Barsana, Nandgaon, Vrindavan & More: Comparing Braj Holi Locations for Photographers

In Braj, Krishna's home region, Holi is not one day but a week of different celebrations across Barsana, Nandgaon, Vrindavan, Mathura, Gokul and nearby areas. Each town has its own ritual, crowd and light. This guide compares the locations for photographers, so you can decide where to be on which day.

 

Jump to: 

 

• Laddu Mar Holi, Barsana
• Lathmar Holi, Barsana & Nandgaon
• Phoolon Wali Holi & the colour day, Banke Bihari
• Widows' Holi, Gopinath Temple
• Holika Dahan
• Dulandi, the main day
• Holi at the Yamuna Ghats
• More Braj Holi spots
• My honest rating
• What to bring
• Practical travel info
• FAQ

Holi celebration at Vrindavans famous Shri Banke Bihari Ji Mandir

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Crowd & intensity: 🔴 Extreme · 🟠 Very high · 🟡 High but navigable · 🟢 Calmer

 

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Laddu Mar Holi at the Radha Rani Temple, Barsana: what it is, when it happens, and why to start here

What it is. Laddu Mar is the celebration that opens Holi in Barsana, and it is exactly what its name says. From the Radha Rani Temple the priests throw laddus (round yellow sweets the size of a golf ball) out over the crowd and hundreds of hands go up to catch them. 

Getting there. There are two ways up to the temple, which stands in red sandstone on Bhanugarh hill above the town. The longer one runs through the village first, then climbs a winding road up through the hills. The shorter one goes through the old town and up a long flight of steps; it saves time, but it is far more crowded. Both are worth shooting, for different reasons. High on the steps you look down on the whole crowd as it throws its hands up for the laddus coming from the temple balconies. On the winding road you catch the first people playing with gulal, with enough room to catch good portraits.

A street scene from Barsana Village 

What changed over the years. The same climb showed me the harder side of the day. On my first visit in 2018 I had to pass people living with leprosy, and beggars with untreated disabilities and there was no way to walk past them. By my later visits the scene had changed. The lanes were cleaner, the police presence heavier, the whole day run to a tighter plan, and I never saw anyone with leprosy on the route again. 

Inside the temple. When the last laddus have been thrown, the doors open and the crowd pours inside. There are two spaces to work: an enclosed interior and a large open terrace, both of them filling with people dancing and throwing colours.

Where to shoot from.The day gives you several vantage points. You can work the steps on the way up, the winding lanes of the village, the climb into the temple, and the temple interior. And if you are lucky enough to be let up, there is the roof. My own best frames all came from the temple roof, and it is also the one place where you stay clear of the colour.

View from the temple towards the courtyard 

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Lathmar Holi in Barsana & Nandgaon:

what it is, when it happens, and why you should go.

 

1. Barsana:

 

What it is. Lathmar is the Holi that made Barsana famous, and it runs on two fronts. Inside the temple, colour is thrown as it is across Braj; once, and only once in all my visits, I caught the Samaj there, the temples' own tradition of call-and-response devotional singing. Outside, two processions move through the village until they meet: the men have come from Nandgaon, the women of Barsana are waiting for them. Then it begins. The women drive the men back with long bamboo sticks ( lathis), the men answer with fistfuls of colour (gulal), and soon the whole village is one colourful battle.

When and how long. It is a long day on your feet. Come very early, because once the crowds build you cannot reach the village. The spectacle runs into the late afternoon. The weather is a gamble, some years punishing heat, others cold and rain.

Woman in Barsana celebrating Lathmar Holi by beating a group of man from Nandgoan with bamboo sticks (Lathis) 

Street or rooftop. You can shoot at street level, between the sticks and the colours, or claim a rooftop early and look down on the whole scene. I have done both. The street puts you inside it; the roof gives you the crowd. Different pictures, both worth having.

A word of care. The women do not aim only for the men. Spectators who edge too close get the stick as well, so keep your distance or take what comes.

Safety. This is the hardest day of the festival, and here, more than anywhere, you are the target. I was never there alone, always with my own group and with locals, once with an off-duty police officer, once with photographer friends. As a woman, I would not go to Barsana on this day on my own. Most of the incidents you hear about happen right here.

