Footsteps of the Buddha: 10-Day Buddhist Pilgrimage Tour of Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, Nalanda and Kushinagar

Arrive in Varanasi for the evening aarti

Your driver meets you at Varanasi airport, about 25 km from the city, and takes you to your hotel. The lanes near the river are too narrow for cars, so the last stretch may be on foot or by cycle rickshaw, with help for your luggage. Check in and rest after your journey.

In the early evening, walk with your guide to Dashashwamedh Ghat for the Ganga aarti, when priests offer fire, flowers and incense to the river to the sound of bells, conch shells and chanting. Arrive a little early for a place on the steps, or watch from a boat on the water. The ceremony lasts about 45 minutes.

Varanasi, known in the Buddha's time as Kashi or Benares, was already an ancient holy city and a centre of learning when he came here, and the Deer Park at Sarnath, where he gave his first teaching, lies just outside it. Many Buddhist pilgrims begin their journey here for that reason. Have a simple vegetarian dinner, perhaps a Banarasi thali, and an early night before tomorrow's dawn start.

• ArrivalMeet and greet at Varanasi airport
• EveningThe Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat

OvernightVaranasi, 2 nights.

Dawn on the Ganges and the Deer Park at Sarnath

Take a rowing boat at dawn along the ghats as pilgrims bathe in the Ganges and the sun rises over the far bank. You pass the cremation ghat at Manikarnika, where fires burn day and night; cameras must go away here.

After breakfast, drive to Sarnath. Here, in the Deer Park, the Buddha gave his first sermon to the five companions who had practised austerities with him, setting in motion the Wheel of the Dharma and teaching the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Way. On the way in, stop at the Chaukhandi Stupa, traditionally the place where he met them again. Walk among the ruins of ancient monasteries to the Dhamek Stupa, built in the 5th century on an older foundation to mark the spot, past the stump of an Ashokan pillar. See the Mulagandha Kuti Vihara, a temple opened in 1931 with murals of the Buddha's life by the Japanese artist Kosetsu Nosu.

The site museum holds the Lion Capital of Ashoka, India's national emblem, and a serene 5th-century seated Buddha in the teaching gesture. It is closed on Fridays, so if this day falls on a Friday we move Sarnath to the next morning.

• DawnRowing boat along the ghats
• MorningSarnath: Chaukhandi Stupa, Deer Park, Dhamek Stupa and Mulagandha Kuti Vihara
• AfternoonSarnath museum and the Lion Capital

OvernightVaranasi.

The long road to Bodh Gaya

Leave after an early breakfast and drive east into Bihar along the Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia's oldest highways, which follows a trade route used since ancient times and was rebuilt by Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century. It is a long day on a busy road, but your driver sets a calm pace, with stops for tea and lunch.

Break the journey at Sasaram to see the tomb of Sher Shah Suri himself, a great five-storey sandstone tomb from the 1540s standing in the middle of an artificial lake. Further on, you cross the wide Son river on a long bridge. The landscape is flat and rural: rice and wheat fields, brick kilns, palm trees and villages of mud and brick houses.

Arrive in Bodh Gaya in the late afternoon. In the evening, take a first quiet walk to the Mahabodhi Temple, when the lamps are lit and monks and nuns from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Tibet, Bhutan and many other countries chant and circle around the Bodhi Tree.

• MorningDrive into Bihar on the Grand Trunk Road
• MiddayOptional stop at Sher Shah Suri's tomb in Sasaram
• EveningFirst visit to the Mahabodhi Temple

OvernightBodh Gaya, 2 nights, within walking distance of the temple.

Under the Bodhi Tree

Spend the morning at the Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first temple here was built by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE; the present 50-metre tower dates largely from the 5th and 6th centuries. Beside it grows the Bodhi Tree, a descendant of the fig tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, and the Vajrasana, the diamond throne where he sat. Your guide will show you the places linked to the seven weeks he spent here afterwards, including the Ratnachankrama, the jewel walk marked by carved stone lotuses, and the Muchalinda lake. Remove your shoes at the entrance; mobile phones are usually not allowed inside and are left at the cloakroom.

In the afternoon, visit the monasteries built by Buddhist communities from Thailand, Japan, Bhutan, Tibet and elsewhere, each in its own national style, and the 25-metre Great Buddha Statue. If you would like, cross the river to the village associated with Sujata, who offered the Buddha a bowl of milk-rice before his enlightenment.

Time for meditation is built into the day; your guide can arrange a session with a local teacher, or simply sit quietly in the temple garden.

• MorningThe Mahabodhi Temple, the Bodhi Tree and the Vajrasana
• AfternoonInternational monasteries, the Great Buddha Statue and optional Sujata village
• EveningMeditation or quiet time at the temple

OvernightBodh Gaya.

Vulture Peak and the Peace Pagoda

Drive to Rajgir, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Magadha, ringed by forested hills. The Buddha spent many rainy seasons here and gave some of his most important teachings, and King Bimbisara of Magadha became one of his early followers. Bimbisara gave the Buddha the Venuvana, a bamboo grove that became one of the first monasteries; it is now a quiet park with a pond.

Walk the stone path up Gridhakuta, Vulture Peak, named for the shape of its rocks, where he often taught, and where many pilgrims sit to chant and meditate. The climb takes about 20 to 30 minutes and is steady rather than steep; go in the early morning or late afternoon, when it is cooler. Then take the ropeway to the white Vishwa Shanti Stupa, the World Peace Pagoda, built by Japanese Buddhists in 1969, for a view over the hills.

