--- title: "Bir in November 2026: Last Flights of the Season, Then Slower Days" description: "Paragliding at the end of the autumn season, Billing, Chokling and Sherabling, Baijnath, and what is on in Bir in November 2026, checked on 29 October." canonical: https://onthehills.in/guides/things-to-do-in-bir-november-2026 town: "Bir" author: "Ankur" published: 2026-10-29 updated: 2026-10-29 --- # Bir in November 2026: Last Flights of the Season, Then Slower Days Coming to Bir in November? You are here for the last weeks of the autumn flying season, so book a paragliding flight for your first clear morning and keep a second morning free. Around it, November's short, usually dry days suit the Tibetan colony and Chokling monastery, a midday drive up to Billing, a walk through the tea gardens and a half-day at Baijnath temple. The month opens with Lhabab Düchen, a Buddhist festival day, on 1 November, and the evenings have a Saturday film series, a stand-up show in Kangri on 14 November and stargazing most nights. This guide covers **November 2026**, checked on **29 October 2026**. All times are IST. Prices, hours and schedules change, so confirm anything you are building a day around. Last month's version is [things to do in Bir in October](/guides/things-to-do-in-bir-october-2026). ```facts Bir in November at a glance Flying: November is the end of the autumn season, which opens after the mid-July to mid-September monsoon suspension Tandem flight: published prices of roughly ₹2,500–3,500 for a standard 15–30 minute flight Billing take-off: about 2,400 m, 14 km by road above Bir, around 45 minutes by taxi Daylight: sunrise 6:40–7:05am and sunset 5:35–5:20pm, from the start of the month to the end Weather: Dharamshala, at a similar height, averages 22°C by day and 10°C at night in November, with about one rainy day; Billing is about six degrees colder Festival days: Lhabab Düchen, Sunday 1 November; Diwali, Sunday 8 November Checked: 29 October 2026 Flights depend on the wind on the day. No operator can promise one in advance. ``` ## Go paragliding before the season closes Bir-Billing is one of the best-known paragliding sites in the world, and it is why most visitors are here. A tandem flight, where you fly strapped to a qualified pilot, takes off from the meadow at **Billing, about 2,400 m**, and lands in the fields at Bir, roughly a kilometre lower. No experience is needed. November is the tail of the autumn season. What changes from October is the length of the day. Flying generally runs from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, and the sun now sets at about 5:35pm on 1 November and 5:20pm by the 30th, so there are fewer slots in a day and little room to try again later the same afternoon. Take the earliest slot you can get, and keep a second morning free, because if the wind says no on the first, your next real chance is usually the next day. If your dates include Diwali, on Sunday 8 November, book the flight and your room early, because a festival weekend is when rooms in a small town go first. Operators' published prices run roughly **₹2,500–3,500** for a standard 15–30 minute flight, more for a longer one, and video usually adds ₹500–1,000. Ask whether the price includes the jeep up to Billing, and what happens to your money if the flight is cancelled. Book through a registered operator and ask to see the pilot's licence, because unlicensed pilots have been reported operating alongside licensed ones. Dress for the top, not the bottom. Billing is about six degrees colder than Bir, and the jacket you needed at take-off at ten is the one you will be carrying across a sunny landing field at noon. If flying is the reason for the trip, give it two mornings, not one. ## Billing without a flight: go at midday, leave by four Yes, and in November go in the middle of the day. Billing is a high meadow at about 2,400 m, **14 km above Bir by road**, roughly 45 minutes by taxi. From the top you watch pilots launch one after another, with the Kangra valley below and the Dhauladhar range behind. Aim to arrive between late morning and early afternoon, while the launches are on and the meadow has its warmest hours, and to be heading down by 4pm. The reason is the road: it winds down the mountain, the light goes soon after five, and it is not a road to be looking for a taxi on after dark. Agree the return with your driver before you set off, and take a warm layer and a hat