Basanas rooftops providing spectators with a safe space to watch the revelry

Barsana crowd celebrating holi

2. Nandgaon:

 

What it is. Nandgaon is one of my favourites. The way up is narrower than Barsana's, through medieval lanes. The temple, Nand Bhavan (also called Nand Mahal), is huge, part open and part enclosed: red sandstone outside, whitewashed and marble within. You can move through it fairly freely but come early, before the temple doors are closed.

A group of man playing the dhol at the courtyard of Nand Bhavan 

When it happens.  By early afternoon it begins in earnest. Priests take up positions on the platform, raised about half a metre, and on the temple roofs above, while the men from Barsana fill the courtyard below. From there, gulal and coloured water rain down on the crowd and the men, who lift their shields against it until the air itself turns red, yellow and green. Somewhere inside, the Samaj rises again. Late in the afternoon the doors open, and the men spill back out, straight into the women waiting with their sticks.

Who beats whom. Here the sides flip. A day after Barsana holi, the men of Barsana arrive in Nandgaon, and now it is the women of Nandgaon who drive them back with lathis, in return for the beating their own men took the day before.

Shielded man from Barsana in the courtyard at Nandgaon

One of the most breathtaking moments during the celebrations at Nand Bhavan is undoubtedly when the arriving group of men from Barsana is showered with vibrant red and yellow gulal inside the temple.

How to shoot it. For a photographer, Nandgaon gives you angles. You can work from the temple roofs, down into the courtyard, from the lanes, or from the roof of a house.

A colorful portrait of a pilgrim captured inside the Nand Bhavan Temple.

Nand Bhavan courtyards are drenched in colors during the holi celebration

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Phoolon Wali ki Holi at Banke Bihari:

what it is, when it happen.

What it is. Banke Bihari is one of Vrindavan's most revered Krishna temples, and one of its busiest. The tradition behind it reaches back to the sixteenth century and the saint-musician Swami Haridas. Though the temple you walk into today was built in 1864, so it is not one of Vrindavan's oldest buildings the way Radha Raman or Govind Dev are. Inside, the architecture is beautiful, the walls lined with silver. Banke Bihari does not mark Holi in a single way. It celebrates over at least two days that follow one another, and the temple is dressed differently for each.

Phoolon wali Holi inside the Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan, where our group was granted exclusive access to the celebration.

Two days, two celebrations. The first is the flower day, Phoolon Wali Holi, which falls on Rangbhari Ekadashi, about five days before the main day. Powder colour is played through it, but its heart is the rain of petals: for roughly thirty minutes, petals pour down from the temple balconies, so thick that you cannot see your hand in front of your face. In that window nothing else comes down, no powder, no water, only flowers. The window is a part of the day, not the whole of it. Outside those minutes, on the same day, ordinary colour is thrown as it is anywhere. The second day, straight after, is the colour day. There are fewer flowers, and they no longer fall from above. 

The flower rain itself. What comes down is mostly rose petals, thrown by the sackful from the upper balconies. The whole temple fills with the smell of roses. People dance and celebrate under the falling petals, packed so close in the haze that you lose the person beside you, and even after coming back for years it is a moving thing to stand inside. 

Immersed in the shower of flowers within the Banke Bihari Temple.

Getting in. Photography inside Banke Bihari is normally not allowed. A visitor who wants to shoot has to arrange it in advance and pay for the permission, and even then is kept to the upper balconies, away from the level where the priests throw colour into the crowd. Photographing the idol itself is never permitted. The crush inside is enormous, so the only sensible time to arrive is right at the start, before it builds, which in practice means having the contacts to get in early. On my own visits, personal contacts opened more than the standard permit allows. Thanks to them, my group and I were let inside for the preparation and for the flower rain itself, close enough to come away with the frames that are the whole reason to be here.

Camera protection. Whichever day you are shooting, the protection stays on the whole time. Colour is thrown outside the temple regardless.

Captured from the upper balconies using a telephoto lens, this shot shows the crowd celebrating as flower petals rain down from above, with one of the temple's small shrines visible on the right side of the frame.

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Widows' Holi in Vrindavan:

what it is, where it really happens, and when to go.

What it is. For generations, widows in India lived under a hard social taboo. Many were expected to wear only white, to withdraw from ordinary life, and to keep away from colour and celebration, Holi most of all. The Widows' Holi breaks that. Hundreds of women, many of them living in Vrindavan's ashrams, gather to play Holi with flower petals and gulal, their white saris slowly turning to colour. The effort to bring it into the open is associated with the NGO Sulabh International. 

