Day 1 : Delhi
You are welcomed at the Delhi airport by a representative of our local agency or by your French-speaking guide who will greet you to India. They will ensure your transfer to the hotel that we have reserved for you for two nights.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 2 : Delhi
After breakfast, the day is dedicated to discovering Delhi.
Bathed by the holy waters of the Yamuna, Delhi was twice the capital of an 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 wide avenues, with its business district and the parliament grouped around Connaught Place; and Old Delhi, the old city and capital of Muslim India, with narrow streets lined with bustling bazaars. The old city houses the Red Fort, a testament to the power of the Mughal emperors, as well as the largest mosque in the country: Jama Masjid.
You will explore Old Delhi on foot, then visit Raj Ghat, the mausoleum of Mahatma Gandhi. Next, you will visit Humayun's Tomb, a beautiful example of Mughal architecture that is said to have inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal.
After lunch, you will visit the Qutub Minar, the tallest tower in the country, standing at 72.5m high.
In the late afternoon, you will discover New Delhi by passing through RajPath, the Royal Road, before admiring the India Gate, the Parliament, and the Presidential Palace.
In the evening, you will share a moment of devotion with the Sikh community at the Bangla Sahib Temple.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 3 : Delhi / Varanasi (by plane 1h20)
After breakfast, you will take a flight to Varanasi (Benaras).
Upon arrival in Varanasi, check in at the hotel.
After lunch, you will start exploring the city of Varanasi to fully experience the spiritual energy of the city. You will roam the streets in a rickshaw and then continue on foot through the old city's bazaar to the Ashvamedha Ghats.
People mainly come here to pray, bathe, purify themselves, shave (pilgrim women donate their hair to the river), play cricket, wash their clothes, give alms to sadhus, or practice yoga.
You will then board a boat to take you to Manikarnika Ghat, a cremation site in Varanasi, and to witness the magnificent "Ganga Aarti," a fire ceremony celebrated by priests as a daily homage to the sacred Ganges River. You will also see devotees setting tiny clay oil lamps afloat, whose dancing flames drift away before disappearing with the current. The atmosphere is very different from the sunrise ceremonies.
Back on land, you will have the opportunity to participate in an offering and worship ceremony on the Ghats, paying homage to the deities. Seeing these illuminated domes floating in the night will be a memorable moment of wisdom.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 4 : Varanasi
Early in the morning, you will take a boat ride on the river to witness the sunrise Aarti ceremony, the pilgrims' bath, and the city's awakening.
Your morning continues with a walk through the old city to Aurangzeb's Mosque, built in the 17th century. Then you will visit the famous Golden Temple for a glimpse of the most sacred temple in Benaras, with its gold-covered roofs, which is only accessible to Hindus. You will then discover the exterior of the Durga Temple, dating from the late 19th century, also known as the "Monkey Temple."
Return to the hotel for breakfast.
You will continue your day with an excursion to the neighboring city of Sarnath, where Buddha gave his first sermon. The site, composed of ruins of buildings constructed between the reigns of Ashoka and Akbar, also has an interesting museum showcasing magnificent sculptures (both Hindu and Buddhist) unearthed during excavations. The famous Ashoka Pillar, a symbol of India, is a major piece.
After lunch, you will explore the Bharat Mata Temple, inaugurated in 1936 by Gandhi and dedicated to Mother India. It presents a relief map of the Indian territory as its "divine" image. Studying this modern temple allows an analysis of the ambiguity of a place that oscillates between a museum dedicated to the secular Indian nation and a temple to the deified Hindu nation. A museum temple visited by tourist pilgrims without genuine emotion or devotion, Bharat Mata raises questions about the links between religion, history, and politics, and their evolution.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 5 : Varanasi / Gaya / Bodhgaya (255 km / 5h)
After breakfast, depart for Gaya, the sacred city for Hindus, just as Bodhgaya is for Buddhists. Visited by Vishnu, who endowed it with the power to absolve sins, many pilgrims come here to make offerings on the Ghats along the Falga River. You will then visit the VishnuPad Temple, where Vishnu's footprint is said to still be visible (entry is reserved for Hindus).
We then depart for Bodhgaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment after 40 days of asceticism.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 6 : Bodhgaya
After breakfast, you will visit the Mahabodhi Temple, the "Great Enlightenment" temple, where Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment. A 50-meter-high pyramid of bricks restored several times dominates the site.
A major pilgrimage site, it houses 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 meditate.
