Once the sun sets, some of India’s best plans come to life. Just last month, when Mumbai’s rains were in a troubled state, a group decided that late nights were the time to start raining. At around 10 am, college students Vikas Mandal and their friends from the 14-year-old community, Skateboarding in Mumbai, gathered in South Mumbai and marched through the city’s iconic old precincts – Flora Fountain, Gateway of India, Asiatic Library and Marine Drive. He chose the right time. The streets were empty, the air was finally cool, and it was easy for them all to find some free time – some members are as young as 40.
In Hyderabad, 31-year-old event manager Dipayan Banerjee has found his rhythm after sunset. He often hops on his bicycle to ride on the 23-kilometre solar rooftop cycling track that runs parallel to the city’s Outer Ring Road. It’s open 24/7, but “I like cycling at night,” he says. “I can go whenever I want, and Hyderabad is hot most of the year, so it feels better to ride in the cooler hours.” Some nights, instead of meeting friends at a noisy café, he turns his wheels into badminton rackets to play matches with friends late into the night.
We thought we were zombies, moving and looking for mental stimulation. Turns out, we’re actually vampires, spending our time during the day only to come out at night. So, across India, event companies are quietly filling up night-time slots for heritage walks, diving expeditions, stargazing sessions, sailing sessions, hikes and even music concerts. Nights were meant to be alone in front of the TV and unwind from life. Now, they are primetime for social life. Do introverts and morning people agree with this?
children of the moon
Adventurers say that after-work events are like seeing the same world through a new filter. Sabina Vinod, 48, recently signed up for a night tour of Chickpet, a bustling market in Bengaluru, organized by Gully Tours. Learning and development professional with a love of history and culture. “But I never discovered Chickpet because of the chaos.” This walk showed him a different side of his familiar city. “We learned how the jewelery market took shape in those narrow streets and how old hotels and colonial buildings were transformed into clothing stores.” Bonus: The coveted Lakshmi Nataraja refreshment was not packaged, which meant she could enjoy a thin podi masala dosa in peace.
Others are taking their first steps into the night and realizing that clubbing isn’t the only cool activity to do once the sky gets dark. In Pune, school teacher Neha Sharma and her scientist husband Ashish Arora, both in their 30s, had signed up to watch fireflies at a camp near the Mulshi dam last year. This was the first time they stayed out all night. “Around 1 am to 1.30 am, our guides started taking us in small groups deeper into the forest,” recalls Sharma. They groped around in the dark for a while – nothing was visible, let alone bioluminescent insects. They were ready to go back when a shining group appeared. “The trees lit up! We also noticed that the fireflies were following a synchronous pattern. One constellation would illuminate one part of the tree, then go dark as another group illuminated other spots. This lasted barely ten minutes, but it was the highlight of the night.”
And for some people, overcoming old fears is proving beneficial. Shivraj Shah, who moved to Sydney, Australia from Mumbai, is a certified rescue diver, and credits his instructor for convincing him to attempt a night dive off Chidiya Tapu, a small island in the Andamans, in 2023. “I was reluctant because I was afraid of the dark,” he says. “But at night, sea life is different. You see sea slugs, which usually come out at night. The refraction of your flashlight hits insects and sleeping fish – some swimming, some still, others slowly moving. None of this is visible during the day.”
tadke = we/our
Where there is interest, there is business. And where there is business, there are challenges. Spotting an opportunity after the Archaeological Survey of India began illuminating major monuments in Delhi and opening them to evening visitors, Anushka Jain founded Enroot Indian History in 2019. Their group leads two popular post-sunset tours: Raat ke Afsane, which weaves history and poetry through the Qutub Minar, Safdarjung Tomb, Sundar Nagar and Lodhi Gardens; and Ruhani Raatein, which explores ghost stories and legends in the Purana Qila and Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
They have organized 500 night tours for approximately 10,000 guests. But Jain’s walk starts in the evening, not in the deep night. “There are two problems: We are a female-led group, and I can’t expect the tour leaders, who are mostly college students, to take tours so late that they have trouble getting home. Also, it’s difficult for the tour leaders’ parents to understand what we’re doing.”
