Uttarayan turns Ahmedabad's skyline into a mass of colour every January, as families take to their rooftops before dawn and don't come down until dark. It's one of India's most photogenic festivals, and you can watch it free from almost anywhere in the old city. This guide covers the 2027 dates, what happened in 2026, where to see it, a real safety issue worth knowing about, and what else to do in Ahmedabad while you're there.
What Uttarayan is
Uttarayan, meaning "the sun's northward journey", marks Makar Sankranti, the day the sun enters the sign of Capricorn and days in the northern hemisphere start lengthening. Gujarat marks it with kite flying on an extraordinary scale: an estimated 8 to 10 million people across the state fly kites over Uttarayan, and Ahmedabad's old city, with its packed rooftops facing each other across narrow lanes, is the place it's most visible. Since 1989, Gujarat Tourism has run an official International Kite Festival alongside the popular celebration, bringing master kite makers and flyers from dozens of countries to a ticketed arena on the Sabarmati Riverfront.
Ordinary Uttarayan is a competitive, sociable sport as much as a spectacle: flyers try to cut down each other's kites using manjha, a specially prepared, often glass-coated string, and a cut kite drifting free is chased down by children in the street below, who keep whatever they catch.
What happened at Uttarayan 2026
Uttarayan 2026 was held on Wednesday 14 January, with Vasi Uttarayan on the 15th. The Ahmedabad International Kite Festival at the Sabarmati Riverfront ran for three days, 12 to 14 January, inside a wider Gujarat Tourism programme listed for 10 to 17 January. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz opened it together on 12 January and flew kites, as part of Merz's first official visit to India, according to Tribune India. Reports put 135 kite flyers from 50 countries at the festival, alongside 65 from 13 other Indian states and 871 from Gujarat. The site also had an exhibit on Ahmedabad's pols and havelis, about 25 handicraft stalls, 15 food stalls, live kite making and an evening show by the folk singer Kinjal Dave.
The injury figures were high again. The Daily Pioneer reported that Gujarat's 108 emergency service handled 5,897 cases, 33 per cent above a normal day, with non-vehicle trauma up 171 per cent and Ahmedabad district logging 1,176 cases against an average of 833. At least four deaths had been reported by 16 January, three from kite string and one from electrocution. That's an early count, and later totals may be higher.
What sets Uttarayan apart is how many people take part: a whole state flies kites on the same day, the official international festival has run since 1989, and in the old city's pols neighbours compete rooftop to rooftop. Anyone can watch for free.
Uttarayan dates for 2027
| 2026 (held) | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmedabad International Kite Festival | 12 to 14 January, Sabarmati Riverfront | Not announced yet |
| Uttarayan (Makar Sankranti, main day) | Wednesday 14 January | Thursday 14 January |
| Vasi Uttarayan | Thursday 15 January | Friday 15 January |
Because Uttarayan is fixed to Makar Sankranti's solar date, it falls on the same days every year, rather than drifting like a lunar festival. Gujarat Tourism's own International Kite Festival programme is organised as a rolling, multi-city event, with different cities hosting their own leg in the run-up (in 2026, Rajkot, Surat and Dholavira around 10 January and Vadodara around 13 January, for example), before events converge on Ahmedabad around the 14th. If you want to catch the ticketed international competition specifically, check Gujarat Tourism's schedule once the 2027 programme is published, since exact city dates vary; the everyday rooftop kite flying, which is free and needs no ticket, is at its busiest on 14 January itself regardless.
Where to watch
The best free vantage points are the rooftops and terraces of Ahmedabad's old city (the "pols", its traditional walled neighbourhoods), where you'll see kites from every direction at close range; many guesthouses and heritage hotels in the old city open their own rooftops to guests over the festival. The Sabarmati Riverfront hosts the ticketed International Kite Festival arena, where you can watch the international competitors and their elaborate show kites up close, and Manek Chowk and other old-city squares get a festive night market atmosphere once the flying stops for the day.
The manjha string danger
Local charitable trusts also run bird rescue operations through the festival period each year, since the string injures large numbers of birds that fly through it.
Uttarayan etiquette for visitors
What else to see in Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad rewards a day or two beyond the festival itself. Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhi's former residence on the riverbank, is free to visit and quiet by comparison with the festival's noise.
The Adalaj Stepwell, about 19km outside the city, is an intricately carved five-storey well built in 1499, one of Gujarat's best examples of the form.
The old city's pols and the Jama Masjid are worth a wander, and Manek Chowk turns into a lively night food market once the sun goes down, a good place to try a full Gujarati thali or khaman dhokla.
A note on our trips
None of our group trips is currently built around Uttarayan, so there's no trip timed to the festival. If that changes, this page will say so. In the meantime, Ahmedabad to Udaipur is a manageable road link of around five hours, so independent travellers sometimes combine Uttarayan with the start of a Rajasthan trip.
