Duration
14 days
This is the circuit Bodhi Dragon was founded on. Over twenty-five years we have walked it more than two hundred times, and it still bends back to the Mahabodhi at the close — the same tree, a different pilgrim.
We move slowly and overland, in a single small group of no more than twelve, so that each of the four great places — Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar — is given the day it asks for rather than the hour a coach tour allows. Mornings are held for sitting; the roads are driven in the afternoons. A scholar-guide trained at Drepung or Nalanda travels with the group from the first morning to the last, and resident monks receive us at each site.
One place a day, in the order the Buddha is said to have walked them.
The route begins and ends in the Bihar heartland, crosses briefly into the Nepali Terai for Lumbini, and closes along the Ganges at Sarnath and Varanasi. Boutique heritage stays, all meals, all transport, teaching fees and monastery donations are included from the moment you land at Gaya.
You are met at Gaya airport and driven the short distance to Bodhgaya. A quiet welcome dinner, an early night, and a first unhurried walk to the Mahabodhi Temple after dark, when the grounds belong to the monks.
A full morning at the Mahabodhi Temple and the Vajrasana, the diamond throne. We circumambulate the bodhi tree at dawn, sit beneath it, and walk the seven sacred spots of the seven weeks after the awakening.
Morning meditation instruction with our resident teacher, then an afternoon along monastery row — the Thai, Bhutanese, Tibetan and Japanese temples — closing at the twenty-five-metre Great Buddha statue.
We drive to Rajgir, ancient capital of Magadha, and climb Gridhakuta — Vulture's Peak — where the Heart Sutra was given. The hot springs and the Bimbisara road below.
A full day among the red-brick viharas of Nalanda, the world's oldest university, where Xuanzang studied for five years. We read from his diary as we walk the excavated cells.
North across the Ganges to Vaishali, where the Buddha announced his approaching parinirvana and the Second Council was held. The Ashokan lion pillar still stands over a quiet tank.
A long, contemplative drive east to Kushinagar, the place of the parinirvana. We arrive by late afternoon and settle in stillness.
The quietest day of the circuit. Morning at the reclining Buddha in the Mahaparinirvana Temple; late afternoon at the Ramabhar Stupa, the cremation place, as the monks circumambulate at dusk.
We cross the border at Sonauli into the Nepali Terai and reach Lumbini, the garden of the Buddha's birth, by evening.
The Maya Devi Temple, the marker stone, the Puskarini pond and the Ashokan pillar whose inscription reads simply, ‘Here the Buddha was born.’ An afternoon cycle through the monasteries of the Tange master plan.
Back across the border and south to the Ganges plain, arriving at Sarnath outside Varanasi in the evening.
The Dhamek Stupa and the deer park at Isipatana, where the first teaching was given to the five ascetics. The Sarnath Museum holds the Gupta Buddha, arguably the finest ever carved.
A boat on the Ganges at first light — the ghats, the rising sun, the oldest living city the Buddha walked through to reach Sarnath. The afternoon is yours to rest.
A closing sit and breakfast together, then transfers to Varanasi airport for onward flights, carrying the circuit home.
One price, disclosed in full. No optional extras quoted at the temple gate.
No. Around half of our pilgrims come without any formal commitment. The teachers and monasteries we visit welcome anyone who arrives with respect, and the pre-trip reading makes the journey far richer whatever your starting point.
Easy. Daily walking is short — one to three kilometres, mostly flat — with two gentle climbs at Rajgir and the temple grounds. The longest efforts are the overland drives, which we pace deliberately.
Boutique heritage hotels and long-standing monastery partners, always on a twin-share basis. Rooms are comfortable and clean rather than luxurious; at Kushinagar and Lumbini they are deliberately simple.
Yes. Many pilgrims add a few days in Delhi, the Taj Mahal at Agra, or the Kerala backwaters. We arrange these through trusted partners, billed separately from the circuit.
Whether you are planning a private pilgrimage, a small group retreat, or a corporate dharma circuit — reach us directly. We answer every enquiry within two working days, in the order it arrives.
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