A portrait of a young girl with her father, captured during Widow Holi.

Where it really happens. This is the part worth getting right, because the name misleads people. The celebration is still widely called "Pagal Baba Ashram Holi", but it is now held at the Gopinath Temple. It was at the Pagal Baba Ashram until around the mid-2010s, then moved to Gopinath, and the old name stuck. Anyone following the old name goes to the wrong place, and the two are about four kilometres apart. Gopinath itself is one of Vrindavan's revered seven Goswami temples, old red sandstone from the seventeenth century, set in the narrow lanes of the old town near Keshi Ghat and reachable only on foot or by rickshaw.

When. About two days before the main day, on Chaturdashi.

Photographing it. For me this is one of the most beautiful Holis of the whole week. Inside the temple it is mostly women and children, and it all runs gently, without any of the aggression of the bigger days. The older women are glad to have photographers there, which makes it a warm and easy thing to work in. They and the children throw mainly flowers at one another, with some dry colour, and no wet colour on this day. One frame I made here was later shown in a group exhibition in Israel, and the pictures this celebration gives you have real potential.

A group of children celebrating inside the Gopinath Temple; due to the limited space, a wide-angle lens is ideal for capturing the scene.

A portrait of one of the widows inside the Gopinath Temple during a shower of petals. As colorful blossoms rain down from the temple balconies for several minutes, it creates an unforgettable, breathtaking moment for any photographer and onlooker alike.

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Holika Dahan in Braj:

what it is, when it happens, and how to shoot it.

What it is. Holika Dahan falls on the evening before the main colour day. Bonfires are lit across the region, people walk around the fire, offer grain and herbs, and pray for the year ahead. In Braj it is not the small neighbourhood affair as it is in much of India.

What it is like. I have stood through one Holika Dahan in Braj, and what stays with me is how many fires there are. They are lit all across the town at once. Colour is mostly put away by this point, so the night belongs to the flames.

A priest stands before one of the many bonfires lit across the entire Braj region on the occasion of Holika Dahan.

When. The evening of the full moon, the night before Dulandi.

The flame-walking at Phalen (reported). The most extraordinary Holika Dahan ritual in the area is at Phalen village, near Mathura, where a priest is said to walk barefoot through the blazing fire and come out unharmed, after weeks of fasting and prayer. It draws thousands. I have not seen it myself, so I pass it on as it is told, not as something I witnessed.

How to shoot it. This is low-light work: silhouettes against the flames, faces lit by fire. A fast lens earns its place. The scattered fires and the thinner crowds give you room to move and to choose your fire.

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Dulandi, the main Holi day:

what it is, when it happens, and what to expect.

What it is. Dulandi is the main day, the one most people picture when they think of Holi. The narrow old streets of Mathura and Vrindavan turn into an open-air colour battle. From early morning, gulal goes up in clouds and coloured water comes from buckets, water guns and rooftops. Inside the temples, priests spray the crowds with saffron water made from Tesu flowers, and fountains blast gulal and petals over the dancing crowd below. Drums, Rasiya, thandai, and for some bhang, run through the whole day.

What it is like. I have spent this day in Vrindavan and Mathura, moving through the city with my group. The old town gives you backdrop after backdrop, the havelis and temples standing behind the colour. The mood felt less aggressive than in Barsana. It is a very good day for colourful Holi portraits.

A word on safety. Less aggressive than Barsana is not the same as safe. I would not recommend being out alone in the region as a woman on this day.

When. The main day, the day after Holika Dahan.

How to shoot it. This is the wettest day, so the camera protection stays on and does not come off. Plan the day around one lens and do not change it in the street. The reward is colorful portraits you will not get anywhere else in India.

Author Runa Isabel Lindberg celebrates Holi with a group of children in the old town of Vrindavan.

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Holi at Yamuna Ghats in Mathura & Vrindavan:

what to shoot, where, and when.

What it is. Through the Holi week, the Yamuna ghats hold ceremony after ceremony. There is chanting, there are pujas, and in the evening thousands of small oil lamps are set floating on the water. For a photographer the ghats are a gift, and they carry a good deal of the feel of Varanasi, the same steps down to a holy river and the same rituals at the waterline. The two that matter most are Vishram Ghat in Mathura and Keshi Ghat in Vrindavan.

When. The ceremonies run across the Holi days. In my own experience the most pujas fell in the one or two days before the main day.