Despite the early start, there has been a blackout midway through the tour. “Security guards don’t know when the lights will come back on; they don’t have backup generators. Sometimes, parts of the monuments are blocked off without notice, disrupting the experience.” There have been no power cuts in the last few years, the monuments are cleaner than before but “there is still a lack of professionalism among the management and staff.”
In Goa, Kim Sabir is grappling with a different issue: how to take people of interest to an interesting place at night in a state where public transportation is poor even during the day. Sabir’s company, Adventure Breaks, launched Moonlight Kayaking in 2021 and expanded into moonlight sailing experiences two years later. “With no Uber or Ola, no local buses or metro, people are at the mercy of taxi drivers who charge high fares. Sometimes participants pay more to access the activity than the activity itself,” he says.
And still they come. “People in Goa love to hang out in clubs at night,” says Sabir. “I’ve heard that young millennials don’t drink that much, and social media has pushed them towards adventurous experiences.” His company has hosted approximately 600 guests at 125 moonlighting events.
Of course, Mumbai will be ground zero for night-time events; This is the city that never sleeps. “But Mumbai transforms when the traffic disappears,” says Harshvardhan Tanwar. “You can connect with the architecture without the constant honking and chaos.” Tanwar founded tour-experience company, No Footprints, in 2014 and launched the Midnight Cycle Ride in 2016, focusing on safety for tourists and newcomers to Mumbai. He also runs a food walk after evening.
But while events in Mumbai start at midnight, his Delhi visit to Chandni Chowk and Qutub areas “takes place at a time when the roads are still alive and there is movement”. Their Jaipur bar crawl is conducted in a jeep, “so participants don’t have to lug around”.
Sudipto Lahiri launched Calcutta by Night last year to showcase Kolkata’s smaller historic neighborhoods like Dalhousie Square and Chitpur. They have organized two editions of their Freedom at Midnight Walk, starting at 9 pm on August 14 and ending at 2 am on Independence Day. Along the way there are places where freedom fighters used to meet, stories about secret societies and the place where Gandhiji stayed for some time in 1947.
This hike is so popular for Lahiri that it takes it up a notch. “I have written to local ASI officials and church committees requesting that some well-lit heritage sites, like the General Post Office and St. John’s Church, remain open to the public till late at least once a week,” he says. As soon as permission is granted, he is also working on new Chandni walks, food trails and boat rides along the banks of Howrah. Obstacles: Red tape. “Even though the ASI opens some heritage structures at night, we need the help of the local administration. Often, we have to face the police for parking near a heritage building or gathering in a large group after sunset.”
lunar rovers
Some governments are waking up at night for revenue. In October 2025, the Maharashtra government announced that establishments, except liquor shops, could operate 24/7. In Delhi, some restaurants, hotels and transport services are allowed to operate round the clock. Hyderabad is working on a policy to keep cafes, cultural sites and transport lines buzzing even after dark.
This is sparking cautious optimism among entrepreneurs. “The government is realizing that people have always had an interesting relationship with the night,” says Tanwar. “This move could help vendors and monuments a lot.”
This is a difficult task in the dark. Even our big cities have shady alleys, unreliable street lighting, night patrols that can’t tell the difference between a stupid heritage walk and gangs of drunken rowdies. Some cities have 24-hour public transport, or proper public toilets. And fewer people are tolerant of large groups pointing at a monument, owl, planetarium or sea animal at night.
But for those out at night, it’s an experience that deserves more attention, more regulation. Writer and nature lover Setu, 33, moved to Dehradun in 2022, and enjoyed a night tour of neighboring Mussoorie organized by Been There Doon That. They left at 8 p.m., walked downstairs, visited colonial buildings and heard stories of how the city got its name from the Mansouri tree, and were done by midnight. “These walks feel like time travel,” he says. “You get to see what has changed, what has been endured and what we have lost along the way.”
From HT Brunch, November 22, 2025
Follow us at www.instagram.com/htbrunch
