The three seasons of Bundelkhand
The cool, dry season: runs from about October to March, and it is the season for Khajuraho. Days are warm and sunny, often in the mid to high twenties in December and January.
Winter nights: cool to cold, sometimes dropping to single figures.
Misty mornings: the mist burning off the spires at dawn is one of the loveliest sights here.
- Cool and dry
- About October to March
- Hot
- April to June, often above 40°C
- Monsoon
- Late June or early July to about end of September
- Winter days
- Mid to high twenties
- Winter nights
- Cool to cold, sometimes single figures
- Panna core
- Closed for the monsoon
- Why winter wins: the temples are most comfortable to walk, the forest at Panna is open, and the dance festival fills the town in February.
- The heat builds from March: quickly. April is hot, and May and June are very hot, often well above 40°C by midday, with hot, dusty winds.
- Hot stone: the sandstone soaks up the heat, and walking the platforms after mid-morning is hard work.
- The summer upside: the forest at Panna thins out and animals gather at water, so tiger sightings are often at their best, and hotels are quiet.
- The monsoon: usually arrives in late June or early July and lasts until about the end of September.
- Greener than the desert: Khajuraho receives far more rain than Kutch or western Rajasthan, and the whole of Bundelkhand turns green.
- Monsoon rewards: Raneh Falls and the Ken gorge are at their most dramatic, and the temples, washed clean, glow against dark skies.
- Monsoon costs: Panna's core zone closes, roads can be muddy and some days are simply wet. It is a beautiful season for those who know what to expect.
- Compared with Rajasthan: a little greener and a little wetter. Winters are similar, with cold nights and bright days, and the summer is just as fierce as ours in Jaipur.
- Easy to combine: if you are travelling through Rajasthan between October and March, Khajuraho will feel familiar, and it fits easily into the same journey.
Khajuraho, month by month
- Our favourite
- February
- Busiest
- February, for the dance festival
- Coolest
- January
- Hottest
- May, near or above 45°C at midday
- Wettest
- August, usually
- Season opens
- October
January, misty mornings and cold nights
Weather: the coolest month, with pleasant, sunny days and cold nights and dawns.
Dawn at the Western Group: often begins in a soft mist, which lifts to reveal the spires in golden light.
- Temples and forest: a superb month for the temples and a good one for Panna, though a dawn jeep drive is genuinely cold.
- Pack: a warm jacket, hat and gloves for the jeep.
- Flights: fog in north India can delay morning flights at this time of year, so we leave a buffer before any tight connection.
- Makar Sankranti, 14 January: marked with holy dips in rivers and sesame sweets across the region.
February, the dance festival
Our favourite month: the cold has softened and the light is clear.
The dance festival: in the second half of the month, India's great classical dancers come to an open-air stage before the Western Group for about a week.
- On stage: Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Manipuri and Kathakali are performed each evening, with the floodlit temples behind.
- Mahashivratri: often falls in February or early March, when pilgrims crowd the Matangeshwar temple to celebrate the marriage of Shiva and Parvati and a great fair fills the lanes.
- Panna: the forest is beginning to dry, and sightings improve.
- Book well ahead: this is the busiest month of the year.
March, Holi and the turn of the season
Weather: starts pleasant and ends hot, climbing into the mid-thirties by the end of the month.
For the temples: the first half is still excellent, especially at dawn and dusk.
- Holi: the festival of colours usually falls in March, and in the villages of Bundelkhand it is celebrated with bonfires, songs and colour.
- Panna: the leaves are falling, the grass is dry and the water is shrinking to a few pools, which makes March and April among the best months for tigers.
- For wildlife lovers: if wildlife matters most, this is a good time to come.
April, the forest's best and the town's quietest
Weather: hot, often in the high thirties or low forties by afternoon, and the temple platforms heat up quickly.
Our rhythm: temple visits in the first hour after opening and the last hour before closing, with long rests in between.
- The reward: Panna is at its best for sightings, and the hotels and lodges are quiet.
- Ram Navami: the birthday of Rama usually falls in spring.
- Mahavir Jayanti: the birthday of the last Jain tirthankara, also usually in spring. The Jain temples of the Eastern Group are especially lively for it, with processions and prayers.
May, very hot
Weather: one of the hottest months, with midday temperatures that can approach or pass 45°C, and hot winds.
Our advice: we don't recommend it for most travellers.
- What is good: the temples almost to yourself at dawn, and excellent tiger sightings at Panna's waterholes for those willing to sit through the heat.
- In the markets: the first mangoes.
- Hotels: the town's hotels will be glad to see you.
- What is hard: everything between ten in the morning and five in the afternoon.
- If you come: carry water everywhere and rest in the middle of the day.
June, heat and the coming rain
If the monsoon arrives early, the first storm is an event. The air smells of wet earth, the temperature drops in an hour, and people come out into the lanes to feel the rain. We have watched it from a hotel veranda in Khajuraho and it was unforgettable, but it is not something you can plan around.
- Weather: June begins as hot as May, and then the humidity rises as the monsoon approaches.