On the water. We took a boat out onto the Yamuna, which is the view most people on the bank never get: the ghats and their lamps seen from the river. It is also the calm counterpoint to the colourful days, soft early light and reflections rather than crowds and gulal.

How to shoot it. A wide lens holds the sweep of the steps and the river. The boat gives you a line of sight nobody on the bank has, and the lamps on the water at dusk are the frame to wait for.

This scene was captured at the ghats of Vrindavan, showcasing one of the many trinket shops found around every corner, with the shopkeeper playing the flute to attract more customers.

One of the ghats of Vrindavan, where a sadhu meditates while gazing out over the river.

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More Braj Holi spots:

what happens where, and when.

These are other Braj Holi celebrations worth knowing about, for a fuller picture of the region. I have photographed some of them.

• Shri Dwarkadhish Temple (Mathura) - Holi Milan.  Mathura's most-thronged living temple during Holi: priests and devotees playing colour in the Rajasthani-style courtyard, and a grand Dola procession through the narrow old-city lanes. It sits near Holi Gate and Vishram Ghat, so it pairs with street work. Reported as one of the busiest, most packed Holi scenes in the region.
• Dauji Temple / Baldeo -  Dauji ka Huranga. A wilder holi-version for Lord Balaram: women tear the men's shirts and douse them orange coloured water. Hardest on gear, strongest documentary frames.

Children douse each other in vibrant orange water inside the temple courtyard in Dauji; a celebration intrinsically linked to 'Dauja,' a local affectionate name for Lord Balaram, the elder brother of Lord Krishna and the deity of agriculture and strength, to whom the temple in Dauji is dedicated

• Radha Raman Temple (Vrindavan). One of Vrindavan's genuinely old temples (16th century). Alongside Banke Bihari it hosts a flower Holi, but reported as quieter and more traditional inside, with tesu/herbal colours. The town outside is packed like the rest of Vrindavan at Holi, which reconciles the two impressions. 
• Raman Reti (Gokul) - Chhadi Mar Holi.  In Gokul's sacred sand, women strike the men with thin twigs (chhadis) rather than the Barsana lathis, a gentler, village-scale Holi tied to Krishna's childhood. Reported as calmer and less commercialised than the big temple towns.

During the Holi celebrations in Braj, many fascinating portraits and street photographs can also be captured; here in the image, a sadhu is smoking one of the traditional clay chillums, which are mostly packed with hash.

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My honest rating of Braj Holi: 

One overall rating for Braj Holi as a destination. The per-location nuance already lives in the table up top; this is the summary judgement.

• ★★★★★ Photography opportunities (5/5). Few places in India give you this range in a single week, from stick-fights and flower rain to fires, widows in white and colour, and street portraits.
• ★★★★☆ Vibe and atmosphere (4/5). A star off, because for all its energy it is genuinely crowded and not always safe.
• ★★★☆☆ Accessibility (3/5). The roads are poor and you often have to walk a long way; cars cannot get close to the villages and temples.
• ★★☆☆☆ Safety and intensity (2–3/5). On your own as a woman, a 2. In a group it is fine, a solid 3. 
• ★★★☆☆ Infrastructure (3/5).

Best for: photographers who want the full range of Braj Holi in one week and don't mind crowds, long walks and full-on colour, ideally travelling with a group or with local contacts.

Not ideal for: anyone after a calm, easy festival, or a woman planning to travel the region alone on the busiest days. 

Holi in Braj holds many diverse subjects in store, such as this colorful portrait of a devotee captured inside the temple in Nandgaon.

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What to bring: 

Camera kit

• A fast prime lens for low light, for Holika Dahan and dim temple interiors. 
• A weather-resistant telephoto zoom, to shoot the Lathmar action from a safe distance. 
• Rain covers or a dry housing, and UV filters to take the colour and water off the front element. 
• Gaffer tape, a rocket blower and lens cloths, for getting gulal off your gear. 
• Spare batteries and fast memory cards, so you are not opening the camera in the field.

Protecting yourself

• A rain poncho or jacket for yourself; you will be soaked and coloured. 
• A face mask, to keep gulal out of your lungs in the thick of it. 
• Glasses or goggles, to keep powder out of your eyes.
• A swim cap, if you would rather not carry the colour in your hair for the next week.
• A scarf or cloth you can wrap as a turban, to protect your head and hair.
• Waterproof shoes or sandals, for wet, colour-slicked streets. 
• A rain cover or dry bag for your backpack.