even if Bir felt like a summer morning. ## Lunch at Chaugan, watching the landings The landing site at **Chaugan**, on the edge of Bir, is where the flights end. Cafés and lawns sit along the field, and from a table you can watch gliders come down from Billing one after another. It costs nothing, and if you are undecided about flying, it is a free preview. Come for lunch, not tea. Flying winds down by mid-afternoon in November, and after that the landing site is a large, pleasant lawn. Chaugan is also where you can hire a bicycle, for about ₹100 an hour, which is the start of the cycling loop further down this guide. November's cool, dry mornings are good cycling weather. ## The Tibetan colony, Chokling monastery and Lhabab Düchen Bir's other half is its **Tibetan colony**, settled in the 1960s and still the centre of daily life in the lower town. **Chokling monastery** sits at its heart, with a large statue of Padmasambhava, the teacher credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet, and a stupa, a dome-shaped Buddhist shrine, that people walk around clockwise. Entry is free. Opening times vary between sources, somewhere between 8–9am and 5–6pm, so go in the morning, the one time every source agrees on. November starts with **Lhabab Düchen on Sunday 1 November 2026**, one of the four main Buddhist festival days. It marks the Buddha's return to earth after teaching in a heaven realm, and [Tushita's calendar](https://tushita.info/program/calendar/) lists it on that date. It is a day when many people visit their monastery to pray and make offerings. We found no published programme for Bir's monasteries, so ask at your guesthouse what is planned, go in the morning, and keep your voice down near the prayer halls. On any other day, ask before taking photographs inside. The lanes around the monastery have bakeries, small shops and cafés, which makes the colony the easiest place to spend an unplanned November afternoon in the sun. ## Palpung Sherabling, and the walk back before dark **Palpung Sherabling**, at Keori, is a major seat of the Kagyu tradition, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is **4–7 km from the colony by road**, depending on your starting point, or about an hour on foot from Chaugan. Entry is free, and the main temple is the reason to go. November suits the walk. The monsoon mud has gone, and the afternoons are mild in the sun. Take a taxi out after lunch and walk back through the villages, leaving Sherabling by about 3:30pm so you are home before the light goes. If you only have time for one monastery, choose by time and transport. With an hour and no taxi, Chokling, because it is in the colony you are probably staying near. With a taxi and an afternoon, Sherabling, for the larger temple and the walk home. ## Deer Park Institute: a quieter month, and a workshop built on films **Deer Park Institute**, about a kilometre from the centre of Bir, is a study centre founded in 2006 for Buddhist and Indian philosophy, contemplative practice and the arts. Visitors can walk around the grounds; check its schedule before turning up for anything specific. November is quieter than October. On 29 October its [schedule](https://www.deerpark.in/schedule/) showed three programmes: - **The Art of Processing Emotions**, a retreat that ends on 3 November. Registration has closed. - **Arjuna's Tapas: Exploring the Hero's Journey, 7–12 November**, a workshop led by Naveen Vasudevan that uses classics of world cinema to follow the stages of growing up psychologically. - From **16 November**, the Serkong Institute's four-year programme, run with Deer Park, continuing to 23 January. It is for enrolled students, not drop-in visitors. [[event slug="arjunas-tapas-a-heros-journey-bir-20261107"]] Book Arjuna's Tapas directly with Deer Park, and ask about the fee, because the schedule does not show one. ## Tea gardens, after the picking stops Bir is part of Kangra's tea country, and there are tea gardens around the town. In November the picking is over: growers interviewed by [PARI](https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/kangras-tea-gardens-falling-off-the-map) describe plucking from April to October and pruning from November. So November is a month for walking through the gardens, not for watching leaf being processed. Don't build a day around the Bir tea factory. [The Tribune reported in 2019](https://tribuneindia.com/news/archive/himachal/kangra-tea-farmers-stare-at-losses-840346) that