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Arunachal Pradesh · Lower Subansiri

Ziro Festival of Music Tour

Four days of music on bamboo stages built in a working paddy field, hosted by the Apatani in one of the most striking valleys in the eastern Himalaya.

Dates
23 – 28 September 2026
Duration
5 days / 5 nights
Tour type
Group tour
Starts from
Guwahati
Vehicle
Force Urbania
Permit
Inner Line Permit
Highest point
5,020 ft
Difficulty
Easy
A crowd seated on the grass before a bamboo stage in the Ziro paddy fields during the music festival

Day by day

  1. 23 September

    Guwahati, and the overnight road north

    Pickup at 6:00 pm from Guwahati Airport, and straight onto the road. The drive to Ziro runs through the night, so the first morning of the festival is not spent travelling.

  2. Day 1

    24 September

    Into Ziro, and the opening ceremony

    Arrive into the valley and check in to the campsite early, with time to settle before anything begins.

    The opening ceremony takes the day, and everyone will be at the ground for it.

    Back at camp, a bonfire and a jam that runs from the evening until late.

  3. Day 2

    25 September

    Ziro sightseeing, then the festival ground

    The full round of Ziro sightseeing through the day.

    Festival ground from the evening through the night, and late-night jamming back at the campsite afterwards.

    • A group gathered round a tasting counter at a Ziro winery, bottles in front of them and steel fermentation tanks behind
      At the winery
    • A traveller wearing a traditional feathered coat and holding a dao, traditional stringed instruments on the wall behind him
      Traditional dress, and a dao

  4. Day 3

    26 September

    Fishing and the harvest — the best day of the trip

    Out for fishing and local harvesting practice: hands on it yourself, learning how it is actually done here rather than watching from the side.

    Festival ground from the evening through the night, and late-night jamming back at the campsite afterwards.

    • A traveller standing in a flooded paddy field holding up the fish he has just caught, mountains behind
      What he caught, in the paddy

  5. Day 4

    27 September

    The villages, and lunch at our guide's home

    The rest of the sightseeing in the morning, then a village tour.

    Traditional lunch at our local guide's home, cooked and hosted by their family.

    Festival ground from the evening through the night, and late-night jamming back at the campsite afterwards.

    • The whole group with a village elder outside a bamboo-walled house in Ziro
      The village walk
    • Travellers with a group of village children in traditional Apatani dress, bamboo fence behind them
      The children of the village

  6. 28 September

    Pack up, and the road back to Guwahati

    Camp is packed up and we leave for Guwahati between 7:00 and 8:00 am. Drop-off in Guwahati between 5:00 and 8:00 pm.

Good to know

The questions we get about this one

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23 – 28 September 2026, and the seats are counted

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