Diwali 2026 at Hindu Temples in Dubai, Abu Dhabi: What's Happening This Year

Diwali at Hindu Temples in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 2026

This guide covers four places of worship. It starts with the carved stone mandir in Abu Dhabi, then moves to Dubai for two temples and the Sikh gurudwara. For each one, you get what happens on which day, the timings, booking and how to get there. At the end, you will find the answer for Sharjah.

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Diwali at the Hindu Temple in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi has one public Hindu temple, BAPS Hindu Mandir. It is also the only temple in the UAE where every visitor must book.

1. Celebrate Diwali and Annakut at BAPS Hindu Mandir, Abu Dhabi

The mandir is carved from stone and stands at Abu Mureikhah, on the motorway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Diwali is its biggest week of the year. This is how the five days will unfold.

• Dhanteras, Friday 6 November. The Dhan Puja is a prayer to Lakshmi for wealth and health. This year it will be online only, so families will join from home. It will end at 10pm. The mandir's own pages give two different start times, so check our BAPS Mandir Diwali guide for when to be ready and how to join.

• Diwali, Sunday 8 November. The mandir will be open for darshan from 9am to 9pm. Darshan means seeing the deities and praying before them. The Diwali Puja will run from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Families can bring their office ledgers and account books to be blessed for the year ahead. A place costs AED 251 for up to four family members, and you book it on the mandir's Diwali page.

• Maha Annakut, Sunday 8 to Tuesday 10 November. Annakut means "a mountain of food". Hundreds of vegetarian dishes will be laid out before the deities, and this year the display has a theme of sacred birds carrying the offerings. You can see it from 9am to 8pm. The mandir will even open on Monday 9 November, a day it is normally closed. Families can also offer an Annakut thali, a plate of food, from AED 251.

• Hindu New Year, Tuesday 10 November. Families will come for New Year's darshan from 9am to 8pm. The Annakut will still be on display.

Booking. Every visitor needs a free visit booking on mandir.ae or the Mandir Abu Dhabi app. A puja or thali booking does not count, so make both. Bring an Emirates ID or passport. Food and bags are not allowed inside, and that includes prasad, the blessed food many families bring. There is a cloakroom for your things.

Last year, more than 60,000 people came over the Diwali week. The Annakut was built as seven sacred trees of food, one in front of each shrine. You can see it in the mandir's own film:

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Diwali at Hindu Temples in Dubai

Dubai has two Hindu temples open to the public. One is the large temple in Jebel Ali. The other is the small Krishna temple in old Bur Dubai. The Sikh gurudwara next to the Jebel Ali temple celebrates on the same nights, so we have included it too.

2. Celebrate Diwali and Annakut at Hindu Temple Dubai, Jebel Ali

This is where most Hindu families in Dubai go on Diwali night. The temple opened in 2022. It has 16 deities, with Lord Shiva at the centre. Its Diwali festival, called Deepawali Utsav, will run from 6 to 10 November. Every day will have aartis, short prayers in which lamps are waved before the deities.

Dhanteras, Friday 6 November. The first day will have four prayers:

• 7am to 9am: a Dhanvantari Pooja and Havan, a fire ritual on the terrace for the god of health
• 10.30am: the Shree Suktam, a hymn to Lakshmi recited together
• 4.30pm: an abhishekam, when the deities are bathed with milk and water
• 6pm to 6.45pm: the Lakshmi Kuber Poojan and aarti, the main prayer of the day

Choti Diwali, Saturday 7 November. This will be a quieter day. There will be Lakshmi aarti at 7.30am and 6.30pm, and the Shree Suktam at 10.30am.

Diwali, Sunday 8 November. This is the main day, and it will build up to the evening:

• 7.30am and 11.30am: Lakshmi aarti
• 10.30am: a talk on the meaning of Diwali
• 5.30pm: Lakshmi prayers begin
• 6pm to 7pm: the Lakshmi Kuber Poojan and aarti, the biggest prayer of the festival

Darsha Amavasya, Monday 9 November. This is the new-moon day after Diwali. There will be Lakshmi aarti at 7.30am and 6.30pm, and the Shree Suktam at 10.30am.

Govardhan Puja and Annakut, Tuesday 10 November. This day honours Krishna, and the temple will fill with food offered to him:

• 9am: Krishna aarti
• 10.30am: the Govardhan and Annakut Pooja
• 11.30am to 6pm: Annakut darshan, when you can see the offering
• 6pm: the Annakut aarti, which closes the festival

Diwali night gets very crowded here. Last year about 20,000 people came on Diwali day, and the temple ran separate queues for families and for single men. This year it warns that entry and seating may be limited when crowds are large. Go in the morning if you can. Our guide to Hindu Temple Dubai on Diwali has the full timings, crowd tips and transport.

