holiday

  Todos Santos

  1–2 NovNational holidayClosures

  Households build a table of bread figures, fruit and the dead person's favourite food from midday on the first, then carry it to the cemetery on the second. Bakeries work through the night; offices shut. Source ↗

Quiet — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Season

  The valley rains

  1 Dec – 15 Mar · usuallyMonsoon

  Almost all of the valley's rain falls in these months, usually as a heavy afternoon or evening storm rather than all day. It is also the only time the hills round the city are green rather than brown.