Royal Enfield's Himalayan Cultural Festival returns to Delhi, Dec 3-9, with 100-plus events
The third edition of the festival will be held at Travancore Palace in New Delhi with over 100 programmes across art, music, food and craft.
Royal Enfield Social Mission is bringing a seven day cultural festival titled "Journeying Across The Himalayas 2026" this year. The third edition will be held from December 3 to December 9, 2026 at Travancore Palace in New Delhi. The festival aims to give people a close look at Himalayan art, music, food, films, crafts and the lives of local communities there.
This year the scope of the festival has been kept much bigger than last year. There will be more than 100 programmes in all, including more than 25 art exhibitions and installations, more than 20 live music performances, more than 20 food related events and more than 50 workshops and conversation sessions. The "Himalayan Bazaar" will also be a special attraction this time, featuring more than 45 brands and craft collectives from the Himalayan region.
The festival also gives an important place to art and the stories of local communities. Gautam Pandey's project "Before Time" will showcase Ladakh's old rock art. Meanwhile, a virtual reality experience called "Into the Himalayas" will take people on a tour of the snow leopard's habitat. "The Gaddi Suitcase" will showcase the traditions of the Gaddi and Bhangali shepherd communities through music, miniature art and Kangra folk music.
For music lovers, there will be performances by artists such as Taba Chake, Raman Negi and Aabha Hanjura. For food lovers, the "Chouka Courtyard" will offer a chance to taste dishes and tea traditions from Kalimpong, Assam, Sikkim, Shillong, Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh.
The theme of this year's festival is "Becoming," which will shed light on the changes taking place in Himalayan communities due to climate change, migration, shifting terrain and new technology. There will be daily film screenings, curated through the Dharamshala International Film Festival's "DIFF On the Road" programme.
More than 11,000 people attended the 2025 edition of the festival, and people from more than 50 Himalayan communities took part in it. Royal Enfield Social Mission aims to work with 100 Himalayan communities by 2030. The festival, in other words, is not limited to entertainment alone, but is also emerging as a platform to understand the culture, environment and local life of the Himalayas.
