Diwali 2026: Flying Home to India from Australia
Diwali is the biggest homecoming of the year for many Indian Australian families. Here is what to plan for, from booking windows to what customs lets you bring back.
For a lot of Indian families across Sydney and Melbourne, Diwali is the one trip home that gets planned first and booked earliest. The lights, the sweets, the whole extended family under one roof again. If it is on your mind this year, now is the time to start looking at flights, not November.
When is Diwali 2026
Diwali runs across five days in 2026, from Dhanteras on Friday 6 November through to Bhai Dooj on Tuesday 10 November. The main day, Lakshmi Puja, falls on Sunday 8 November 2026. Dates for Diwali follow the lunar calendar, so if you are planning around a specific ritual day rather than the general week, it is worth a final check closer to the time.
When to book
Diwali is the single busiest India travel period of the year, and demand starts building weeks before the actual date. For a trip home in early November, that puts the real booking window in September and October. Seats on the preferred flights and dates go early. If your family is set on flying together, or on landing a day or two before Dhanteras to help with preparations, book sooner rather than later.
Where everyone is flying to
Delhi and Mumbai are the two biggest arrival points for Diwali travellers from Australia, simply because they are the main international gateways with the most onward domestic connections to smaller cities and towns. Beyond those two, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai are common arrival cities as well, particularly for families from South India who would rather avoid a domestic connection on top of the international leg.
How you get there from Sydney and Melbourne
From Sydney, Air India runs a direct service to Delhi, so if Delhi is your family's home city, it is the most straightforward option on the market. Other airlines connect through hubs such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which opens up more arrival city and schedule options if Delhi direct does not suit your dates or your budget.
From Melbourne, there is currently no non-stop flight to India, so every itinerary connects through a hub. Singapore Airlines runs frequent one-stop services via Singapore to both Delhi and Mumbai, and the Gulf carriers offer similar one-stop options via their home hubs. For families juggling a big group and a lot of luggage, a well-timed connection with a short layover is often more comfortable than chasing the absolute earliest departure.
Whichever route you take, Diwali week itself sees the heaviest traffic of the year on these routes, so flights either side of the main day tend to be busier and pricier than flights earlier in the booking window.
What you can bring back
No Diwali trip home is complete without sweets, snacks and gifts for family and friends in Australia, but everything you bring back is subject to Australian biosecurity rules, and it pays to know them before you pack.
Every traveller arriving in Australia must declare all food, plant material and animal products on the Incoming Passenger Card, no exceptions. This includes mithai, snacks, spices, and anything else edible, even if it is sealed, commercially made, or a gift someone else packed for you. Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy and items with nuts in the shell are generally not allowed in, and rules on specific sweets and snacks can be detailed and item-specific. The safest approach is the official one: if you are not sure whether something is allowed, declare it anyway, or check it against the government's Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) before you fly home. Declaring something that turns out not to be allowed carries no penalty. Not declaring it does.
For general gifts and goods that are not food, such as clothing, jewellery, electronics and souvenirs, travellers aged 18 and over can bring in up to AUD900 worth duty free, and under-18s up to AUD450. Families travelling together on the same flight can pool this allowance, so a family of four could bring back a combined AUD2,700 worth of goods duty free, provided everyone clears customs together. Go over the limit and duty applies to everything in that category, not just the amount over the threshold, so it is worth a rough tally before you land.
Celebrating together, wherever you are
Not every family can make the trip home for Diwali every year, and that is its own kind of ordinary. Sydney and Melbourne both have strong community Diwali events, temple functions and mela-style celebrations that bring the lights, the food and the sense of occasion to wherever home currently is. Whether you are flying back for the real thing or lighting the diyas here with the local community, Diwali in the diaspora has always been about who you gather with, not just the calendar date.
Planning your Diwali flights
If Diwali 2026 is the trip your family has been talking about, get in touch now while there is still a good spread of dates and airlines to choose from. Tell us your preferred arrival city, how many are travelling, and whether landing before Dhanteras matters to you, and we will find the routing that actually works for the whole family.
Call 1300 629 507, message us on WhatsApp at +61 493 235 226, or visit www.everydaytravel.net.au to start planning.