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Deepotsav 2026 falls on the evening of Saturday 7 November, the night before Diwali on Sunday 8 November, when the Saryu ghats at Ram Ki Paidi are lit with lakhs of lamps. Ayodhya is 630 km and nine to ten hours from Delhi on the Yamuna and Agra–Lucknow expressways, 140 km from Lucknow airport and 200 km from Varanasi. The lamp-lighting ghats themselves are pass-controlled; the public watches from the Naya Ghat side, the Saryu bridge and the ghats downstream, and in recent years the roads into the ghat zone have closed from the afternoon, so the cab drops you at the parking zones and you walk the last two to four kilometres. Leave after midnight or stay till morning; the exit in the first two hours after the show is one of the slowest you will sit through.
Updated · Fares from the published rate card, Sedan ₹11/km to Tempo ₹23/km
Since the Ram Mandir opened, Deepotsav has become one of the biggest single-night crowds in the north, and the city that hosts it has far fewer hotel rooms than the week needs. That is the shape of the problem: reaching Ayodhya is easy, being in the right place at seven in the evening is a matter of planning, and getting out again is the part nobody warns you about.
The dates below are verified against the 2026 Diwali calendar. Fares are from the published rate card: ₹11/km for a sedan, ₹15 for an Ertiga or SUV, ₹18 for an Innova Crysta and ₹23 for a 12-seater Tempo Traveller, tolls extra, no festival surge.
7–9 November 2026
The state programme runs across the weekend. The night that matters is the 7th; the 8th is Diwali itself in the temple town; the 9th is the morning to leave.
7 Nov · from 5 pmThe lamps on Ram Ki Paidi and the adjoining ghats are lit at dusk after the day’s Ram Leela procession and the symbolic Ram–Sita arrival. The laser and drone show on the river follows. Be in position by five; in recent years the ghat zone roads have closed from early afternoon, so check the day’s police advisory.
8 NovDiwali proper. The mandir’s darshan runs in slots through the day and the evening aarti is the one to book a slot for; the town lights its own lamps at every doorway. Quieter on the ghats than the 7th, and the better night to actually see the river.
9 NovHanuman Garhi and Kanak Bhawan before the crowds return, breakfast, and the drive out while the roads are open. Bhai Dooj keeps the town busy after Diwali; leaving on the 9th is the clean exit.
24 NovTwo weeks later the Varanasi ghats do their own night of lamps for Kartik Purnima. Ayodhya to Varanasi is 200 km; some families do both as separate trips, and the guide to Dev Deepawali covers the second one.
The road
Expressway almost the whole way: Yamuna Expressway to Agra, Agra–Lucknow Expressway to Lucknow, then NH-27 to Ayodhya. Kilometre marks from Delhi.
From Noida the Yamuna Expressway is twenty minutes away; from Gurgaon use the KMP to Palwal. Leaving at four puts you in Ayodhya for lunch.
The inner ring road joins the Yamuna Expressway to the Agra–Lucknow Expressway without entering the city. Breakfast at the expressway plaza just after the junction.
Halt: Breakfast
The Agra–Lucknow Expressway ends at the Lucknow outer ring road, which takes you around the city to NH-27 east. Fuel here; the last 130 km have fewer stops.
Halt: Fuel
The last big town. NH-27 is four-lane from here to the Ayodhya bypass and busy with festival traffic on the 7th.
ArriveOff the bypass at the Saket or Naya Ghat exits, depending on where you are staying. On the 7th the police divert all private vehicles to the designated parking zones from early afternoon; the driver takes you as close as the day’s plan allows.
Rate-card sedan fares at ₹11/km on a 300 km minimum, one-way. Tolls at actual. Lucknow airport is the nearest airport with regular flights; Ayodhya’s own airport has limited services.
| From | Distance | Drive time | Road | Sedan, one-way |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi | 630 km | 9–10 hrs | Yamuna + Agra–Lucknow expressways, NH-27 | ₹6,930 |
| Noida / Greater Noida | 610 km | 9 hrs | Yamuna Expressway from Pari Chowk | ₹6,710 |
| Agra | 465 km | 6.5 hrs | Agra–Lucknow Expressway, NH-27 | ₹5,115 |
| Lucknow airport | 140 km | 2.5 hrs | Outer ring, NH-27 | ₹3,300 |
| Lucknow city | 135 km | 2.5 hrs | NH-27 | ₹3,300 |
| Varanasi | 200 km | 4 hrs | Via Jaunpur and Sultanpur | ₹3,300 |
| Prayagraj | 170 km | 3.5 hrs | Via Pratapgarh | ₹3,300 |
| Gorakhpur | 140 km | 3 hrs | NH-27 | ₹3,300 |
Ertiga ₹15/km, Innova Crysta ₹18/km, 12-seater Tempo Traveller ₹23/km on the same minimum. Round trips bill per day; a three-day Delhi–Ayodhya–Delhi sedan is ₹13,860.