the cooperative factories at Bir, Baijnath and Sidhbari had stopped operating and only Palampur's was still running, and we found nothing since that says Bir's has reopened. If you want to see a working factory, go to the **Palampur Cooperative Tea Factory**, which pairs well with Tashi Jong monastery, further down this guide, for a day out. ## Baijnath temple, on the way out **Baijnath temple** is a Shiva temple built in 1204, **8–10 km from Bir by road**. Entry is free. It is a working temple, so dress modestly and leave shoes at the entrance. A taxi makes it an easy half-day. Some overnight buses from Delhi end at Baijnath rather than Bir. In November they can arrive before sunrise, which comes at about 6:40–7:05am, so save the temple for the way out rather than the way in. ## Gunehar's waterfall, lower and easier in November **Gunehar**, a village beside Bir, has a waterfall a short walk away, about **1.5 km** by most accounts. Allow 2–3 hours for the walk there and back, including time at the fall. It is free and needs no permit. By November the fall is well past its monsoon peak, so expect less water and a drier, easier path. Wear shoes with grip for the rocks near the pool. ## Quieter corners, planned around the daylight Once the standard list is done, these are worth the extra effort: - **Rajgundha.** A high meadow village at about 2,700 m beyond Billing. Walk in on a 12–14 km trail from Billing, which takes 5–6 hours, or drive 25–30 km on a rough mountain road that needs a four-wheel drive. Stay overnight. November is the edge of the season: the road is often impassable in winter, and at that height nights are around freezing, so ask someone who has just come down before you go, start walking from Billing by 9am to arrive in daylight, and pack for a cold night. - **Barot valley.** A quiet trout-fishing and walking valley. A newer direct road from Bir is reported to have cut the journey to about 38 km, but some sources still give 53–65 km via Jogindernagar, so check the route with your driver. Allow a full day and leave early, because November's daylight runs out before 5:30pm. - **Dharmalaya Institute.** A sustainable-living campus about 2 km from Bir, built with the earth-architecture methods associated with the architect Didi Contractor. Visiting hours are 11am–12:30pm, Monday to Friday, with a free public tour every Wednesday; write at least a week ahead. A private tour is by a minimum donation of ₹500. It is closed on weekends and public holidays. [Visiting Dharmalaya](https://dharmalaya.in/about/visiting-dharmalaya-institute). - **Bangoru waterfall.** A less-visited fall 4.5–6.5 km from the colony, depending on where you start, with about an hour's walk at the end. Ask at your guesthouse for the path before you set off. - **A cycling loop through Sansal.** Loops of 16–23 km run from the landing site through Sansal village and the Sherabling area. Hire a bike in Chaugan for about ₹100 an hour, or join a guided e-cycle ride (listed below). - **The Kangra toy train from Ahju.** Bir's halt on the narrow-gauge Kangra Valley line is at Ahju, and the Bir and Palampur stretches are the scenic ones. It is a slow day out rather than a way to get anywhere, so ride a section and come back by road, and check the line is running before you build a day around it. - **Tashi Jong monastery and Palampur.** Tashi Jong, a monastery of the Drukpa branch of the Kagyu school, is about 18 km from Bir and 15 km from Palampur, and is home to the togdens, a rare community of long-term meditating yogis. Pair it with the Palampur tea factory for a full day. ## What's on in Bir this November: mostly evenings Bir's November listings lean towards the evening, which suits a month when it is dark by six. Listed on On The Hills for November 2026: - **Bir Movie Collective's adventure series, Saturdays at 8pm, The Bunker.