Uttarayan: International Kite Festival Experience

The Uttarayan kite festival tour is a private 4-day trip to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in mid-January. You make your own kite with a master kite maker, spend a day at Gujarat's International Kite Festival on the Sabarmati Riverfront, and celebrate Makar Sankranti flying kites from a rooftop with a local family. Prices start at about ₹34,776 per person.

On 14 January every year, Ahmedabad looks up. From sunrise until long after dark, millions of kites fill the sky over the city. Families crowd onto their rooftops with music, food and spools of string, and every few minutes a cheer of 'Kai po che!' goes up as someone cuts a rival's kite loose.

This is Uttarayan, Gujarat's name for Makar Sankranti, the Hindu festival that marks the sun's journey north and the turn towards longer days. Around the same time, the state hosts the International Kite Festival, where flyers from many countries bring giant, colourful and sometimes very strange kites to the riverfront.

Most visitors see only one side of this week. This tour gives you both: the big international show and the real, noisy, joyful rooftop celebration with a local family. You'll even fly a kite you made yourself.

Uttarayan and Kite Festival Dates

Gujarat Tourism announces the official festival programme each year, and we confirm your dates as soon as it's published. Hotels in Ahmedabad fill up quickly in January, so early booking is wise.

Two Sides of the Same Festival

What You'll Experience

We don't share a day-by-day plan on this page, but here's what your four days include.

Getting ready

On arrival, you make your own kite with a local master kite maker. In the evening, you walk through the Patang Bazaar, where stalls stacked with kites and spools of string stay busy late into the night.

The International Kite Festival

A full day on the Sabarmati Riverfront, moving between flying zones, watching international teams, catching folk performances and eating at food stalls. Stay into the evening to see the sky fill with glowing night kites.

Uttarayan on the rooftop

The big day starts with a short visit to the Kite Museum, then you head up to a rooftop to join a local family. Expect music, laughter, friendly kite battles and a festive lunch of undhiyu, jalebi and chikki.

Vasi Uttarayan

The next day, the celebrations carry on more quietly. There may be time for one last kite before your airport transfer.

ACCOMMODATION CATEGORIES

Tier labels follow the standard of the room and the property, not a star count. Where a property is named, it is a real hotel we plan to use. The ground team confirms every property before each departure, and books early: hotel availability in Ahmedabad tightens noticeably in the week around Uttarayan.

Who Is This Makar Sankranti Tour For?

A great fit if you:

• Love festivals, colour and joyful crowds

• Want to celebrate with a local family, not just watch from the side

• Are travelling with children, who usually love the kites

• Enjoy photography, especially of people and colour

• Have a short window in January and want a complete experience

Maybe not the right trip if you:

• Prefer quiet, uncrowded places

• Can't travel in mid-January

• Are uncomfortable on rooftops or with heights

3-TIER PRICING SUMMARY

The upper figure allows for date and season variance of about 8%. Prices are indicative and confirmed on request

WHY BOOK THIS WITH BIZAREXPEDITION

An uttarayan kite festival tour international guests can book as a finished trip, not a festival they have to plan around on their own.

• The formal festival and the real one, both included. The International Kite Festival at Sabarmati Riverfront is one day of this trip; Makar Sankranti itself, spent on a rooftop with a local family, is a separate day. Most visitors who travel for this festival only ever see one of the two.

• Already a story BizareXpedition tells; now a trip you can book. This festival has featured in BizareXpedition's own travel journal for some time, with no bookable package to go with it. This itinerary is the first time that content becomes a trip.

• A kite of your own before the festival starts. The Day 1 workshop with a local master kite maker means you arrive at the festival already able to fly what you made, not watching from the sidelines.

• The manja hazard, disclosed rather than glossed past. Traditional glass-coated manja is sharp enough to cut skin and a documented risk to people and birds alike; your hosts fly with ordinary cotton line for the group and brief you on the hazard plainly before anyone goes up on a roof.

• A registered company, not a middleman. BizareXpedition Services Pvt. Ltd. (CIN U63090UR2016PTC007433), headquartered in Haridwar, plans and runs the trip itself.

SEASON ADJUSTMENTS

This is a single-window package: it only runs once a year, against the real Uttarayan calendar. Exact festival dates are confirmed by Gujarat's tourism department closer to each year; the table below gives the confirmed window for the nearest year and the typical pattern beyond it.

PRACTICAL NOTES

• Hotel rooms go early. Ahmedabad's hotel rooms tighten sharply in the week around Uttarayan; this itinerary should be booked as early as possible relative to travel dates, well before the usual booking window for other Gujarat trips.

• The manja hazard is real, not folklore. Traditional glass-coated manja, used for the rooftop cutting duels, is sharp enough to cut skin and is a documented hazard to birds; India's National Green Tribunal has banned synthetic and nylon manja nationwide for this reason. Long sleeves are sensible on a rooftop, and your hosted party uses ordinary cotton line for guests.

• January in Ahmedabad runs cooler than most visitors expect. Mornings and evenings can turn properly chilly for a few hours either side of a warm midday; pack a light jacket for the rooftop evening and the night kite session.

• Crowds at the Sabarmati Riverfront are large. General entry is free and the ground draws a very large crowd on the main festival day; keep valuables secure and agree a meeting point with your guide in advance.

• The rooftop party depends on wind and weather. Kite flying needs a real breeze; a still or rainy Makar Sankranti thins out the rooftop flying itself, though the food, company and museum visit go ahead regardless.

• Closed shoes, not sandals, for the festival ground and the rooftop. Both surfaces carry loose kite string underfoot by the end of the day, and closed shoes are simply more practical.

• Your workshop kite is yours to keep. Anything made in the Day 1 workshop travels home with you, along with anything bought at the Patang Bazaar, subject to the usual airline rules on sharp or rigid items in checked baggage.

• Extending the trip. Ahmedabad's own heritage old city, the Sabarmati riverfront promenade beyond festival week, and the Adalaj stepwell are all within easy reach if you want to extend beyond these four days.