La Paz: Festivals and Events 2026
Festivals and Events in La Paz, Bolivia (2026)
La Paz’s calendar is built around Aymara ceremony and Catholic-Andean syncretic celebration in roughly equal measure. Here’s what’s worth planning a trip around.
Alasitas (from 24 January)
A UNESCO-listed miniatures fair centered on Ekeko, the Aymara god of abundance: stalls sell tiny replicas of everything you’d want in the coming year, from houses to passports, bought as wishes for the real thing.
El Gran Poder (late May or early June)
La Paz’s biggest folkloric parade and a UNESCO-recognized tradition, packed with morenada, caporales, and diablada dancers in elaborate costume. Worth noting: the 2026 edition was delayed by that year’s unrest, so check the current date before building a trip around it.
Willkakuti / Aymara New Year (21 June)
The winter solstice celebration centered at Tiwanaku, where crowds gather before dawn to greet the first sunlight of the new agricultural year.
Independence Day (6 August)
Bolivia’s national holiday, marked in La Paz with parades and civic ceremony, alongside the Entrada Universitaria student folkloric parade that runs through the July-August window.
Carnaval
La Paz holds its own Carnaval celebrations in February or March, but the real regional draw is Carnaval de Oruro, in a separate city a few hours away, and a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in its own right.
Fiesta de las Ñatitas (8 November)
Aymara families bring decorated human skulls, kept as household guardians, to be blessed at the cemetery. It’s a devotional tradition, not a spectacle for outsiders, so approach it with the same respect you’d give any religious observance.
A calendar built on two traditions at once
What makes La Paz’s festival year distinctive is how closely Catholic and Aymara calendars sit next to each other, often overlapping rather than competing. Alasitas blends a Catholic fair format with a pre-colonial Andean deity at its center; Willkakuti at Tiwanaku marks a solstice that predates the Spanish arrival by centuries, while Independence Day and the Entrada Universitaria parade sit squarely in the national, post-colonial calendar. Understanding that layering makes the festivals themselves easier to appreciate, rather than treating them as one homogenous “local culture.”
Planning around festivals
Book accommodation well ahead of Alasitas and Gran Poder, since both draw large crowds into an already compact city center. Expect closed streets and shifted transport routes during major parades, and factor in that occasional blockades or strikes can affect travel around festival season too, so keep some flexibility in your plans.
Read more: our La Paz travel tips guide covers what else to plan around before you go.