As you exit baggage claim/customs on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, your airport representative will be waiting to greet you and transfer you to your hotel. Please look for your name sign. The airport is close to the city centre (about half an hour’s drive), but traffic can make the journey a little slow, especially during peak hours.

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Start at Boudhanath Stupa, one of the holiest sites in Nepal, and the holiest Tibetan Buddhist site outside of Tibet. It commands admiration not only from Buddhists but also Hindus, who can also be seen paying their respects at this holy site. The stupa is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a symbol of peace and love. It used to be a resting point for Tibetan merchants travelling to Nepal and India. Tibetans and other Buddhists from around the world consider this a sacred destination.

Next, visit Pashupatinath Temple, which is dedicated to Hindu Lord Shiva, the God of Destruction and Lord of Animals. This temple is a final destination for Hindu devotees from all around the world, as many people come to die here and to have their ashes scattered. Built in around 400 A.D, the temple is located beside the holy river Bagmati, and is decorated with ancient arts and crafts. Four of the main gates of the temple are made of silver.

Pashupatinath Temple is also home to many Hindu sadhus. They can be spotted around the temple: they are the men with long dreadlocks who meditate by the banks of the Bagmati River. They can sometimes be seen smoking marijuana, as it is believed that Lord Shiva was fond of smoking marijuana at his adobe, Mount Kailash—so the sadhus at Pashupatinath impersonate him!

Later on, visit the old town of Patan. This is one of the Kathmandu Valley’s World Heritage Sites, and well worth a visit. Its origins are mysterious, but it has a long Buddhist history. It claims to have been the capital of the mythical Kiranti Dynasty, and is associated with the great Indian emperor, Ashoka, who is credited with the building of the four grass-covered stupas surrounding the city in around 250 BCE. For many centuries, Patan’s importance eclipsed Kathmandu’s, and by the 7th century it was a major Buddhist centre of Asia, attracting pilgrims, scholars and monks from India, Tibet and China. Medieval Patan was the largest and most prosperous of the three kingdoms in the Kathmandu Valley. The town was ruled by noblemen until the Mallas of Kathmandu took control of the city in 1597, for a while unifying the Kathmandu Valley. Most of Patan’s magnificent architecture dates to the late Malla era (16th-18th centuries).

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Bhairahawa is the gateway to Lumbini, home to the Buddhist pilgrimage shrines where Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was born. From Kathmandu, the flight to Bhairahawa is approximately 35 minutes, and from the Gautama Buddha Airport in Lumbini it’s about an hour’s drive to Lumbini.

The Buddha Maya Garden Hotel and Resort is located in a calm, serene area of the Lumbini World Heritage Garden and is just over five minutes’ walk from the main temples of Lumbini. Buddha Maya Garden has comfortable rooms and friendly, knowledgeable staff who can help you plan your visit to the magnificent monuments, monasteries and fascinating archaeological ruins nearby.

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Situated in the Terai area of southern Nepal, Lumbini is where Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was born in 523 BCE. The major highlights of the Lumbini Garden are: 

• The Ashoka Pillar: The Indian emperor Ashoka visited Lumbini in 249 BCE and erected what is now called the Ashoka Pillar. It contains inscriptions to commemorate his pilgrimage there. It was lost for centuries but rediscovered by Khadga Shivashar in 1895.
• Maya Devi Temple is located near the Ashoka Pillar and houses a bas-relief depicting the birth of Buddha. This is on the site of Buddha’s birth. Recent excavations have revealed a stone bearing a ‘foot imprint’ indicating the exact place of birth.
• The Puskarni Pond is where Queen Mayadevi, the Buddha’s mother, took a bath before giving birth to him. It is south of the pillar.
• Kushinagar is where Lord Buddha passed into Mahaparinirvana. Excavations during the 1990s revealed ruins that are 2000 years old.
• World Peace Pagoda: built by Japanese Buddhists, located outside the compound.

Buddha’s birthday falls on the first full day of the first month of the Hindu lunar calendar and is celebrated by Hindus as well as Buddhists. It is observed at Buddhist shrines and monasteries throughout Nepal, but a particularly grand ceremony is held at Buddha’s birthplace in Lumbini, on the Terai. In Kathmandu, the Tibetan enclave of Boudhanath is a particularly good place to watch the festivities.

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Note: Lumbini Garden is near the Buddha Maya Garden, your hotel in Lumbini, so it’s possible to reach the garden on foot. On this day, no transportation will be booked to transfer you from Buddha Maya Garden to Lumbini Garden.

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Spend the morning exploring more of Lumbini. The town is now redeveloping itself, with the Lumbini Development Zone being home to many monasteries built by many nations (predominantly Buddhist ones) from around the world and thus reflecting their respective architectural traditions. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is being developed as a place of pilgrimage and symbol of world peace.

You will be transferred to Bhairahawa after a half day of sightseeing to fly back to Kathmandu. You will be picked up from the domestic airport in Kathmandu and transferred to your hotel.

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Transfer to airport for return trip home, or for further travel in Nepal.