Onam 2026 runs 16–26 August, with Thiruvonam on the 26th. These 15 licensed photographs cover pookkalam, snake boats, backwaters, Kathakali, and the Kerala landscapes people search while the festival is on. Credit sits under each photo.
1. Onapookkalam, Kerala
The flower carpet at the heart of Onam. Fresh petals, layered rings, and a design that gets bigger each day of the ten-day festival.
Photo: Challiyan / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5
2. Vallamkali snake boats
Chundan vallams packed with rowers. The boat race is the moving image of Onam, especially around Alappuzha and the Pamba.
Photo: Challiyan / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
3. Houseboat on the backwaters
A kettuvallam sliding through palm-lined canals. This is the Kerala photo that travel searches still return first.
Photo: Augustus Binu / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
4. Alappuzha boat jetty
Venice of the East, except the boats are working ferries. Onam week the water is as busy as the roads.
Photo: Augustus Binu / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
5. Kathakali
Green face, red makeup, and a stare that holds. Onam stages in Kerala still use Kathakali as the night's showpiece.
Photo: Bhoomi / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
6. Munnar tea hills
Folded green estates in Idukki. After a festival meal, this is the landscape people search for a Kerala holiday.
Photo: Kondephy / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
7. Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram
Gold-plated gopuram in the state capital. A Kerala landmark that sits in the same photo set as Onam travel stories.
Photo: Rahulrnath001 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
8. Thrissur Pooram kudamatom
Umbrellas changing on elephant backs. Pooram is a different festival, but this is the Kerala spectacle image that rides the same search wave in August.
Photo: Rameshng / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
9. Chinese fishing nets, Kochi
Cantilever nets at sunset on the Fort Kochi waterfront. One of the most searched Kerala photos after houseboats.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0
10. Kovalam Beach
Crescent sand south of Thiruvananthapuram. Lighthouse, surf, and the last-light color that Onam long-weekend travelers look up.
Photo: Georgeumartin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
11. Athirappilly Falls
Kerala's widest waterfall, loudest at monsoon. Onam sits in the wet season, so this drop is running when the festival is on.
Photo: Jan Joseph George / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
12. Kumarakom, Vembanad Lake
Birds, paddy, and a wide lake west of Kottayam. The still version of the backwaters photo.
Photo: Jigyasu / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
13. Periyar National Park
A lake and sanctuary in Thekkady. Elephants at the waterline — the wildlife half of a Kerala Onam trip.
Photo: Wouter Hagens / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
14. Chinese fishing nets, Ashtamudi
Nets coming up at sunrise on Ashtamudi Lake, Kollam. Same Kerala geometry as Kochi, quieter light.
Photo: Timothy A. Gonsalves / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
15. Theyyam, north Kerala
Not Onam, but the other Kerala image people save in festival week: theyyam at a village shrine, costume larger than the dancer.
Photo: Uajith / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
All 15 photos are from Wikimedia Commons. If you republish, keep the photographer credit and license link under each image.
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