Lunch before setting out to discover several monasteries of Tibetan, Thai, and Burmese styles built by pilgrims in the architectural style of their countries of origin.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 7 : Bodhgaya / Nalanda / Rajgir (97 km / 2h30)
After breakfast, depart for Nalanda, a major center for teaching the Mahayana doctrine, where up to 10,000 monks lived in the 7th century, during its peak. Nalanda University was also one of the main centers of Indian thought, whose influence extended over much of Asia: Central Asia, the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan.
You will explore the ruins that still evoke the glorious past of this city and the daily life of that time.
You will then proceed to Rajgir, the city of five hills, where Buddha liked to preach and retreat. He would have spent several years here. Then, you will discover the cave of the first Buddhist "council" after the master's death, as well as Jain and Shiva temples.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 8 : Rajgir / Patna / Vaishali (170 km / 4h30)
After breakfast, depart for Patna, making a stop at Bihar-Sharif, where another center of Buddhist teaching, Oran tuburi University, is located. The city was also the capital of the Pala dynasty in the 10th century.
Once in Patna, the former capital of the kingdom of Magadha, you will visit the city museum, which houses beautiful sculptures representative of Maurya and Gupta styles, painted banners, thangkas, paintings, and terracotta objects. You will take a tour of the national library, which holds many Arabic and Persian manuscripts.
Further along, you will stop in the city of Vaishali, mentioned in the Ramayana. It is also in this city that the second Buddhist council was held in the 5th century BC. Buddha visited three years after his enlightenment and is said to have ended a plague epidemic.
You will discover Ashoka's pillar, the third emperor of the Indian Maurya dynasty, who reigned in the 3rd century BC and adopted the non-violent principles of Buddhism. He had edicts engraved on rocks or columns scattered across the country from Afghanistan to Bengal and south to Mysore.
This pillar in Vaishali is erected at the site of his last sermon.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 9 : Vaishali / Kushinagar (215 km / 5h)
After breakfast, depart for Kushinagar.
On the way, stop at the large Kesariya Stupa, which stands 38 meters high and has a circumference of 425 meters, making it the second largest in the world.
According to legend, when Buddha reached Parinirvana and left Vaishali for Kushinagar, many followers accompanied him, unwilling to part. Buddha urged them to return to their families, which they eventually did. To console the saddened crowd, Buddha gave them his begging bowl. Emperor Ashoka is said to have erected this stupa at the site to commemorate this event.
Continue your journey to Kushinagar, one of the four holy Buddhist sites where Buddha died at the age of 80 and attained "mahaparinirvana." Discover the stupa built in the 5th century marking the place where his body was extinguished and cremated near the Hiranya Vati River.
The three most famous Chinese Buddhist travelers, Faxian, Xuanzang, and Yi Jing, reported their visit to these sites.
Excavations have revealed a number of stupas and other buildings dating back to the 3rd-5th century BCE, a period of the city's prosperity. The large, still visible Ramabhar Stupa marks the exact site of Buddha's cremation.
Today, Kushinagar is a pilgrimage site for Buddhists worldwide, with numerous Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Sri Lankan temples, similar to other holy Buddhist sites.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 10 : Kushinagar / Kapilavastu / Lumbini (175 km / 5 h)
After breakfast, cross the Nepalese border to Kapilavastu, the capital of the Sakya clan to which Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha, belonged.
Tradition holds that this is where King Suddhodana's palace stood, where Gautama lived until the age of 29. The city was said to have been destroyed during Buddha's lifetime but remained a pilgrimage site for over a millennium.
However, as Buddhism gradually lost its influence in the Kapilavastu region, it was forgotten. Its identification, long of interest only to a few specialists, became a nationalist and tourist concern in the second half of the 20th century, and a source of rivalry between Nepal's Terai and India's Uttar Pradesh.
Explore the ruins where Buddha spent his childhood, then proceed to Lumbini.
In 623 BCE, Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha, was born in Lumbini. About 300 years later, Emperor Ashoka visited Lumbini and erected a column engraved with inscriptions in honor of Buddha's birth. In the 15th century, the Mughal invaders devastated the abandoned site.
Visit the Maya Devi Temple and the sacred Puskarani pool, where Buddha's mother is said to have bathed before giving birth, as well as the many monasteries built by devotees from all over Asia.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 11 : Lumbini / Kathmandu (273 km / 7h)
After breakfast, visit the sacred sites of Lumbini: the partially buried Ashoka Pillar, 6 meters high.
Excavations at the site of the former temple dedicated to Buddha's mother, Maya Devi, aim to uncover where Buddha was born. A carved stone found in the temple after its collapse represents Buddha's birth.
Lumbini houses Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Thai, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Indian, and Nepalese Buddhist monasteries.