Author and photographer Runa Isabel Lindberg during her first Holi celebration in 2018

Practical travel info:

• Getting there: Mathura and Vrindavan are reached from Delhi or Agra by road or train, a few hours either way. 
• Accommodation: base yourself in Vrindavan or Mathura to be near the temples, or in Agra for a wider choice of hotels within reach. 
• Staying connected: an eSIM saves hunting for a local SIM on arrival. 
• Safety and hospitality: the region is welcoming, but the Holi crowds are intense. Go with others, protect your gear, and carry no more than you need. 
• Language: Hindi and the local Braj Bhasha; English is limited outside hotels

The following photographs depict rural Braj, characterized by farms and brick kilns; with its desert and semi-desert landscapes, the scenery strongly resembles northern Rajasthan.

A small farm in rural Braj.

Two men and a donkey on a track through rural Braj.

The Braj countryside around Mathura.

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Frequently asked questions:

What is Holi? Holi is the Hindu spring festival, the festival of colours. The night before, the Holika Dahan bonfire marks good over evil; on the main day people cover each other in coloured powder, gulal, and water. It is celebrated across India and Nepal.

Why is Holi in Braj celebrated over several days? Braj, around Mathura and Vrindavan, is Krishna's home region, so Holi here is an extended, town-by-town celebration rather than a single day, spread over roughly a week or more, each town holding its own ritual on its own day. Holi is nationwide; this drawn-out, legend-anchored form is what is unique to Braj.

Where is the best place to photograph Holi in Braj? It depends on what you want. Barsana and Nandgaon for the Lathmar stick battle, Banke Bihari in Vrindavan for the flower rain, the Gopinath Temple for the Widows' Holi, and the streets of Mathura and Vrindavan for the main colour day. The table above compares them at a glance.

When does Holi happen in Braj, and how many days does it last? Holi moves with the lunar calendar, so the dates shift each year. In Braj the celebrations run for roughly a week, from Laddu Mar on Ashtami through the main day and the day after. This guide uses the lunar days rather than fixed dates, so it holds in any year.

Is the Widows' Holi at Pagal Baba Ashram or Gopinath Temple? It is held at the Gopinath Temple in Vrindavan, though many still call it Pagal Baba Ashram Holi after its earlier home. It moved to Gopinath around the mid-2010s and the old name stuck, so following the old name can send you to the wrong place.

Can you photograph inside Banke Bihari during Phoolon Wali Holi? Not freely. Photography inside is normally not allowed; a permit must be arranged in advance and paid for, and even then you are kept to the upper balconies. The idol may never be photographed. Getting closer takes local contacts and arriving before the crush builds.

Do I need a guide for Holi in Braj? Not strictly, but it helps. The logistics are hard, the crowds are heavy, and access to the temples and the best positions often depends on local contacts. Independent travel is possible; a group or guide makes the harder days safer and smoother.

A group playing the dhol; a traditional, large double-sided barrel drum that provides the thunderous, rhythmic heartbeat of Indian festive celebrations

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Experience it on a photo tour 

Braj Holi is a central focus of a photo journey designed by Beyond Taj Tours, with itineraries curated together with award-winning photographers who know Braj first-hand. The value of going this way is simple: reaching the right town on the right lunar day, getting inside temples where photography is otherwise closed, and having safe positions in crowds that are hard to face alone. To join a small-group departure or shape a bespoke version, see the itinerary below.

Read the itinerary → Holi & Holla Mohalla Photography Tour 2027

 

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About the Author

Runa Isabel Lindberg is a writer and passionate photographer whose work has been exhibited internationally. She has been travelling through India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indo-China since 2008, and photography has been the thread through all of it. This blog is her personal editorial project: first-hand field notes, honest reviews of the heritage hotels she has stayed in, and photographs taken through her own lens over many return visits.

Follow her personal photography on Instagram: @runa_lindberg

Tours and bookings: the photo tours featured on this site are designed by Beyond Taj Tours, with itineraries curated together with award-winning photographers. All bookings, payments and travel arrangements are handled by our travel partner, Orange DMC, a licensed destination management company based in India. Follow Beyond Taj Tours on Instagram: @beyondtaj.tours

© 2026 Runa Isabel Lindberg. Text and photography by the author, all rights reserved. Site and brand development by Credio Digital Media.