Festivals & Events

The monsoon pilgrimage: Gosaikunda's Janai Purnima falls on August 28

Each year tens of thousands climb to the sacred 4,380m lake of Gosaikunda for the full-moon festival of Janai Purnima. In 2026 it lands on Friday…

By Laxman Rawal · Jun 15, 2026

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While most of Nepal sits under monsoon cloud in late August, one high mountain lake comes alive. Gosaikunda, a sacred glacial lake at 4,380 metres north of Kathmandu, draws tens of thousands of Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims each year for Janai Purnima — the…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

What is Janai Purnima

Janai Purnima, also called Raksha Bandhan, marks the day when Hindu men of the Brahmin and Chhetri communities ritually change the janai — the sacred thread worn across the body — after a purifying bath. At Gosaikunda, the act takes on epic scale: pilgrims…

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Walking the pilgrimage

The beauty of Gosaikunda is that the pilgrimage is also a superb trek, and it sits in a part of the Langtang region that handles the monsoon better than most. The classic route climbs from Dhunche or Sundarijal through rhododendron and oak forest to Sing…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

A few honest words on altitude and weather

This is a high-altitude trek done in the rainy season, and both facts deserve respect. The climb to 4,380m is rapid by pilgrimage standards, and altitude sickness is a real risk for the unacclimatised — pace matters more than the calendar. The lower forest…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

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