** Meru on 7 November, [The Motorcycle Diaries](/bir/events/the-motorcycle-diaries-bir-movie-collective) on the 14th, [127 Hours](/bir/events/127-hours-bir-movie-collective) on the 21st and [Tenzing](/bir/events/tenzing-bir-movie-collective) on the 28th. Two of the four are about climbing Himalayan peaks, shown in a town where most visitors came to run off the side of a mountain. [[event slug="meru-bir-movie-collective"]] - **Vishal Sharma, stand-up in Kangri, 14 November, 6:30pm**, at CrazyCub Camp and Cafe, ₹399–1,299. The whole set is in Kangri, the dialect of the Kangra region, so it will mean most to people who speak it. [[event slug="straight-outta-himachal-vishal-sharma-live-bir-20261031"]] - **Every evening from 2 November:** a Night Sky Safari with telescopes, 6–8pm, ₹499–1,499, from the same host as a longer Cosmic Journey from 8pm (₹999–2,997). With dark by six, November gives it long evenings. [[event slug="night-sky-safari-bir"]] - **Every week:** a Himachali Dham, the traditional vegetarian feast, at Cho Cho's Cafe on Saturdays at 12:30pm for ₹250, and Bachata Sunset Socials, a Latin partner dance, at Bir High on Sundays at 5pm. [[event slug="himachali-dham-experience-bir-04"]] [[event slug="bachata-sunset-socials"]] - **Also weekly or daily:** yoga at Dhi Space (8:30am daily, and a free yin yoga and sound session on Sundays), sound healing at Bir Yoga House on Saturdays (₹500), forest bathing on Sundays at 7am, and guided outings from the landing site: an e-cycle ride through the fields at 8:30am (₹1,500), a walk with Daisy, a local dog (₹800), and a chulha (wood-fire) meal with a village walk in Gunehar (₹500–1,200). - **No fixed date:** pottery at The Bir Clay Studio, near the landing site, in 11am or 3:30pm batches (₹650–1,800). Reconfirm weekly sessions with the host. [All Bir listings](/bir) ## Which apps and sites list Bir's events? WhatsUpBir is the fullest list of Bir's weekly classes and socials; for Deer Park's programmes and one-off shows you still have to look elsewhere. This is what each platform had on 29 October 2026. We publish On The Hills, so weigh our row accordingly. | Platform | Good for | What to know | | --- | --- | --- | | [WhatsUpBir](https://www.whatsupbir.com/) | Bir's weekly regulars, listed by the hosts themselves | Much fuller than a month ago: 27 events, 22 of them repeating daily or weekly. Its one November-dated listing was a three-day retreat. Deer Park's programmes, the Kangri stand-up show and the Saturday screenings weren't on it; it had a Thursday movie night at another café. | | [GoBir](https://goplatform.online/) | Home-chef meals, events and a local feed in one app | A neighbourhood app for people who live in Bir more than an events calendar. Nothing is visible until you install it. | | [SortMyScene](https://sortmyscene.com/events) | Party and gig tickets | Two Bir listings, a hostel gig on 30 October and a Halloween night on the 31st, and nothing for November yet. | | [AllEvents.in](https://allevents.in/bir/all) | Event listings from all over India | Three listings: a trail-running camp, 18–22 November, a gig on 30 October and a yoga teacher training in Palampur. | | On The Hills | What's on in Bir and the hill towns around it, each listing checked by a person | 28 listings for November: 7 dated, including Deer Park's film workshop, four Saturday screenings and the Kangri stand-up show, plus daily and weekly classes, outings and socials. No app or login; you WhatsApp the host or use their booking link. | Two came up empty and two we couldn't check: [Gigavent](https://www.gigavent.in/), whose listings are only in its iPhone and Android apps, had nothing in Bir, and [Skillboxes](https://www.skillboxes.com/events) had nothing nearer than Chandigarh, while [District](https://www.district.in/events/)'s city list wouldn't take us to Bir or Dharamshala and [Swiggy Scenes](https://www.swiggy.com/swiggy-scenes) showed nothing on the web without signing in to the Swiggy app. For what is on while you are here, start with [Bir this week](/bir/this-week) or [this weekend](/bir/this-weekend). ## A November checklist - Book the earliest paragliding slot you can, and keep a second morning free. - Pack for cold mornings and a colder Billing, and be off the Billing road before dark, around 5:30pm. - If you are here on 1 November, go to Chokling in the morning for Lhabab Düchen. - Walk the tea gardens, but go to Palampur for a working tea factory. - If your dates include Diwali, 8 November, book your room and flight slot early. - Check what's on for your dates in the [full Bir listings](/bir). For the journey, start with [how to reach Bir](/guides/how-to-reach-bir). Dharamkot is 65–70 km west, if you are going on: see [things to do in Dharamkot in November](/guides/things-to-do-in-dharamkot-november-2026). --- Source: https://onthehills.in/guides/things-to-do-in-bir-november-2026 — On The Hills, a curated guide to events and workshops in India's hill towns.