Festival of lights
Diwali 2026: Sunday, 8 November 2026
Dates and venues checked against the organisers’ own pages on .
Diwali 2026 in the UAE is on Sunday, 8 November 2026. The biggest public celebrations are Dubai’s citywide Festival of Lights, 2–12 November and Noor: Festival of Lights at Souk Al Seef, 6–8 November.
Diwali is not a public holiday in the UAE, but Dubai keeps it as a city festival. Its Festival of Lights runs citywide from 2 to 12 November 2026 with cultural events, fireworks and Diwali shopping deals, and its anchor is Noor: Festival of Lights at Souk Al Seef on the Creek (6–8 November), produced by Teamwork Arts with Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment and the Consulate General of India — processions, music, comedy and fireworks. Global Village, opening its season on 14 October, has kept Diwali in past years with a mela and fireworks at its India Pavilion. Diwali itself is Sunday 8 November, a weekend day.
The day itself is the temples’: in Dubai, the Hindu Temple in Jebel Ali’s Worship Village and Shreenathji Haveli, the Krishna temple that stayed in Bur Dubai when the old Shiv Mandir closed in January 2024; in Abu Dhabi, the BAPS Hindu Mandir at Abu Mureikhah, where Diwali and the Annakut after it drew over sixty thousand in 2025 and every visitor must register online first. Dhanteras, Friday 6 November, fills the Deira Gold Souk and Bur Dubai’s Meena Bazaar. Fireworks count as licensed explosives under Federal Decree-Law No. 17 of 2019, so homes are lit with diyas and the fireworks are the public shows’ own.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 2–12 November | Diwali in Dubai — Festival of Lights | Citywide, Dubai |
| 6–8 November | Noor: Festival of Lights | Souk Al Seef, on Dubai Creek, Bur Dubai |
| Sunday, 8 November | Diwali itself | Homes, temples and community dinners across the country |
Friday, 6 November
Dhanteras
Saturday, 7 November
Naraka Chaturdashi (Choti Diwali)
Sunday, 8 November
Diwali — Lakshmi Puja
Monday, 9 November
Govardhan Puja and Annakut
Tuesday, 10 November
Bhai Dooj
Dubai’s official Diwali season on the city’s events calendar: traditional cultural events and fireworks displays across the city, shopping deals on Diwali buys and prize draws, with Noor: Festival of Lights at Souk Al Seef as its anchor festival.
Visit Dubai ↗The third edition of the festival that anchors Dubai’s Diwali, produced by Teamwork Arts with Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment and the Consulate General of India: processions, storytelling, dance, live music, conversations, stand-up comedy, rangoli and drumming workshops, and a choreographed fireworks display. In 2025 entry was free with online registration, and the fireworks went up by the Creek at 9.05pm on the opening night.
Noor: Festival of Lights ↗The park of world pavilions keeps Diwali around its India Pavilion: a Diwali mela with rangoli, performances on the Main Stage, stalls of décor, clothes and jewellery, and fireworks over the park. Entry is with a Global Village ticket.
Global Village ↗The first traditional stone Hindu temple in the Middle East, opened in February 2024, keeps Diwali with an evening puja and then Annakut, hundreds of vegetarian dishes offered before the deities — in 2025 shaped into the Burj Khalifa, the Louvre Abu Dhabi and an Emirates aircraft. More than sixty thousand came over that Diwali week. Every visitor must book a slot on mandir.ae, only once in the UAE, and bring an Emirates ID or passport.
BAPS Hindu Mandir Abu Dhabi ↗Dubai’s Festival of Lights runs citywide from 2 to 12 November 2026, and its centre is Noor: Festival of Lights at Souk Al Seef on the Creek (6–8 November), with processions, music and fireworks. Global Village, open from 14 October, keeps Diwali at its India Pavilion; the Deira Gold Souk and Bur Dubai’s Meena Bazaar fill for Dhanteras on Friday 6 November; and on Diwali itself, Sunday 8 November, the crowds are at the Hindu Temple in Jebel Ali and Shreenathji Haveli in Bur Dubai.
Abu Dhabi’s Diwali is the BAPS Hindu Mandir’s, at Abu Mureikhah off the E11 towards Dubai: in 2025 its Diwali and Maha Annakut drew more than sixty thousand people over a week. Diwali 2026 is Sunday 8 November, a day the mandir is open; its puja and Annakut days are posted on mandir.ae nearer the date. Every visitor must register online beforehand and bring an Emirates ID or passport, and no food, drink or flowers go past the gate.
Sharjah keeps Diwali at home, in its schools and in its shops: the gold souq and the Indian grocers of Abu Shagara are busiest in the week of Dhanteras (Friday 6 November 2026), and Indian-curriculum schools set their own breaks — DPS Sharjah added two days in 2025 with the Sharjah Private Education Authority’s permission. For darshan and fireworks, families from Sharjah and Ajman drive to Dubai: Shreenathji Haveli in Bur Dubai, the Jebel Ali temple and Noor at Al Seef (6–8 November).
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The biggest night of the Indian year: lamps, sweets, new clothes and fireworks. Abroad it is celebrated over the surrounding weekends, with one large public event in most big cities.
Diwali marks the return of Rama to Ayodhya and the victory of light over darkness; for many families it is also the day of Lakshmi Puja and the start of a new business year. Homes are cleaned and lit with diyas, sweets are exchanged, and the evening ends with fireworks.
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