Mani Rimdu festival on the Everest Base Camp trail: dates and planning

Mani Rimdu is a Buddhist festival of masked dances, prayers and fire rituals held at Tengboche Monastery, which our 12-day Everest Base Camp trek reaches on day 4, at 3,860 metres. It happens once a year, in October or November, on a date set by the Tibetan lunar calendar, so it moves. We have not confirmed this year's dates with Tengboche itself. One trekking operator's page gives 26 to 28 October 2026, and I explain below how far you can trust that and what I would do with it.

What is Mani Rimdu?

Mani Rimdu is a festival celebrated by Buddhists in the Everest region of Nepal, with masked dances, prayers and feasts, and it marks the founding of Buddhism by Guru Rinpoche, also called Padmasambhava. One trekking operator's festival page says the masked dances dramatise the triumph of Buddhism over the Bon religion that came before it in Tibet. I give both because no single source explains the festival's purpose in one sentence.

The people of the Khumbu are Sherpa, and they follow the Nyingma school, the oldest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, founded by Padmasambhava in the eighth century. The festival belongs to that tradition. Tengboche Monastery itself, was built in 1916 by Lama Gulu, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1934, and was destroyed a second time by fire on 19 January 1989 before being rebuilt with the help of volunteers and international assistance.

Nepali Times reported on 31 October 2020 that Mani Rimdu was in its 103rd year, that it had been held every year, and that it appeared it would not be cancelled despite the pandemic. That is as much of its history as we can source.

When is Mani Rimdu in 2026, and how is the date set?

The date follows the Tibetan lunar calendar, not the one on your phone. The Tibetan calendar is lunisolar, with 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon, and an extra month added every two or three years. That is why a festival tied to it drifts against the Gregorian calendar from one year to the next.

It is performed at Tengboche in the ninth Tibetan month, which usually coincides with the full moon in October or November. Some sources say the tenth lunar month, so the month number differs by source, but they agree on October to November, and the operator page also says the ninth month.

Year	Dates given	Where that comes from
2022	8 to 10 November	Published festival dates
2026	26 to 28 October	One trekking operator's festival page. The same dates are not confirmed by Tengboche Monastery, the Nepal Tourism Board or any official calendar.
2027	I do not have a source	I will not guess

So treat 26 to 28 October 2026 as likely, not confirmed. The gap between the 2022 and 2026 dates is 13 days, which shows how much the date can move. As I write on 4 October 2026, the date given for this year is 22 days away. If you want to plan around it, message me and I will try to confirm it with the monastery side before you commit to anything, though I cannot promise an answer.

How many days does it last and what happens?

It is a 19-day festival and includes a series of thirteen acts of ceremony, dance and drama. Both the 2022 dates and the 2026 dates on the operator page span three days, and three days is what a trekker should plan for. There is no sourced day-by-day timetable, so I won't tell you which ritual falls on which day or at what hour.

The operator page lists the parts of the festival as a sand mandala, the creation of Buddha imagery through meditation, Wong (an empowerment ceremony), Chham (masked dances), Ser-Kyem (offerings) and a fire puja called Jinsak. It describes monks in brocade gowns and painted paper-mâché masks, and says hundreds of locals and foreign visitors attend.

Cham dance is performed by Buddhist monks in masks and costumes, is considered a form of meditation and an offering to the gods, and is held to bring merit to all who see it. That is worth keeping in mind. For the monks this is worship. For you it is a rare chance to watch it, and the right way to watch is quietly.

Where on the Everest trail can you see it?

The three main venues are the monasteries of Tengboche, Thame and Chiwong, all in the Solukhumbu area. Only Tengboche is on our Everest Base Camp route. Thame is famous for its annual Mani Rimdu festival, but we have no source for when Thame holds it, so I give no date. Our Thame guide covers the village, which lies off the base camp route. I know nothing reliable about Chiwong beyond its name.

