Durga Puja 2026 Kolkata Airport - Dates, Hotels, VIP Road Jams

Durga Puja is Kolkata’s biggest week of the year, and the airport’s peak starts before the city’s. In 2026 the main days run from 17 to 21 October, fares into Kolkata climb weeks ahead, the Rajarhat and New Town hotels fill with families and, on the evenings of the Puja, the Sreebhumi pandal at Lake Town turns VIP Road, the airport’s main approach, into a stationary line of cars. This guide covers the dates, the money and the roads, and why the new metro is the best thing to happen to Puja travellers in years. Written in September 2026.

The dates and the surge

Mahalaya on 10 October 2026 opens the season; Shashthi on 17 October, Saptami on the 18th, Ashtami on the 19th, Navami on the 20th and Vijayadashami on the 21st are the five days when the city stops working and starts walking between pandals. Airlines add capacity from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai and still sell out, with fares two to three times the September level in the week before Shashthi and the same on the way out after Dashami. Kali Puja and Diwali follow on 8 November 2026 with a smaller peak, and Christmas week on Park Street brings the year’s third. Book flights as soon as the dates are fixed and hotels at least six weeks ahead.

VIP Road and the Sreebhumi problem

VIP Road runs from Ultadanga to the airport and is the road every cab and bus uses. At Lake Town, halfway along, the Sreebhumi Sporting Club builds a pandal each year that has become one of the city’s biggest attractions, with themed replicas of world landmarks and crowds in the hundreds of thousands from the afternoon into the night. In recent years the police have closed lanes, diverted traffic and, in 2021, shut the pandal’s Burj Khalifa replica entirely to control the crush, and every year travellers miss flights sitting in the jam. From Saptami to Navami, treat any road journey between the city and the airport after 3 pm as two hours, and leave three hours before you would normally.

Take the metro

The Yellow Line from Jai Hind station, open since August 2025, changes the calculation: the line runs under the jam. From Esplanade or Park Street, take the Blue Line to Noapara and change for the airport, about 45 minutes and unaffected by the pandal crowds, with the last train from the city around 10 pm and from the airport around 9:18 pm. The airport to city guide has the details. For arrivals after the metro stops, the prepaid taxi counter still works, but the driver will route around Lake Town via Jessore Road or the Belghoria Expressway, and it will take as long as it takes.

Which hotels stay calm

The airport-area hotels are north and east of the city and away from the great pandals of North and South Kolkata, which makes them the quiet choice for a family flying in for Puja and out again. The Holiday Inn Express across from the terminal avoids the roads entirely. The Holiday Inn Kolkata Airport and Howard Johnson in Rajarhat are reached from the airport without touching VIP Road’s Lake Town stretch, as are the Westin, Novotel and Fairfield in New Town, where Puja is celebrated in the housing complexes and at the Eco Park end with smaller crowds. Rates rise everywhere, but the New Town hotels have the rooms to absorb it. The hotel transfers guide covers the cab routine.

Tips

Fly in before Panchami or on Shashthi morning and out after Dashami rather than on it, when the immersion processions close the riverside roads. Give any road transfer to the airport three hours during the Puja days and take the metro if the flight is before 10 pm. Book the hotel car for the return rather than gambling on an app cab in the surge. If you want to see the pandals, go from the airport hotels to the Salt Lake and New Town ones on foot or by metro rather than driving into the city, and save Sreebhumi for a weekday morning. And on the flight out, check in online and arrive three hours early; the queues at CCU in Puja week are the longest of the year.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Durga Puja in 2026?

The main days run from Shashthi on Saturday 17 October to Vijayadashami on Wednesday 21 October 2026, with Mahalaya on 10 October opening the season. Kolkata effectively shuts down for the five days, and the travel peak runs from the weekend before to the weekend after.

Are Kolkata Airport hotels more expensive during Durga Puja?

Yes. The airport-area hotels are less affected than the city hotels because they are not near the famous pandals, but rates still climb and the Rajarhat and New Town hotels fill with families visiting relatives and with wedding-season overflow. Book at least six weeks ahead for the Puja week.

How bad is the traffic to Kolkata Airport during Durga Puja?

The worst of the year on VIP Road, the airport's main road: the Sreebhumi Sporting Club pandal at Lake Town draws crowds so large that police close lanes and divert traffic every evening of the Puja, and the airport run from the city can take two hours. Take the metro to Jai Hind, or leave three hours early by road.

Is Kolkata Airport open during Durga Puja?

Yes, fully, and busier than usual, with extra flights and full loads on the routes from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru as Bengalis come home. Check-in queues and security lines are longer; arrive three hours before a domestic flight during the Puja week.

Information last verified: September 17, 2026