Where to stand
Not on Ram Ki Paidi itself. The lamp ghats are laid out and lit by volunteers under the state programme, and entry to that stretch on the 7th is by pass: officials, guests, the volunteer teams and the media. The public view is from around it, and there are three good positions. The Naya Ghat side and the Saryu bridge look across the water at the whole lit frontage, and the drone and laser show is staged for exactly that view. The ghats downstream of Ram Ki Paidi, towards Guptar Ghat, are lit too and are where families sit with their own lamps. And the rooftops and terraces of the hotels and dharamshalas along the river road are the calmest seats in town, if you are staying in one.
Whichever you choose, be there by five. The police close the ghat approaches when the crowd reaches capacity, and on Deepotsav night that happens before the lamps are lit.
Saryu · Naya Ghat sideThe cab on the day
On the 7th, private vehicles are stopped at the parking zones the administration announces for the day; in recent years these have been on the bypass side at Saket and on the Faizabad side, from early afternoon, and the 2026 plan is published by the district police only days before, so check the day’s advisory. From the parking to the river is two to four kilometres on foot or by the shuttle e-rickshaws that run until the crowd makes them pointless. The driver stays with the car at the parking and is on the phone when you come out.
If you are staying in Ayodhya, ask the hotel for its vehicle pass; some river-road hotels can get a guest vehicle through the cordon before the closure. If you are staying in Faizabad or Lucknow, the plan is drop at the parking zone by three, and a pickup arranged for after midnight or the next morning.
When to leave
Not immediately. The lamps and the show end around nine; the two hours after that are when the entire crowd tries to leave through the same three roads, and the parking zones do not empty until well past midnight. The comfortable options are two. Stay the night in Ayodhya or Faizabad and leave after Hanuman Garhi in the morning, which is what most families do. Or, if you must drive back to Lucknow that night, eat at the river, wait until after eleven, and be in the car by midnight; Lucknow is two and a half hours and the road is clear by then.
Driving back to Delhi the same night is not something we recommend and not something we schedule without a relief driver: it is nine hours after a day on the ghats. The three-day trip, up on the 6th or 7th, back on the 9th, is the version that works.
Hanuman Garhi · morning afterRam Mandir
Yes, but the 8th is the better day for it than the 7th. Darshan runs in slots through the day; the evening aarti passes are limited and are released through the trust’s counters and site. On the 7th the temple is open but the town’s attention and the police cordons are on the river, and the walk between the two is slow. Do the temple on the morning of the 8th, then Kanak Bhawan and Hanuman Garhi, and give the evening to the town’s own Diwali.
Phones and bags are not allowed inside the mandir; lockers are at the entry. The trust’s rules change, so check the day’s notice at the counter.
Where to stay
Faizabad, now part of Ayodhya district, is seven kilometres from the ghats and has the bulk of the district’s rooms. Lucknow is the fallback with real capacity, 135 km and two and a half hours, which means a night drive after the show or a very early start; the airport is on the Ayodhya side of the city. Gonda and Barabanki have small hotels on NH-27 that fill last. Dharamshalas near the ghats take bookings months out; ask the driver which ones still have space, because they hear from other groups.
Fare box
Rate-card fares for the 630 km drive. The three-day figure is the trip that works: up on the 6th or 7th, Deepotsav and Diwali, back on the 9th with the driver staying on.
| Vehicle | Seats | Rate | One-way fare | Three-day trip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sedan (Swift Dzire, Etios) | 4 | ₹11/km | ₹6,930 | ₹13,860 |
| Ertiga / SUV | 6 | ₹15/km | ₹9,450 | ₹18,900 |
| Innova Crysta | 6–7 | ₹18/km | ₹11,340 | ₹22,680 |
| Tempo Traveller (12-seater) | 12 | ₹23/km | ₹14,490 | ₹28,980 |
Tolls on the Yamuna and Agra–Lucknow expressways and Ayodhya parking at actual. No Diwali surcharge. Packages with tolls and driver stay folded in are on the booking page.
In pictures
DiwaliDarshan on the 8th, in slots.
7 NovWhere the lamps go.
8–9 NovThe morning-after circuit.
9 NovBefore the crowds return.
StayThe fallback city, 135 km.
The ghat approaches close when the crowd reaches capacity, before the lamps are lit. Five o’clock on the Naya Ghat side is the safe time.
The two hours after the show are the slowest exit of the year. Eat at the river, leave after eleven, or stay till morning.
Up on the 6th or 7th, back on the 9th. It costs the same as the round trip and removes every problem the closures create.
Diwali 2026 · Ayodhya Deepotsav
Deepotsav lamps on the Saryu ghats on the evening of 7 November, Diwali on the 8th. Ayodhya hotels and cabs fill weeks ahead — fixed fares, no festival surge.
Questions people ask
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