Tengboche is the place most trekkers can reach in a normal base camp itinerary. Our Tengboche guide covers the monastery, the climb from Phunki Tenga at 3,250 metres and what the village offers.

How does the festival fit our 12-day Everest Base Camp itinerary?

Our 12-day Everest Base Camp trek sleeps in Tengboche once, on day 4. These figures come from our itinerary.

Day	Route	Sleep	Walking
1	Fly to Lukla (2,860 m), walk to Phakding	2,610 m	3 hours
2	Phakding to Namche Bazaar	3,440 m	6 to 7 hours
3	Acclimatisation at Namche	3,440 m	2 to 3 hours
4	Namche to Tengboche, 10 km	3,860 m	5 to 6 hours
5	Tengboche to Dingboche, 11 km	4,410 m	5 to 6 hours
9	Kala Patthar at sunrise, then down to Pangboche	3,985 m	7 to 8 hours
10	Pangboche to Namche, 13.5 km, passing Tengboche	3,440 m	6 to 7 hours

Our itinerary says the monastery is open to visitors in the morning and late afternoon, and that you take your shoes off before going in. Tengboche's height is given as 3,860 metres in our itinerary, 3,867 metres in some sources and 3,857 metres in the weather record I use below. I use 3,860 for our own plan.

Here is the practical consequence. On the standard plan you arrive in Tengboche in the afternoon of day 4 and leave on day 5. If the festival runs 26 to 28 October, and you want to arrive on its first day, you would fly to Lukla on 23 October, the last day of the government's Dashain holiday. If you want the last day, you would fly on 25 October. We don't know what time of day the dances happen, so we can't promise that one night in Tengboche catches them. If the festival is the reason for your trip, I would rather add a night at Tengboche than rush. That changes the cost, and lodging is not guaranteed until we have checked, so ask me and I will quote it for your dates.

Please do not shorten the Namche acclimatisation day to hit a festival date. Tengboche is almost 600 metres above Phunki Tenga and day 3 is there for a reason. Our day-by-day itinerary guide sets out every day. I have no fixed festival departure to offer you. Contact us and we will arrange the trek for your dates.

What about Lukla flights, Manthali, Dashain and Tihar?

October and November sit inside the Manthali (Ramechhap) flight window, about 15 March to 15 May and 25 September to 30 November. In that window your pick-up is between midnight and 2 am, and the flight to Lukla takes about 20 minutes, against about 40 minutes from Kathmandu in other months. Our Manthali guide and domestic flights guide explain it. Our Luxury package uses a round-trip helicopter to Lukla instead, so it does not use Manthali.

Lukla's airstrip is short and steep, with hazardous weather, at an altitude of 2,860 metres. Delays happen. Our autumn guide tells you to leave a spare day at the end of the trek for that reason.

The bigger planning issue is the holidays around it. According to the Nepal government holiday notice and the Nepali calendar, which we used in our guides, Dashain 2026 runs 11 to 25 October with offices closed 17 to 23 October, and Tihar runs 7 to 11 November with offices closed 8 to 12 November. Our Dashain 2026 guide says return journeys start on 22 and 23 October, and our autumn guide says domestic flights are heavily booked around these days. We have not checked seat availability for 23 to 25 October, so I can't tell you a flight is easy to get. Our Tihar 2026 guide covers the later holiday, which falls after the festival dates.

Will it be crowded, and what is the weather like?

There is no published bed count for Tengboche, so I can't give you a figure. The monastery gets about 15,000 visitors a year and, in peak season, about 600 a week, though the count carries no date. Our autumn guide says lodges above Namche fill by early afternoon in October. A festival in that same week makes rooms at Tengboche harder, not easier. If you want the festival, tell us when you book so we can ask the lodges early. I cannot promise a room, and you should expect a lot of people at the monastery. For crowds in general see our guide to avoiding crowds.

