Travebrate · Festival Guide
Eleven days, ninety-seven thousand bulbs, a golden howdah and a herd of elephants. Here is what happens on which day, and at what time.
Mysuru Dasara is Karnataka’s Nada Habba, the state festival, and it has been running since 1610. For eleven days the city turns into one long celebration that ends with the Jumboo Savari, the procession of caparisoned elephants carrying the golden howdah from the Palace to Bannimantap. This guide covers the 2026 dates, the timings people most often get wrong, and how the ticketing works.
When is Mysore Dasara 2026?
Mysuru Dasara 2026 runs from Sunday, 11 October to Wednesday, 21 October 2026.
It opens with the Chamundeshwari puja on Chamundi Hill at 11:50 AM on 11 October and closes on Vijayadashami, 21 October, with the Jumboo Savari in the afternoon and the Torchlight Parade that night. Over ninety programmes run across eighteen venues in between.
What time does the Mysore Palace get illuminated?
This is the question we are asked more than any other about Dasara, so here it is plainly.
The Mysore Palace lights come on at 7 PM, every evening of Dasara.
From Sunday 11 October to Wednesday 21 October 2026, the Amba Vilas Palace is illuminated daily at 7:00 PM. On the final night, Vijayadashami, 21 October, the lights stay on until midnight.
Two things worth knowing beyond the headline time. The formal inauguration of the Dasara illumination, the Deepalankara, happens slightly earlier on the opening day, at 6:30 PM on 11 October on Sayyaji Rao Road near K.R. Hospital Circle, when the city’s own lighting is switched on. And the illumination is not only the Palace. Through Dasara the main roads, circles and heritage buildings across Mysuru are lit too, which is why an evening walk through the city centre during these eleven days is worth as much as the Palace itself.
Outside the Dasara season the Palace is normally illuminated only on Sunday evenings and public holidays, for a shorter window. Dasara is the one stretch of the year when it happens every single night.
The events worth planning around
Jumboo Savari, the grand procession: Wednesday 21 October
The finale, and the reason most people come. On Vijayadashami the Chief Minister performs the Nandi Dhwaja puja at 1:36 PM, followed by the Pushparchane to Goddess Chamundeshwari in the golden howdah between 4:10 and 4:35 PM. The procession then leaves the Palace at around 4:35 PM and makes its way five kilometres to Bannimantap, led by the lead elephant carrying the howdah.
If you want a seat inside the Palace forecourt you need a ticket, and the gates close at 12:30 PM, nearly four hours before the procession starts. The roads around the Palace close from 11 AM. The entire five-kilometre route is free to watch from, so arriving early and finding a spot along the road costs nothing.
Panjina Kavayathu, the Torchlight Parade: 20 and 21 October, 7 PM
Held at Bannimantap Parade Grounds at 7 PM, the Torchlight Parade is the other great spectacle of Dasara: military bands, mounted cavalry, motorcycle daredevils and fireworks. It runs on two evenings.
The 20 October evening is the full-dress rehearsal on Mahanavami, with the same bands, the same cavalry, the same displays, and a noticeably smaller crowd. The 21 October evening is the real thing, the closing act of the whole festival. If crowds worry you, the rehearsal is the quiet secret of Dasara.
Kambala: Sunday 18 and Monday 19 October, from 9 AM
Coastal Karnataka’s buffalo race comes to Mysuru. Kambala runs on 18 and 19 October from 9 AM, on a purpose-built track near VTU College. Pairs of buffaloes are driven down a flooded paddy track by a runner holding them, throwing up a wall of water, and the fastest of them cover the track in a handful of seconds.
For anyone who has only seen Kambala in films, watching it in person is a different order of experience, and having it inside the Dasara calendar means you can see a coastal tradition without leaving Mysuru. It is one of the best things on the programme and one of the least known to outside visitors.
The drone show: 17, 18, 20 and 21 October, 8 PM
A newer addition and a genuine crowd-puller. The drone show is staged over the Panjina Kavayathu ground at Bannimantap at 8 PM, with the first display on Saturday 17 October and further shows on 18, 20 and 21 October.
Note how it is ticketed: the two standalone ticketed evenings are 17 and 18 October, sold as separate tickets per day. Gates open at 4:30 PM and the show begins after dark. On 20 and 21 October the drone show follows the Torchlight Parade on the same ground.
Yuva Dasara: 28 September to 5 October, 5 PM to 10 PM
Worth knowing that Yuva Dasara, staged as Yuva Sambhrama, runs before the main festival rather than during it. In 2026 it is held from 28 September to 5 October, 5 PM to 10 PM, at the Manasagangothri Open Air Theatre.
This is the youth edition of Dasara, and it is where the music is. Bands, contemporary performances and large young crowds. If Yuva Dasara is your reason for coming, you need to be in Mysuru in the last week of September, not in the third week of October.
The Dasara Exhibition: 11 October to January
The Mysuru Dasara Exhibition opens on 11 October and runs for months, all the way through to January. It is the one part of Dasara that outlives the festival by a full season. Stalls, food, rides, shopping and a fairground atmosphere on the exhibition grounds near the Palace.
Practically, this is useful: if you cannot make the eleven days in October, you can still catch the exhibition in November, December or early January, when Mysuru is quieter and hotels cost a fraction of Dasara rates.
The elephants
The Dasara elephants arrive long before the festival. The Gaja Payana, the ceremonial flagging off from Veeranahosahalli in Nagarhole, took place on 26 August 2026, and the elephants entered the Palace on 28 August for the Gaja Puja. They spend weeks training in the Palace grounds, walking the route and building up to carrying the howdah.
That training period is an underrated thing to witness. Turning up at the Palace on an ordinary morning in September or early October to watch the elephants at practice costs nothing and is far calmer than procession day. They begin the return journey to the forest on 22 October.