3. Celebrate Diwali at the Shri Krishna Temple, Bur Dubai

The Krishna temple has not announced a Diwali 2026 schedule. It did not publish one last year either. This is what we know about Diwali there.

Is it open? Yes. The temple is also called Shrinathji Haveli. It is the last temple left in the old temple lane of Bur Dubai, behind the Grand Mosque. It closed for a week in April 2026 on safety instructions, and it reopened for regular darshan on 11 April 2026.

Darshan times. The doors open for short windows through the day:

• Mangla: from 6.30am, the first darshan of the morning
• Shringar: 8.30am, once the deity has been dressed for the day
• Rajbhog: 10.15am, after the main food offering
• Utthapan: 5pm, when the deity wakes from the afternoon rest
• Sandhya: 6pm to 7.30pm, with the evening aarti at about 7.15pm

Prasad is usually handed out as you leave. Times change on festival days, so call first.

At Diwali. The temple is set inside the rooms of an old building. It is small, and it fills up fast. Before the Shiva temple next door moved to Jebel Ali, tens of thousands of people came to this complex on Diwali. Go early in the morning, while the lane is still quiet.

The Shiva temple next to it is closed. The old Sindhi Guru Darbar complex shut on 3 January 2024. It held a Shiva temple and a gurudwara, and its deities moved to the Jebel Ali temple. Many people who search for "the Bur Dubai temple" mean the Shiva temple, so check which one you want.

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4. Celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas at Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara, Jebel Ali

The gurudwara has not announced its Diwali 2026 programme yet. This is what happened there last year.

Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas at Diwali. It marks the day Guru Hargobind was freed from Gwalior Fort, and he brought 52 princes out with him. The gurudwara publishes a new programme each month, so watch for the November one.

Diwali day, Monday 20 October 2025. The gurudwara held special prayers. It served langar, the free community meal, all day, not only at the usual three meal times. About 25,000 people came for prayers and langar. The kitchen stocked:

• 1,000kg of flour
• 800kg of rice
• 600kg of lentils
• 200kg each of kheer (rice pudding), halwa (a soft sweet) and karah prasad, the sweet offering given at every gurudwara

In the evening, the gurudwara gave the food that was left to workers.

Bandi Chhor Divas, Tuesday 21 October 2025. An Akhand Path began at 10am. This is a non-stop reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, from start to end. The highlight of the day was a special langar of halwa and kheer, and more than 35,000 people were expected.

Thursday 23 October 2025. The Akhand Path ended with its bhog, the closing prayer, at 10am. It fell on the same day as the Gurgaddi Purab of the Guru Granth Sahib, the day the holy book became the Guru.

Kirtan and hours. Kirtan is the singing of hymns, and it went on through the festival. Bhai Jagtar Singh Ji (Rajpura), of Darbar Sahib in Amritsar, led it. The gurudwara was open from 4.30am to 8.30pm, with evening kirtan and aarti from 7pm.

This year the gurudwara is again open from 4.30am to 8.30pm. Bhai Jatinder Pal Singh Ji, a ragi (hymn singer) from Darbar Sahib, will sing kirtan from 31 October to 29 November. The gurudwara and the temple share one complex and one car park. Parking on Sunday 8 November will be very hard, so come by Metro and taxi.

Is There a Hindu Temple in Sharjah?

No. There is no Hindu temple open to the public in Sharjah. Hindu families in Sharjah celebrate Diwali at home and through community groups such as the Indian Association. When they want to pray at a temple, they go to Dubai.

The nearest is the Krishna temple in Bur Dubai. It is about 30 to 45 minutes away by car, outside rush hour. The Jebel Ali temple is further, but it has more space and its own Annakut on Tuesday 10 November. On Diwali night, leave early. The roads from Sharjah into Dubai are slow in the evening.

Before You Visit a Hindu Temple on Diwali

Every temple asks for modest clothes, with your shoulders and knees covered. You also take off your shoes before the prayer hall. Indian festive clothes are welcome, and you will see plenty of them at Diwali. At BAPS the rules are written down and strict. Shorts, sleeveless tops and tight or see-through clothes are not allowed.

BAPS is also strict about what you carry. You cannot bring food, drinks, prasad, flowers or bags inside, so leave them in the car or the cloakroom. The Dubai temples have no written list. Even so, it is easier to carry very little in a Diwali crowd.

Going with children or older parents? Mornings are the calmest time. Tuesday 10 November is also a good choice, because the Jebel Ali Annakut is on display all day. Diwali night, Sunday 8 November, is the most beautiful time to go. It is also the most crowded. For family outings beyond the temples, see our guide to Diwali events for kids in Dubai.