- Panna: the core zone closes at the end of the month for the rains, and lodges wind down. Until then, sightings can still be very good.
- Who it suits: determined wildlife enthusiasts rather than a first visit to the temples.
July, the first green
The first green: the rains arrive in late June or July, and within days the brown land turns green.
The temples: washed clean, wonderful against dark skies, and with very few visitors.
- What is hard: high humidity, sudden showers and the closed forest, as Panna's core zone is shut.
- Still open: the buffer zones and the Ken River country remain beautiful for walks between showers.
- Pack and plan: an umbrella for the temple garden, and indoor afternoons at the museums.
August, waterfalls and ballads
Weather: usually the wettest month, and the countryside is a deep green.
Waterfalls: Raneh Falls and the waterfalls of the Panna plateau are at their most dramatic.
- The Alha Khand: in the villages of Bundelkhand, the monsoon is the season of the Alha Khand, the ballad of the Chandela heroes Alha and Udal, sung by village bards.
- Festivals: Raksha Bandhan and Janmashtami are celebrated in homes and temples.
- Who it suits: a lovely, quiet month for travellers who don't mind rain.
September, the rains fade
Weather: still humid, with rain tapering off towards the end of the month and the skies clearing for longer.
The landscape: at its greenest, with the fields full of crops.
- Paryushan: Jain families observe their festival of fasting and forgiveness around this time, and the Jain temples of the Eastern Group fill with worshippers.
- A shoulder month: good for the temples, though the forest's core zone is still closed.
- Late September: a quiet treat. The falls at Raneh are still flowing, and you will share the temples with very few people.
- Hotels: quiet and welcoming before the season begins.
October, the season opens
Weather: days are warm, in the low thirties at first and cooling through the month, and the monsoon green is still fresh.
Panna reopens: the core zone reopens in October, though the grass is tall and sightings are harder early in the season.
- Festivals: Navratri and Dussehra fill the towns with music and processions, and in some years Diwali falls at the end of the month.
- Crowds: a very good month, with fewer visitors than winter.
- For the temples at their freshest: early October, with the countryside still green from the rains and the sky clear.
- For the forest: wait until later in the month or, better still, until the dry season gets under way.
November, Diwali and the Diwari dancers
Weather: excellent. Dry, sunny and pleasantly warm by day, cooling at night.
Diwali: the festival of lights falls in October or November.
- The Diwari dance: in Bundelkhand, Diwali brings the Diwari, a vigorous folk dance performed by herding communities with sticks, drums and great energy.
- The temple garden: lovely in the soft light.
- Panna: the forest grows easier as the grass dries.
December, cool, clear and busy
Weather: cool and clear, with pleasant days and cold nights.
The light: the temples are beautiful in the low winter light, and Panna's forest is green and quiet.
- Crowds: popular, especially from Christmas to New Year, when the hotels fill and many Indian families are on holiday.
- Book early: for the holiday week, as the best hotels fill first.
- For calm: come in the first three weeks, when the weather is just as good and the holiday crowds have not yet arrived.
- Pack and plan: warm layers for dawn and dusk, and allow for fog delays on morning flights later in the month.
The Khajuraho Dance Festival
Who runs it: the Madhya Pradesh Kala Parishad, the state's cultural council, every year since 1975.
When: about a week in the second half of February. In recent years it has run from around the twentieth to the twenty-sixth, though the dates are announced each year.
- Held since
- 1975, every year
- Organiser
- Madhya Pradesh Kala Parishad
- When
- About a week, second half of February
- Recent dates
- Around the 20th to the 26th
- Stage
- Before the Chitragupta and Vishvanatha temples
- Evenings
- Cool, bring a shawl
- The stage: open-air, in front of the Chitragupta and Vishvanatha temples in the Western Group, with the temples floodlit behind the dancers.
- The programme: leading performers of Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Kathakali and other classical forms, one evening after another.
- By day: often a programme of exhibitions and talks.
- Bring a shawl: evenings in late February are cool.
- How we plan it: the town fills up, so we book rooms many months ahead and arrange cars to bring you back to your hotel after the performances.
- Where to stay: our luxury hotels in Khajuraho page explains where to stay for it.
When to see Panna's tigers
October and November: the forest is green and dense, the grass is tall and tigers are hard to see, though the scenery is at its best.
December to February: the forest begins to dry, sightings improve, and the cool weather makes long jeep drives a pleasure.
- Core zone
- Opens October, closes end of June
- Monsoon
- Core closed July to September
- Best sightings
- March to June
- Best balance
- February to early April
- Whole forest
- November to February
- March to June: the leaves fall, water shrinks to a few pools and animals gather at them, so sightings are usually at their best. But the heat is intense by midday.
- For comfort and sightings: we suggest February to early April.
- For the whole forest: its birds, its gorges and the Ken River, the cooler months from November to February are lovely.
- In the monsoon: from July to September the core zone is closed, though some buffer areas stay open.
- How we choose: our guide to tiger and leopard safaris explains how we choose zones and naturalists.
- Panna or Ranthambore: our journal piece on the best time for tigers compares the two.