Flower show, food and the other free things
- Dasara Fruit and Flower Show, Kuppanna Park, 11 to 21 October, 9 AM to 9 PM.
- Aahara Mela, the food fair at Maharaja’s College Ground, 11 AM to 10 PM, running until 25 October.
- Cultural programmes on the Palace stage most evenings from 5 PM.
- Heritage Dasara walks, cycle rides and tonga rides from the Town Hall, early mornings on 15, 16 and 17 October.
- Chamundeshwari Rathotsava, the chariot festival on Chamundi Hill, on 24 October, after the festival closes.
Mysore Dasara 2026 tickets: what you pay for and what is free
Most of Dasara is free. The Palace illumination, the five-kilometre procession route, the cultural stages, the Flower Show, the Aahara Mela and the public enclosures at Bannimantap all cost nothing.
Five things are ticketed, and all of them are booked through TicketGenie, the official ticketing partner. There are no other counters and no agents, which is worth remembering because Dasara attracts touts every year.
| Ticket | When | From |
|---|---|---|
| Gold Card (all access) | 11 to 21 October | ₹6,500 |
| Jumboo Savari procession, Enclosure I, numbered seat | 21 Oct, gates 10 AM to 12:30 PM | ₹3,500 |
| Torchlight Parade, ticketed enclosure | 21 Oct, gates 4:30 to 6:30 PM | ₹1,500 |
| Torchlight Parade rehearsal, Enclosure E | 20 Oct, gates 4:30 to 6:30 PM | ₹1,500 |
| Drone show, separate ticket per day | 17 and 18 Oct, gates 4:30 PM | ₹1,000 |
The Gold Card is the one to understand properly. It covers one-time entry to the Palace, Chamundi Hill and Mysuru Zoo, a numbered seat for the Jumboo Savari, a place in the Gold Card enclosure for the Torchlight Parade, and the drone show on the date printed on the card, plus marked parking. If you intend to do all of it, it works out cheaper than buying separately.
Three practical warnings. Your booking confirmation is a redemption voucher, not a ticket, and you must exchange it for the physical ticket before the event. Carry photo ID. And the gate closing times are enforced, so the 12:30 PM cut-off for the procession enclosure means exactly that, even though the procession itself does not begin until well after four.
Mysore Dasara 2026 schedule at a glance
| Date | Day | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Sep to 5 Oct | Yuva Dasara (Yuva Sambhrama), 5 to 10 PM, Manasagangothri | |
| 11 Oct | Sun | Inauguration on Chamundi Hill 11:50 AM · Flower Show opens · Exhibition opens · Illumination inaugurated 6:30 PM · Palace lit 7 PM |
| 12 to 16 Oct | Mon to Fri | Cultural programmes, Heritage Dasara, Raitha Dasara · Palace lit 7 PM daily |
| 17 Oct | Sat | Palace lit 7 PM · Drone show 8 PM (first display) |
| 18 Oct | Sun | Kambala day 1 from 9 AM · Palace lit 7 PM · Drone show 8 PM |
| 19 Oct | Mon | Kambala day 2 from 9 AM · Palace lit 7 PM |
| 20 Oct | Tue | Mahanavami, Ayudha puja · Torchlight Parade 7 PM (rehearsal) · Palace lit 7 PM · Drone show 8 PM |
| 21 Oct | Wed | Vijayadashami · Nandi Dhwaja puja 1:36 PM · Pushparchane 4:10 PM · Jumboo Savari 4:35 PM · Torchlight Parade 7 PM · Palace lit till midnight · Drone show 8 PM |
| 22 Oct | Thu | The elephants begin the return journey, 10:45 AM |
| 24 Oct | Sat | Chamundeshwari Rathotsava, Chamundi Hill |
| Till January | Dasara Exhibition continues |
Getting the timing right
A few things that catch first-time visitors out:
- Yuva Dasara is not during Dasara. It finishes on 5 October, six days before the festival opens.
- The procession is an afternoon event, not a morning one, but the ticketed enclosure gates shut at 12:30 PM.
- The Torchlight Parade and the Jumboo Savari are on the same day, 21 October, a few hours apart. Doing both means a very long day and two separate tickets.
- Kambala falls on 18 and 19 October, mid-festival, and is easy to miss if you only come for the final weekend.
- Accommodation in Mysuru sells out months ahead for 20 and 21 October and prices climb steeply. Booking early, or staying slightly outside the city, makes a real difference.
Why plan Mysore Dasara with Travebrate
Dasara looks simple until you try to build a trip around it. Over ninety programmes run across eighteen venues in eleven days, the best of them clash, and the two events most people travel for both fall on the same afternoon and evening of 21 October. Yuva Dasara has already finished by the time the festival opens. Kambala sits quietly in the middle of the week and is missed by almost everyone who comes only for the weekend. Tickets go through one official partner with gates that close hours before the thing you booked for begins, and hotel rooms for the final two nights disappear months in advance. This is exactly the work we do. We track India’s festival calendar ourselves, including the festivals nobody else bothers to track, and we publish those dates free for anyone to use, client or not. When you plan with us we take your travel dates, tell you which festivals you will genuinely cross paths with, and build the journey around the ones that matter to you, with the timings, the etiquette and the story behind each ritual so that you understand what you are standing in front of. We do not book flights or hotels and we take no commission from anyone, so nothing we recommend is shaped by what pays us. One personalised itinerary is a flat USD 100, and you book the trip your own way. Content creators, do reach out to us for special pricing.
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Timings and programmes are as announced by the Mysuru Dasara sub-committees and the Palace panchanga. Schedules can change at short notice, so please confirm before you travel.