Rice Planting Festival

Every June, as the monsoon arrives, rice fields across Kathmandu Valley fill with water, laughter and song. This is Ropain — Nepal's rice planting festival — and for one day, we trade sightseeing for something far more hands-on. We travel to Bungamati, a Newar farming village on the valley's edge, where families and neighbours gather each year to plant rice together, exactly as generations before them have done. Feet sink into muddy paddies, seedlings pass from hand to hand, and the fields fill with community chatter, traditional songs, and no shortage of good-natured mud fights. This is farming as celebration, not labour — a day built on rhythm, ritual and togetherness. Short prayers mark the occasion, honouring the land and hoping for a good harvest, while a shared meal afterwards, made with local ingredients, brings the day full circle. It's simple, joyful, and rooted in something real — a single day that connects us to Nepal's farming communities, its food culture, and a festival still very much alive in the fields of Kathmandu Valley.

Rice Planting Festival

Overview ITINERARY Personnel

Every June, as the monsoon arrives, rice fields across Kathmandu Valley fill with water, laughter and song. This is Ropain — Nepal's rice planting festival — and for one day, we trade sightseeing for something far more hands-on.

We travel to Bungamati, a Newar farming village on the valley's edge, where families and neighbours gather each year to plant rice together, exactly as generations before them have done. Feet sink into muddy paddies, seedlings pass from hand to hand, and the fields fill with community chatter, traditional songs, and no shortage of good-natured mud fights.

This is farming as celebration, not labour — a day built on rhythm, ritual and togetherness. Short prayers mark the occasion, honouring the land and hoping for a good harvest, while a shared meal afterwards, made with local ingredients, brings the day full circle.

It's simple, joyful, and rooted in something real — a single day that connects us to Nepal's farming communities, its food culture, and a festival still very much alive in the fields of Kathmandu Valley.

Day 1 | MUD, RICE & COMMUNITY | Celebrating Rice Culture