Day 1: Delhi Arrival
You are welcomed at Delhi airport either by the representative of our local agency or by your French-speaking guide. He assures de transfer to your hotel we’ve reserved you for the two next days.
Overnight at the hotel.
Day 2: Delhi Exploration
This first day is dedicated to the exploration rich tapestry of Delhi.
Bathed in the holy waters of the Yamuna, Delhi was twice capital of empire, first with the Mughals, then in 1911, with the British. The city is divided into two very contrasting parts, New Delhi, the Victorian city with great avenues, with its business district and the parliament gathered around Connaught Place, and Old Delhi, the old city, the capital of Muslim India. Streets lined with bustling bazaars, and home to the Red Fort, witness to the power of the Mughal emperors as well as the Jama Majid Mosque, the largest in the country.
You take a walk through Old Delhi, then you go through the Rajghat, mausoleum of the legend Mahatama Gandhi, you visit Humayum’s tomb, a fine example of the Mughal architecture that would have inspired the construction of the Taj-Mahal, but also Qutub-Minar , The highest tower in the country with its 72.5m high.
In the late afternoon, you will discover New Delhi via Rajpath, the Royal Way before admiring the Indian Gate, the Parliament and the Presidential Palace.
In the evening, you share a moment of fervor with the Sikh community at the Bangla Sahib temple
Overnight and dinner at the hotel
Day 3: Delhi to Varanasi (flight)
After having breakfast you take a flight to Varanasi (Benares), the city of Lord Shiva which is famous for its ghats on the banks of the most sacred river of Hinduism, the Ganges. Pilgrims come mainly to pray, wash, purify, shave (they donate their hair to the river), play cricket, wash clothes, give alms to the Sadhus(monks), practice yoga.
You arrive at the hotel in the morning where you settle down.
You will walk in the old town toward Aurangzeb mosque, built in the XVIIth century, before taking a glimpse of the famous Gold temple, the most sacred temple of Benares; its roofs are covered with 800 kg of gold and the entrance is reserved to Hindus only. You visit the outer temple ofDurga dating back to the late 19th century, also known as the "Temple of the Apes".
At sunset, you have the opportunity to participate in an offering and worship ceremony on the ghats paying tribute to the deities: The "Ganga Aarti". Seeing these illuminated cupolas floating drifting before disappearing over the stream will remain a moment of wisdom you will remember for a long time.
Overnight at the hotel.
Day4: Varanasi
Early in the morning you go for a boat ride on Ganges calm waters to attend the Aarti sunrise ceremony (very different from the evening), the pilgrims' bath and the waking of the city from First rays of the sun, you take a place in a boat for a ride, while on the shores thousands of pilgrims are already pressing to pray and purify themselves in sacred water...
Your afternoon is dedicated to the visit of Sarnath, the birthplace of Buddhist teaching. There, Buddha preached his first sermon in 528 BCE. Sarnath is one of the most important sacred places of Buddhists from all over the world. You visit its museum, which houses remarkable performances including the famous pillar of the legendry Maurian king Ashoka, symbol of India, which is a major piece.
Back in town, you visit Bharat Mata temple, inaugurated in 1936 by Gandhi, and dedicated to the
Mother of India; presented as a "divine" image in relief of the Indian Territory. Studying this modern temple allows us to analyze the ambiguity of a place which hesitates between the status of a museum dedicated to the secular Indian nation and a temple to the divinized Hindu nation. A museum temple tourist’s visit without any emotion or devotion, Bharat Mata asks about the links between religion, history, politics and their evolution, as well as local practical reactions to these places at the service of different nationalist rhetoric.
You take a walk in the local fruit and vegetable market.
In the evening, you can once again attend the fascinating performance of the Aarti ceremony on the Ganges banks.
Dinner and overnight stay at the hotel.
Day 5 : Varanasi to Gaya to Bodhgaya (255km – 5h)
After having breakfast, you take the road to Gaya, sacred city for Hindus as well as Bodhgaya is for the Buddhists.
Visited by Lord Vishnu who gave her the power to absolve sins, many pilgrims made offerings on the ghats along the Falga River. You will be able to see Vishnupad temple where Vishnu’s imprint would still be visible (the entrance is reserved for Hindus).
Your road continues towards Bodhgaya where Buddha reached the Awakening after 40 days of asceticism. Installation in the hotel.
Dinner and overnight in the hotel.
Day 6: Bodhgaya
After having breakfast, you go to discover Mahabodhi temple, of the "Great Illumination", where Prince Siddhartha Gautama reached the Awakening. A 50m high brick pyramid restored several times dominates the site; Place of major pilgrimage, it contains a golden statue of Buddha. It is one of the holiest places in the Buddhist world where pilgrims from all over the world come to gather.
In the afternoon, you will discover several Tibetan, Thai and Burmese monasteries built by the pilgrims in the architectural style of their origin country.
