Von Varanasi nach Kathmandu auf dem Landweg — 7 Tage über Kushinagar, Lumbini und Chitwan

India's oldest living city, on the bank of the Ganges. Your driver meets you at the airport, and the first evening is the great river ceremony.

• Arrival: Fly into Varanasi. Varanasi airport (Lal Bahadur Shastri, at Babatpur) is about 25 km from the city, 45–60 minutes by car. Flights from Delhi take about 1½ hours.
• Afternoon: Check in near the ghats if you can: staying by the river makes the dawn boat easy tomorrow.
• Sunset: The Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat, about 45 minutes, starting around sunset (roughly 6–7 p.m. depending on the season). Young priests swing great brass fire lamps to bells, conch shells and chanting. We book you a boat so you watch it from the water, away from the crush on the steps.
• Eat: Dinner in the old city: try kachori-sabzi, tamatar chaat at Kashi Chat Bhandar, and a clay cup of lassi.
• Tip: The last stretch to the ghats is too narrow for cars; you walk 10–15 minutes with your guide or a cycle-rickshaw. Keep your phone and wallet in a front pocket in the crowd.
• Overnight: Varanasi

The reason people come to Varanasi: the river at first light, then the lanes of the old city and the place where the Buddha gave his first sermon.

• 5:30 a.m.: A rowing boat along the ghats at sunrise, about 1½ hours: pilgrims bathing, priests at prayer, washermen at work and the cremation fires of Manikarnika from a respectful distance. If you are up even earlier, the Subah-e-Banaras morning ceremony at Assi Ghat starts before dawn.
• 8:00 a.m.: A walk through the old city lanes with a local guide, past the Kashi Vishwanath temple area, the Golden Temple of Shiva, then breakfast.
• Afternoon: Sarnath, 10 km away: the Dhamek Stupa, the deer park where the Buddha first taught, the Mulagandha Kuti Vihara with its murals, and the archaeological museum with the Ashoka lion capital, India's national emblem. About 2½ hours.
• Evening: Free, or a second aarti from the steps instead of the boat.
• Tickets: The boat is about ₹1,000–1,500 an hour for a private rowing boat. Sarnath's site and museum have small tickets for foreign visitors; the museum is closed on Fridays.
• Eat: Breakfast of kachori and jalebi in the lanes; lunch near Sarnath. In winter (November to February) try malaiyo, a saffron milk foam sold only in the early morning.
• Tip: Do not photograph cremations or mourners. Phones and bags are not allowed inside Kashi Vishwanath temple; your guide shows you the lockers if you want to go in.
• Overnight: Varanasi

North-east across the plains to the place where the Buddha passed away.

• Morning: Check-out at about 8 a.m.
• Drive: Varanasi to Kushinagar is about 260 km, 6–7 hours via Gorakhpur.
• Late afternoon: The Mahaparinirvana Temple with its 6-metre reclining Buddha, and the Ramabhar Stupa, built where the Buddha was cremated. Pilgrims from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet and Japan come here, and their monasteries line the road.
• Tickets: The temples are free; donations are welcome.
• Tip: Kushinagar is quiet and simple. Hotels are comfortable rather than luxurious.
• Overnight: Kushinagar

Into Nepal to the birthplace of the Buddha.

• Drive: Kushinagar to the Sonauli border is about 120 km, 3 hours. The border crossing takes 30–90 minutes. Lumbini is 30 km on the Nepal side.
• Border: Indian exit stamp at Sonauli, then Nepal immigration at Belahiya (Bhairahawa), where most nationalities get a visa on arrival. Keep US dollars in cash for the visa fee and two passport photos.
• Afternoon: The Sacred Garden at Lumbini: the Maya Devi Temple over the exact birthplace, the Ashoka pillar of 249 BC, and the sacred pond.
• Tickets: Maya Devi Temple has an entry fee for foreign visitors, a few hundred Nepali rupees.
• Overnight: Lumbini

Morning among the monasteries, then into the jungle of the Terai.

• Morning: The monastic zone by bicycle or e-rickshaw: temples built by Myanmar, Thailand, China, Germany, Vietnam and others, and the World Peace Pagoda.
• Drive: Lumbini to Chitwan (Sauraha) is about 160 km, 4–5 hours.
• Evening: A Tharu cultural show, or sunset by the Rapti river.
• Overnight: Chitwan

A full day in Nepal's best wildlife park.

• Early morning: Canoe down the Rapti river at dawn for gharial and mugger crocodiles and birdlife, then a short guided jungle walk.
• Afternoon: Jeep safari into the park, about 4 hours, for one-horned rhinoceros, deer, sloth bear and, with luck, a tiger.
• Tickets: The park permit and safaris are booked through your lodge.
• Overnight: Chitwan

Up the Trishuli valley to the Kathmandu valley.

• Drive: Chitwan to Kathmandu is about 160 km, 5–6 hours on a mountain road. A 20-minute flight from Bharatpur is an option.
• Afternoon: Boudhanath stupa for the evening kora with Tibetan pilgrims, a fitting end to a Buddhist journey.
• Drop: Your Kathmandu hotel. Add days for Kathmandu sightseeing, Pokhara or the Everest mountain flight.
• Overnight: Kathmandu