Konark is not only an ideal choice for monument, beach and scenic beauties but also for its colourful festivals. The "Konark Festival" held every year is a great attraction for cultural cognoscenti. The most popular and colourful festival of Konark, an occasion for a grand congregation of Indian pilgrims and enthusiasts from abroad, falls on the seventh day of the new moon of Magha.
Most tourists would find it comfortable to make a day trip to Konark from Puri or Bhubaneswar and return, rather than stay overnight at hotels in Konark. Usually travellers starts from Puri and covers Bhubaneswar and Konark in a day-trip. But to take a break away from the humdrum of the main city, Konark is the best place to enjoy serenity.
chandrabhaga mela
Chandrabhaga Mela is the most popular festival which fall in the month of February. This is a day specially set aside for the worship of the Sun God at Konark. Thousands of pilgrims flock to Konark every year to take a holy dip on the Chandrabhaga River and then circumbulates the shrine or jagamohan to worship the Navagraha stone which originally was above the eastern portal and is now set up in a small shed outside the compound.
This is the most popular and colourful festival of the place when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit Konark to observe the festival. In fact this is the second biggest festival in Odisha, next to Car Festival of Puri.
konark dance festival
Another colourful festival is the Konark Dance Festival considered as the cultural mecca where eminent classical dancers and singers across the country participates to perform before the live audience in an open-air auditorium set on the backdrop of Konark Temple. The festival has assumed a kind of distinctive significance and importance for the timely efforts it has made to wards the revival, preservation and continuation of unique temple dance tradition of Odisha.