Day 7 : Bodhgaya to Nalanda to Rajgir (71km – 2h)
After having breakfast, you leave for Nalanda, teaching the doctrine of the Great Vehiclemajor center where lived up to 10 000 monks in the seventh century, period of its apogee. Nalanda’s university was a major center of Indian thought whose influence extended over much of Asia: Central Asia, Himalayas, Southeast Asia, China and Japan.
You will then explore ruins that still evoke the glorious past of this city, as well as the daily life. You continue to Rajgir, the five-hill town where Buddha loved to preach and retreat. He would have spent several years there. Then you will discover the cave of the first Buddhist "council" after the master's death, as well as Jain and Shivaite temples.
Day 8 : Rajgir to Patna to Vaishali (170kms - 04h30)
On the way to Patna you stop at Bihar-Sharif, where there is another Buddhist teaching center, the University of Odantapuri. The city was also the capital of Pala dynasty in the 10th century.
When you arrive, you will visit the city museum, which contains beautiful sculptures of Maurian and Gupta dynasties style, painted banners, tangka, paintings and terracotta objects.
The National Library and its Arabic and Persian manuscripts.
Further on, you stop in Vaishali city, already mentioned in the Ramayana. It was also in this city that in the 5th century BC, the second Buddhist council took place.
The Buddha went there three years after his awakening, and put an end, it is said, to a plague epidemic.
You discover Ashoka’s pillar, third emperor of Maurya dynaty, who reigned in the 3rd century B.C. and who adopted the non-violent principles of Buddhism. He had edicts engraved on rocks or columns scattered throughout the country of Afghanistan, as far as Bengal, and south as far as Mysore.
This Vishaili pillar is erected on the site of the last sermon.
Overnight stay at the hotel
Day 9 : Vaishali to Kushinagar (225kms -6-7 heures)
At about 60 KM from Vaishali, you stop at the very big stupa of Kesarya. According to the legend, when the Buddha reached Parinirvana and left Vaisahali for Kushinagar, many people followed him and refused to leave. However, Buddha urged them to return to their families, what they finally accepted. To console the saddened crowd of this separation, the Buddha offered them his begging bowl. The great Maurian Emperor Ashoka would have erected this stupa in this place to commemorate this event.
You continue your day to Kushinagar, one of the four holy places of Buddhism where the Buddha ended his life at the age of 80 and reached the mahapari nirvana. You will then discover the stupa built in the 5th century which marks the place where its body was extinguished and was cremated near Hiranyavati’s river.
The three most famous Chinese Buddhist travelers - Faxian, Xuanzang and Yi Jing - account for their passage there.
Excavations have revealed a number of stupas and other buildings dating back to the 3rd-5th century BC, period of prosperity of the city. A great stupa always visible, says Ramabhar, rises on the exact place of Buddha’s cremation.
Today, Kushinagar is a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists from all over the world and many Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Sri Lankan temples have been erected there as in other holy places of Buddhism.
Overnight stay at the hotel
Day 10: Kushinagar to Kapilavastu to Lumbini 175 kms - 05 hours
After crossing the Nepalese border, you will head towards Kapilavastu, capital of the Sakya clan to which Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha, belonged. According to tradition, it was there that the palace of the king Suddhodana his father, where Gautama would have stayed until the age of 29. The city would have been destroyed during Buddha’s lifetime but remained a place of pilgrimage for more than a millennium, as testified by the trip of the Chinese monks Faxian and Xuanzang who visited respectively in the 5th and 7th centuries.
Nevertheless, Buddhism gradually lost its influence in the Kapilavastu region, but its identification, which for a long time interested only a few specialists, became a nationalistic and tourist issue in the second half of the twentieth century, and the object of a certain rivalry between the Nepalese Terai and the Indian Uttar Pradesh.
You discover the ruins where Buddha would have spent his childhood before heading for Lumbini. In the year 623 BC, was born in Lumbini Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha. Some 300 years later, the great Emperor Ashoka, came to Lumbini and left in honor of Buddha a column engraved with inscriptions attesting the birth. In the fifteenth century, the Mughal invaders devastated the abandoned site.
You visit Maya Devi temple and the sacred basin of Puskarani, where Buddha's mother would have bathed before giving birth to her. Visit the many monasteries bred by faithful from all over Asia.
Overnight stay at the hotel
Day 11 : Lumbini to Kathmandu (273km-7h)
After having breakfast, you continue with the visit of Lumbini’s sacred places: emperor Ashoka’s column, half buried and 6 m high. Excavations to find the place where Buddha was born are made ancient temple dedicated to his mother, Maya Devi. A sculptured stone found in the temple after its collapse represents Buddha’s birth. Lumbini is the home of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Thai, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Nepalese Buddhist monasteries...
