Festivals & Events

Chhath 2026: Nepal's Sun-Worship Festival of the Terai and Mithila Explained

Four days of fasting, river-standing and dawn offerings

By Maya Rai · Aug 30, 2026

Read the full story

Away from the high mountains most visitors come to Nepal for, the flat, fertile plains of the southern Terai keep one of the most demanding and beautiful festivals in the Hindu year. Chhath is a four-day festival of thanksgiving to Surya , the Sun god, and to…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Roots in the Terai and Mithila

Chhath belongs to the plains. Its heartland runs across Mithila and the Terai and on into Bihar and the neighbouring states of eastern India — a cultural region that pays little attention to the modern border. In Nepal it is the great festival of the southern…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

The four days

Chhath is unusually structured — four distinct days, each with its own name and its own ritual, building towards the two great offerings to the sun.

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

The fast, the water and the sun

What sets Chhath apart is the sheer rigour of the vow. The main fasting stretch is nirjala — without food and without so much as a sip of water — and it is held for well over a day, through the evening offering and on until the fast is broken the next…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

A festival that keeps growing

Chhath's reach has widened noticeably. Within Nepal it has spread from the Terai into Kathmandu and other hill cities as plains families have moved; the main evening now sees riverbanks and ghats in the capital packed with worshippers. It travels with the…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Travelling in the plains

Most visitors treat the Terai as a corridor, but it is a destination in its own right — and the gateway to two of Nepal's greatest lowland draws, the jungles of Chitwan and the birthplace of the Buddha at Lumbini . If your Nepal trip runs into late October or…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Plan your trek

Chitwan Jungle Safari — 3 Days

NMA-certified guides · permits sorted · 5,000+ treks since 1998.

$455 pp

Plan this trek

Free guide

Get the free Nepal Trek Insider Guide

Permits, costs, seasons and routes — the essentials we send every traveller, plus a free, no-obligation trip quote.

↑ Swipe up

Your free Nepal trek kit

Read the full report and grab the free Nepal Trek Insider Guide — or ask our Pokhara team for a tailored, no-obligation quote.

Read more & get the free guide Plan my trip — free quote Browse Chitwan Jungle Safari — 3 Days