Rajgir also has hot springs, visited by Hindu, Buddhist and Jain pilgrims, and the Saptaparni cave on the hillside is traditionally the site of the First Buddhist Council, held soon after the Buddha's death.

• MorningDrive to Rajgir; Venuvana bamboo grove
• AfternoonVulture Peak and the Vishwa Shanti Stupa by ropeway

OvernightRajgir, 1 night, at a simple 3-star or best-available hotel.

The ruins of Nalanda University

Drive to Nalanda, one of the world's first great universities, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From the 5th to the 12th century it drew thousands of monks and scholars from across Asia to study Buddhist philosophy, logic, grammar, medicine and astronomy. The Chinese monk Xuanzang studied and taught here in the 7th century and left a detailed account of its life. It was sacked around the end of the 12th century and never recovered.

Walk through the red-brick monasteries, with their rows of small cells, lecture platforms and wells, to the great temple known as the Sariputta Stupa, with its stucco Buddha figures in the corner niches. See finds in the site museum, which is closed on Fridays, and the Xuanzang Memorial Hall nearby. On the road from Rajgir, look out for the stalls of Silao, known for khaja, a flaky layered sweet.

Continue to Patna, the capital of Bihar, built on the site of ancient Pataliputra, the seat of Emperor Ashoka, where the Third Buddhist Council is traditionally said to have been held. If time allows, visit the Bihar Museum, which is usually closed on Mondays.

• MorningNalanda University ruins and museum
• AfternoonDrive to Patna; optional Bihar Museum

OvernightPatna, 1 night.

Vaishali and the road north

Leave early and cross the Ganges on one of India's longest river bridges to Vaishali, capital of the Licchavi republic, where the Buddha often stayed and announced his coming parinirvana. It is also traditionally where women were first ordained as nuns, led by his foster mother Mahaprajapati Gotami. At Kolhua, see the Ashokan pillar topped by a single lion, beside a brick stupa and the small Ramkund tank. Nearby is the relic stupa, which once held a portion of his ashes.

Continue north through the flat, green farmland of north Bihar, past fields of rice, maize and sugar cane, to Kesariya, with one of the largest Buddhist stupas in the world. It is said to mark the place where the Buddha gave his begging bowl to the people of Vaishali who had followed him. Stop for a short walk around its terraced brick mound.

Then cross into Uttar Pradesh and arrive in Kushinagar in the evening. It is a long day; if you prefer, we skip Vaishali to shorten it.

• MorningVaishali: Ashokan pillar and relic stupa (optional)
• AfternoonKesariya stupa, then on to Kushinagar

OvernightKushinagar, 2 nights; most hotels here are simple.

The Mahaparinirvana Temple

Visit the Mahaparinirvana Temple, where a 6-metre reclining Buddha, carved from a single block of sandstone in about the 5th century, lies on his right side in the position in which he passed away, between twin sal trees. It was found during excavations in the 1870s. Pilgrims cover the statue with golden robes and sit in quiet meditation around it, and the atmosphere in the early morning is very calm. Behind the temple stands the main stupa, said to enshrine relics.

Then walk or drive about 1.5 km to the Ramabhar Stupa, a large brick mound marking the site of his cremation, set in a peaceful garden. On the way, stop at the Matha Kuar shrine, with a seated Buddha in black stone in the earth-touching gesture.

The afternoon is free for meditation, or for the Thai, Japanese and Myanmar temples nearby, each with its own style of worship and decoration. Kushinagar is small and quiet, and it is easy to walk between the sites.

• MorningMahaparinirvana Temple and the reclining Buddha
• MiddayMatha Kuar shrine and the Ramabhar Stupa
• AfternoonMeditation or international temples

OvernightKushinagar.

A quiet morning, then Gorakhpur

Return early to the Mahaparinirvana Temple while it is quiet, for a last moment of reflection beside the reclining Buddha. Many pilgrims choose to make a final offering of a robe or flowers, or simply to walk slowly around the stupa in the morning light. After breakfast, take time to rest or to revisit any of the temples you enjoyed.

Drive to Gorakhpur through farmland and small market towns, and check in near the airport. If you have energy in the afternoon, visit the large Gorakhnath Temple, an important Hindu temple and seat of the Nath tradition, or browse the bookshop of the Gita Press, one of India's best-known publishers of Hindu religious texts.

If you are adding Lumbini, the Buddha's birthplace in Nepal, you head for the border at Sonauli instead, about three hours away, and continue to Lumbini to complete the four great places of pilgrimage: birth, enlightenment, first teaching and passing away.

• MorningMahaparinirvana Temple at dawn
• AfternoonDrive to Gorakhpur; optional Gorakhnath Temple

OvernightGorakhpur, 1 night.

Fly home via Delhi or Mumbai

Have a relaxed breakfast and finish your packing. Gorakhpur airport is small, with a limited number of flights a day, so we book your domestic flight to leave plenty of time for your international connection.

Transfer to Gorakhpur airport for a flight to Delhi or Mumbai, and connect with your international flight. Allow at least four hours between flights. Many guests add a night in Agra to see the Taj Mahal, or a few days in Delhi, before flying home.

• MorningTransfer to Gorakhpur airport