Light on the temples through the year
Mornings: most of the temples face east, so the morning sun falls on their entrances and front walls.
Afternoons: the sun lights the backs of the sanctums.
- Most temples
- East
- Chitragupta
- East, dedicated to Surya
- Chaturbhuj
- West, in the Southern Group
- Best season
- Winter, clear skies and low sun
- Winter opening time: the light comes in low and gold across the Western Group, and the deep carving stands out in sharp relief.
- Late afternoon: the light softens and turns rose, and the spires glow against the sky.
- Chitragupta at sunrise: this temple to Surya faces east, and the first light reaches deep into its sanctum.
- Chaturbhuj at sunset: the temple in the Southern Group faces west, so the setting sun lights its image of Vishnu directly.
- In the monsoon: the stone darkens with rain and looks almost red against grey clouds, which photographers love.
- Shooting stone: our photography tips page has more on shooting stone in strong light.
Raneh Falls and the Ken through the year
The canyon: about twenty kilometres from Khajuraho, the Ken River has cut a deep canyon through crystalline granite.
In the monsoon: and for a few weeks after, water pours over the rock in dozens of falls, and the roar can be heard from the car park.
- Distance
- About 20 km from Khajuraho
- Rock
- Crystalline granite
- Fullest
- Monsoon and a few weeks after
- Our favourite
- October and November
- Driest
- March to June
- October and November: the flow is gentler, and pools of green water lie between the coloured rocks. We think this is the most beautiful time.
- March to June: the river shrinks to a thread and the canyon becomes a gallery of polished stone in bands of pink, red and grey.
- Boats in Panna: trips on the Ken inside Panna are possible in the dry season, when the water is calm.
- Gharials: the sandbanks of the Ken Gharial Sanctuary are easier to scan for basking crocodiles as the water drops.
- When the river runs high: in the monsoon the Ken runs high and brown, and boat trips stop.
Crowds, holidays and the quiet weeks
The busiest times: the dance festival in the second half of February, the Christmas and New Year week, and the Diwali holidays, when Indian families travel.
Long weekends: bring visitors from Delhi and the cities of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
- Busiest
- Dance festival, late February
- Also busy
- Christmas, New Year, Diwali holidays
- Long weekends
- Visitors from Delhi, MP and UP
- Quiet weeks
- Early November, mid-January, early March
- The upside of busy: the temples are lively and the town has a festive air.
- Finding quiet anyway: it is still easy if you are at the gate as it opens and stay out until the late afternoon.
- The quietest good weeks: early November, the middle of January and the first half of March.
- What they give you: pleasant weather, calm temples, and hotels with their best rooms free.
The right month for the right traveller
First-time visitors: November to February, for comfortable days, clear light and the forest open. Add the dance festival if your dates allow.
Art and dance lovers: the second half of February, for the dance festival, with the temples in the mornings and performances at night.
- Wildlife enthusiasts: February to April for the best balance of sightings and comfort, or May and June for the very best sightings if you can bear the heat.
- Photographers: winter for clear golden light and misty dawns, or the monsoon for green landscapes, dramatic skies and the falls at Raneh.
- Families: October to March, avoiding the dance festival week and the Christmas holidays if you want calm, with two nights by Panna for the children.
- Pilgrims: Mahashivratri at Matangeshwar in February or March, or Mahavir Jayanti and Paryushan at the Jain temples.
Travelling comfortably in the heat
Gate to mid-morning: be at the temple gate as it opens and leave by mid-morning. Return only for the last hour before closing.
Choose the pool: pick a hotel with a good pool and shade, and plan the afternoon around it.
- Water, always: drink water constantly, and carry oral rehydration salts. Our health and safety page has more advice.
- Socks on the platforms: shoes are removed there, and the stone becomes painfully hot.
- Safaris at the edges of the day: keep jeep drives in Panna to the early morning and late afternoon, and carry a wet scarf for your neck.
What to pack for Khajuraho
Covering cotton: light clothes that cover shoulders and knees, for the temples still in worship.
Slip-on shoes: you will take them off often. Add socks for hot stone platforms in the warmer months.
- Warm layers: a warm jacket, hat and gloves for dawn jeep drives in Panna from December to February.
- A scarf or light shawl: for covering your head in shrines and keeping off dust on the jeep.
- Sun protection: sunglasses, a hat and high-factor sunscreen. The sandstone reflects the sun strongly.
- Binoculars: for the carvings high on the spires and the birds of the Ken.
- For the monsoon: a light rain jacket and quick-drying shoes. Our packing guide has more.
Fitting Khajuraho into a longer journey
The natural order: between October and March, Khajuraho fits after Agra, by way of Orchha and Gwalior, and before Varanasi.
On to the Ganges: that is the shape of our Rajasthan and Varanasi journey.
- Twelve nights with the Bundelas: our Rajasthan, Orchha and Khajuraho journey adds the Bundela country to a classic Rajasthan route.
- If your Rajasthan month is fixed: our pages on Rajasthan in February and the best time to visit Rajasthan explain the season there.
- Once you have chosen your month: our Khajuraho itinerary shows how we pace one to four days.
