Events & seasons
Kuwait’s year of celebrations
National Day fireworks, Hala February, Ramadan nights, the camping season and the cultural calendar, month by month.
Festival dates are announced each year by their organisers, and the Islamic holidays follow the lunar calendar, so they move about 11 days earlier every year. Always confirm dates with the official organiser before you book. Because of the regional situation in 2026, some public events may be postponed or scaled down.
Islamic calendar 2027
Ramadan and the Eids
Expected dates for 2027, based on astronomical calculation. The exact days are confirmed by the moon sighting and may differ by a day.
- ≈ 8 Feb 2027 Ramadan begins A month of daytime fasting, evening iftars and late nights. In 2027 Ramadan overlaps with National Day and Liberation Day.
- Mid-Ramadan Gergean Children in traditional clothes go from house to house singing and collecting sweets and nuts.
- ≈ 9–10 Mar 2027 Eid al-Fitr The end of Ramadan: family visits, new clothes and public holidays of several days.
- ≈ 16 May 2027 Eid al-Adha The Feast of the Sacrifice, after the Day of Arafah; one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
Month by month
The Kuwaiti year
January
- Qurain Cultural Festival Kuwait’s main arts festival, organised by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, usually in January: theatre, music, exhibitions and literature.
- Desert camping season The heart of the kashta season in the desert north and south of the country.
February
- Hala February A month-long festival of concerts, parades and family events built around the national holidays.
- National Day — 25 February Flags, fireworks over the Kuwait Towers and festive crowds along Arabian Gulf Street.
- Liberation Day — 26 February Commemorates the end of the Iraqi occupation in 1991.
March
- End of the camping season Camps are cleared by mid-March; after good rains, wild flowers bloom in the desert.
April
- Spring by the sea Warm days and pleasant evenings: the last comfortable month for outdoor sightseeing.
May
- Early summer Life shifts to mornings, evenings and air-conditioned museums and malls.
June
- Independence anniversary — 19 June Kuwait became independent on 19 June 1961; the national celebrations were later moved to the cooler month of February.
July
- Height of summer The hottest month. Indoor attractions such as the Scientific Center and the cultural centres come into their own.
August
- Pearl-diving heritage trip Kuwaiti youth have long re-enacted the summer pearling voyage, returning to shore for a traditional qafal celebration (dates vary).
- Fresh dates Markets fill with fresh dates in late summer.
September
- Shrimp season Gulf shrimp return to the fish markets of Sharq and Fahaheel.
- Start of the cultural season Concert and theatre programmes resume at the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre.
October
- Lectures and exhibitions Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah’s cultural season and museum exhibitions get under way as the heat breaks.
November This month
- Kuwait International Book Fair One of the oldest book fairs in the Arab world, usually held in November at the Kuwait International Fairground in Mishref.
- Camping season opens — mid-November Kuwait Municipality licenses desert camps from mid-November to mid-March.
December
- Winter on the coast Cool, clear days for Failaka, the corniche and migrating birds on the northern mudflats.
National holidaysIslamic calendarCulture & festivalsSeasons & nature