Transfer to Lumbini airport for a flight to Kathmandu and its incredible valley dotted with palaces and pagodas, majestic Hindu and Buddhist temples, spectacular golden stupas, wonderful towns with finely carved houses, ingenious potters and craftsmen's workshops preserving ancient skills, and winding alleys lined with stalls displaying vibrant colors.
Then, head to the green hill to the west of Kathmandu, where the grand Swayambhunath Stupa, over 2,500 years old, marks the point where the legendary patriarch Manjushree discovered the lotus of the ancient lake valley. Swayambhunath offers a bird's eye view of Kathmandu.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 12 : Kathmandu
After breakfast, visit Patan (or Lalitpur), "The City of Golden Roofs." An ancient royal capital and medieval art city, Patan was once a major center of Buddhist learning, as evidenced by the numerous monasteries scattered throughout the city. Emperor Ashoka, believed by some to be the city's founder, chose Lalitpur to erect one of the four great stupas surrounding it, making it the oldest Buddhist city in Asia.
Visit the palace, temples, and museum.
The Pashupatinath Temple is considered one of the holiest sanctuaries of all Hindu temples worldwide. The Shiva temple, Pashupatinath, with multiple levels of golden and silver doors, is famous for its superb architecture. Entry to the temple grounds is prohibited to non-Hindus. It is located on the lush banks of the sacred Bagmati River.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 13 : Kathmandu / Changu Narayan / Bhaktapur / Dhulikhel (38km / 1h40)
After breakfast, drive to the village of Changu Narayan and its beautifully decorated sanctuary.
The current temple structure, perched on a rocky promontory, dates back to 1702, but its foundation dates to the 4th century. Richly decorated and dedicated to Vishnu, it is exceptionally beautiful with its double roof, goddess sculptures, guardian lions, and god Garuda.
Continue to Bhaktapur, a true museum city.
Alexandra David-Néel was fascinated by the beauty of this medieval city's monuments: "There is something unreal about the buildings one finds oneself in. It feels like being on a theater stage, amidst the scenery. One expects to hear a whistle and see stagehands suddenly remove these fantastic palaces and temples."
Discover the fabulous monuments of Bhaktapur and stroll through the alleys where every house offers some unusual detail.
Observe the work of potters under the arcades of the main square.
Continue by road to Dhulikhel, an authentic town mainly inhabited by Newar populations, renowned for its panoramic views of the Himalayas, Everest, and Langtang.
Once the district's capital, Dhulikhel is also the city of gods and goddesses. Several surrounding temples dedicated to Harisiddhi, Vishnu, and Krishna attest to this. From the Bhagwati-Shiva temple on the hill overlooking the town, the panorama is splendid.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 14 : Dhulikhel / Panauti / Kathmandu (43 km / 1h40)
After breakfast, depart for Kathmandu.
Situated on a ridge, the town offers a magnificent panorama of the Himalayan range. The rosy morning light rivals the blazing sunsets against the backdrop of eternal snows. The magical spectacle of grand nature unfolds in the crystalline silence of dawn or dusk.
Discover Namo Buddha, a hill overlooking the small medieval town of Panauti. Buddha himself is said to have appeared here to offer his flesh to a hungry tigress to feed her cubs. A massive statue and a stupa are erected here to commemorate this episode of Buddha's life.
Continue to the town of Panauti, a charming medieval city with a particular charm where its 15th-century temple, built in pure Nepalese style, is listed as a UNESCO heritage site. The 17th-century Brahmayani temple is also very interesting.
Discover the old houses with their astonishing stucco decorations.
Arrive and settle in Kathmandu.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 15 : Kathmandu
After breakfast, explore Bodnath, one of the main Buddhist shrines in the country and one of Nepal's ten UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Its 14th-century stupa, dominating the horizon, is one of the largest in the world and has 108 niches, each containing a Buddha statue.
In 1959, the influx of many Tibetan refugees to Bodnath led to the construction of about fifty gompas (monasteries). They testify to the religious importance of this site, closely linked to the foundation of Lhasa.
Stroll through the lively Tibetan quarter before heading to Durbar Square, the monumental center of Kathmandu. It includes the old royal palace, the house of the living goddess (the Kumari), pagodas, temples, and the old quarters where it is pleasant to wander.
Here, shops follow one another: Tibetan or Nepalese jewelry, clothes, supplies for hikers and trekkers, thangkas, wooden or bronze knick-knacks, local handicrafts and pottery, art galleries, small restaurants, and cafes... A whole life organizes itself in these colorful and crowded small streets.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 16 : Kathmandu / Delhi / Flight back
After breakfast, transfer to Kathmandu airport for your return flight.