Weather at Tengboche, from the record in our autumn guide (FAO and Australian National University):

Month	Average high / low	Rain
October	12.0 / -1.7 degrees Celsius	72.1 mm
November	8.1 / -6.9 degrees Celsius	3.0 mm

Late October sits between the two. Bring a warm layer for standing in a courtyard, because our festivals guide places the dances in the monastery courtyard and you will be standing still for a long time. The average lows are below freezing in both months.

How should you behave and take photographs?

Our itinerary and day-by-day guide give the basics: take your shoes off before entering the monastery, and be quiet if a prayer service is on. Our Tengboche guide adds that if a ceremony is on when you arrive, you should sit quietly at the back. Beyond that, this is what I tell guests, and it is my advice, not a published Tengboche rule:

• Walk clockwise around mani walls and chortens. Buddhist custom is to pass these walls in the clockwise direction. If your guide corrects you, follow your guide.
• Do not walk into the dance area or stand in front of other people's view.
• Ask your guide before photographing monks or anyone in a prayer hall. Keep flash off. There is no published photography rule for the festival, so ask on the day.
• Do not touch masks, robes or offerings.
• Do not clap or call out as if it were a show.

Our prayer flags and mani walls guide and our festivals guide cover the wider etiquette.

When should you not plan your trek around Mani Rimdu?

Skip it as a reason to travel if you cannot move your dates, because the date is not confirmed and could shift. Skip it if you want empty trails: you will share the courtyard and the lodges with a crowd. Skip it if you are tight on days, because an extra night is the honest way to see it and we do not want you cutting acclimatisation to fit. And skip it if you are hoping for a polished show. It is a religious ceremony, it runs on the monks' schedule, and some of it you may not understand without a guide to explain.

If you would still like to go, treat it as a bonus on a trek you would do anyway.

What does it cost and how do you ask about dates?

The 12-day Everest Base Camp trek is USD 1,399 Budget, USD 2,499 Standard and USD 4,999 Luxury per person, from one traveller up to groups of 20, with the same price for private and group travel and discounts by group size only. Budget has no porter, shared rooms and no meals. Standard has all meals, private rooms and one porter for every two trekkers, so a solo trekker on Standard has the guide carry up to 10 kg. Luxury has a dedicated porter, private deluxe ensuite rooms, all meals with extras and the round-trip helicopter to Lukla. On a solo Everest trek the guide joins you from Lukla, so there is no single supplement. Kathmandu hotels are not included in any trek tier. An added night at Tengboche is not in those prices.

The permits are included: TIMS NPR 2,000, the Khumbu local fee NPR 3,000 and the Sagarmatha National Park fee NPR 3,000, NPR 8,000 in total. A licensed guide and agency-issued TIMS card are required on most trekking routes under the Nepal Tourism Board rule from 31 March 2023; the Everest (Khumbu) region does not enforce it locally, but we always trek with a licensed guide. Permits need at least 48 hours in government working days, so send your passport details early.

The deposit is 10 per cent. You pay the rest in Kathmandu in US dollar cash or by card, and card payments carry a 3.5 per cent charge. We cannot take Nepali rupees from foreign guests. Plans change? You can reschedule free with at least 72 hours' notice to any date within a year. The deposit itself is not refunded if you cancel. If we cannot run the trip, we refund what you paid less taxes, bank and card charges and money already spent. Please buy travel insurance at home that covers emergency helicopter rescue; our insurance guide explains what to check.

The short version

Mani Rimdu is a three-day public festival at Tengboche, usually in October or November, set by the Tibetan lunar calendar. One operator gives 26 to 28 October 2026 and it is not confirmed by Tengboche, so treat it as likely, not certain. Our day 4 night is the only one we spend in Tengboche, so catching it means choosing your flight date around it or adding a night. Rooms, flights and the Dashain return will all be tight, and nobody should shorten acclimatisation for it. If you want to plan around it, or you want me to check the dates before you book, message me on WhatsApp on +977 9810351300.

Written by Shreejan Simkhada, CEO of The Everest Holiday, from a family of three generations of family guides. TAAN Member #1586.