Holi, the festival of colors, is one of the most awaited festivals of the year and marks the beginning of spring and the new farming season. It is a spring festival, also known as the festival of colors. The colorful festival of Holi is celebrated on Phalgun Purnima which occurs around the month of March. It is the second most widely celebrated festival of India after Diwali.

Here are the best places in India to watch or play the famous Holi festival.

1. The Peculiar Lathmar Holi at Barsana 
The men are beaten up with sticks by women while playing Holi! Originating from a small village called Barsana near Mathura, the Lathmar Holi can actually be said to be the weirdest way of celebrating the festival.

2. Shantiniketan, West Bengal 
The Holi festival is celebrated as Basanta Utsav or Spring Festival in Shantiniketan, West Bengal. This festival was started as an annual event by famous Bengali poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore in his Vishva Bharati University at Shantiniketan.

3. Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh
Vrindavan’s Banke Bihari Temple’s Holi celebrations are one of its kind. The town echoes with tales of Radha-Krishna and celebrates the festival with traditions, devotion, and serenity. 

4. Anandpur Sahib, Punjab
Anandpur Sahib in Punjab follows the traditional way of Sikh warriors. Known as Hola Mohalla, the annual fair dates all the way back to 1701 when it was started by Guru Gobind Singh Ji as a protest to rising Mughal intolerance.

5. Jaipur, Rajasthan
The advent of spring is marked with the festival of Holi and Jaipur celebrates the festival in royal style. The play of colors is the main highlight. The Pink City, Jaipur used to celebrate the festival of colors extravagantly with the elephant festival.