Kathmandu, from Bhairahawa Airport, (20kms)
Nepal is first of all Kathmandu and its incredible valley strewn with palaces and pagodas, majestic Hindu or Buddhist temples where pilgrims and travelers stroll, spectacular gilded stupas, marvelous villages with finely carved houses, workshops Potters and ingenious craftsmen where ancestral know-how, winding alleys lined with stalls where colors spread.
You will discover the great stupa of Swayambunath, which stands on top of a green mound. From here you embrace the whole city of Kathmandu. Sanctuaries of the Sect of Yellow Caps, prayer wheels, and sacred pillars make this place one of the most sacred of the city.
Overnight stay at the hotel
Day 12 : Kathmandu
After having breakfast, you visit Patan, 'The City with Golden Roofs'. Former royal capital and city of medieval art, Patan was once a great Buddhist teaching center, as evidenced by the many monasteries scattered around the city. Lalitpur was chosen by Emperor Ashoka, who according to certain traditions, would be the founder of the city, to raise one of the four great Stupas that surround it, located at the cardinal points, and would thus be the oldest Buddhist city in Asia.
You visit the palace and the temples as well as the museum.
You continue with the visit to Pashupatinath of one of the most sacred Hindu centers of the country (entrance reserved for the Hindus), located on the lush banks of the sacred Bagmati river.
Day 13 : Kathmandu to Dhulikhel (30km-1h)
You take the road to reach Changu Narayan village and its beautiful sanctuary with rich decorations.
The temple, which Hungs on a rocky promontory, dates from 1702, but the origin of its foundation dates back from the 4th century. Dedicated to Vishnu and equipped with rich decorations, you will discover the exceptional beauty with its double roof, its sculptures of goddesses, its guardian lions, and its god Garuda.
You continue to Bhaktapur, a true city-museum.
Alexandra David-Néel, who was fascinated by the beauty of the monuments of this medieval town, said:
"There is something unreal in the buildings in which we find ourselves. One has the impression of appearing on the stage of a theater, in the middle of the sets. One expects to hear a whistle and to see machinists emerge who will suddenly remove these palaces and these fantastic temples”
You will discover the fabulous monuments of Bhaktapur and stroll through the alleys where each house offers some unusual details.
You attend craftsmen potter’s work installed under the arcades of the great place.
You continue on the road to Dhulikhel, an authentic village mainly inhabited by Newar populations, and renowned for its panoramic views on the Himalayas, Everest, Langtang, etc.
The chief town of the district, Dhulikhel is also the city of gods and goddesses. There are several nearby temples dedicated to goddess Harishiddhi, Lord Vishnu, Lord Krishna. From Bhagwati-Shiva temple, situated on the hill that dominates the village, the panorama is splendid.
Day 14: Dhulikhel to Panauti to Kathmandu
After having breakfast, located on a ridge, the village offers an amazing panorama on the Himalayan range. The pink morning light rivals beauty with the flamboyant sunsets over eternal snows. The magical spectacle of a grandiose nature is offered to you in the crystalline silence of dawn or dusk.
You then discover Namo Budha, a hill overlooking the small medieval town of Panauti. The
Buddha himself is supposed to have appeared in this place to donate his pulpit to a hungry tigress so that it feeds his young. A stupa has raised here to commemorate this episode of Buddha life, as well as a massive statue.
You continue to Panauti village, a pretty medieval town with a special charm. You then discover ancient houses with amazing stucco decorations. Its temple of the fifteenth century, built in the purest Nepalese style, is under the protection of UNESCO. The one in Brahmayani built in the 17th century is also very interesting.
You go back to Kathmandu a stay overnight in the hotel.
Day 15: Kathmandu
After having breakfast, you discover Bodhnath, one of the main Buddhist sanctuaries in the country and one of the Nepal’s ten sites listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Its stupa of the fourteenth century, which dominates the horizon, is one of the largest in the world and is endowed with 108 inches each containing a statue of Buddha. The influx of many Tibetan refugees from Tibet to Bodnath in 1959 resulted in the construction of some fifty gompas (monasteries). They testify to the religious importance of this site, closely linked to the founding of Lhasa.
You take a walk in the lively Tibetan neighborhood before visiting Durbar Square, the monumental center of Kathmandu.
It includes the former royal palace, the house of the living goddess Kumari, pagodas, temples and old quarters where it is pleasant to stroll through the alleys to houses adorned with magnificent windows and carved doors.
You stroll through the narrow streets to see Tibetan or Nepalese jewelery, clothes, supplies for hikers and trekkers, tangkas, trinkets of wood or bronze, local crafts and pottery, art gallery, small restaurants and cafes ... It's a lifetime is organized in these small colored and encumbered streets.
Overnight at the hotel.
Day 16 : Departure from Kathmandu
After having breakfast, you are transferred to either Kathmandu or Delhi airport for your return flight.