Buddhist Circuit Tour — 9 Days: Varanasi, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Kushinagar and Lumbini

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

East across the Ganges plain to the place of the Enlightenment.

• Drive: Varanasi to Bodh Gaya is about 250 km, 5–6 hours on the Grand Trunk Road.
• Evening: The Mahabodhi Temple at dusk, when monks and pilgrims from all over Asia circle the temple with butter lamps.
• Tip: Phones are usually not allowed inside the Mahabodhi complex; there are lockers at the gate. Cameras are allowed with a fee.
• Overnight: Bodh Gaya

A full day at the holiest place in the Buddhist world.

• Early morning: Meditation under the Bodhi tree, a descendant of the tree under which the Buddha sat, before the crowds.
• Morning: The Mahabodhi Temple (UNESCO World Heritage), the Vajrasana seat and the Animesh Lochana Chaitya.
• Afternoon: The international monasteries (Thai, Tibetan, Japanese, Bhutanese), the 25-metre Great Buddha statue, and Sujata village across the river, where the Buddha accepted a bowl of rice before his enlightenment.
• Overnight: Bodh Gaya

The hills where the Buddha taught, and the greatest university of the ancient world.

• Drive: Bodh Gaya to Rajgir is about 80 km, 2 hours.
• Morning: Griddhakuta (Vulture Peak), where the Buddha gave many sermons, reached on foot (about 20 minutes uphill), and the Vishwa Shanti Stupa by ropeway.
• Afternoon: The ruins of Nalanda Mahavihara (UNESCO World Heritage), 15 km away, a monastic university with 10,000 students in the 7th century, and its museum.
• Tickets: Nalanda ruins have an entry ticket for foreign visitors; the ropeway has a small fee.
• Overnight: Rajgir

North across the Ganges to the town of the Buddha's last sermon.

• Drive: Rajgir to Vaishali is about 150 km, 4–5 hours, crossing the Ganges at Patna.
• Afternoon: The Ashokan pillar with its lion capital, the Relic Stupa and the Abhishek Pushkarini tank.
• Overnight: Vaishali

To the place where the Buddha passed away.

• Drive: Vaishali to Kushinagar is about 200 km, 5–6 hours.
• Late afternoon: The Mahaparinirvana Temple with its reclining Buddha, and the Ramabhar Stupa at dusk.
• Overnight: Kushinagar

Into Nepal to the Buddha's birthplace.

• Drive: About 120 km to the Sonauli border (3 hours), 30–90 minutes for the crossing, then 30 km to Lumbini.
• Border: Most nationalities get a Nepal visa on arrival at Belahiya (Bhairahawa). Keep US dollars in cash and passport photos.
• Afternoon: The Maya Devi Temple, the Ashoka pillar of 249 BC and the sacred pond.
• Overnight: Lumbini

A last morning among the monasteries, then onward.

• Morning: The monastic zone by bicycle or e-rickshaw, and the World Peace Pagoda.
• Drop: Bhairahawa (Gautam Buddha International) airport, 30 minutes away, for a 35-minute flight to Kathmandu. Or continue with us by road to Chitwan, Pokhara and Kathmandu.
• Overnight: Your onward journey