The Four Great Places

The journey in one line

4 stops in Nepal and India. Complete means all 4 visited.

In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta the Buddha is asked what his followers should do after he is gone. He names four places worth seeing. Lumbini where he was born, Bodh Gaya where he woke, Sarnath where he first taught, and Kushinagar where he died. That list is about as old as the tradition itself, and it has not changed. People have walked between these four places for more than two thousand years. Ashoka went in the third century BCE and left pillars to prove it. Faxian and Xuanzang came from China and wrote down what they found. Three of the four are in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. One is in Nepal. Together they sit inside a rectangle about four hundred kilometres across.

These are not the grandest Buddhist buildings in the world, and several of them are archaeological sites rather than working temples. What they carry is location. The claim is that something happened on this ground, and the shrines are markers rather than the point. The four also map a life in order: birth, awakening, teaching, death. Walking them in sequence is a way of reading a biography with your feet.

The usual season is October to March. The plains are very hot from April and the monsoon runs from June to September. Most people travel Lumbini to Bodh Gaya to Sarnath to Kushinagar, or the reverse, by road with Gorakhpur, Gaya and Varanasi as the transport hubs. Lumbini needs a Nepal visa and a land border crossing at Sonauli unless you fly to Bhairahawa. India runs a Buddhist Circuit train that covers all four.

Where it goes

The stops, in order

What a visit means here. A visit means being in the public visitor area of each of the four places. Worship, practice and vows are not recorded and are not required. The journey is complete when all four are visited.

1. 1

   Maya Devi Temple and the Lumbini sacred garden

   लुम्बिनी

   Lumbini, Nepal

   

   Lumbini is where tradition places the birth of Siddhartha Gautama. The Maya Devi Temple stands over a marker stone and the ruins of earlier shrines, next to the Ashokan pillar of 249 BCE that names the spot. The sacred garden around it holds the Puskarini pond and monasteries built by many countries.

   What counts as a visit

   The Lumbini sacred garden and the public interior of the Maya Devi Temple.

   Access

   Managed by the Lumbini Development Trust. Footwear comes off inside the Maya Devi Temple and photography inside is restricted. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

2. 2

   Mahabodhi Temple

   महाबोधि मंदिर

   Bodh Gaya, India

   

   Bodh Gaya is where the Buddha is said to have reached awakening under the Bodhi tree. The brick temple beside the tree dates in its present form to the Gupta period and rests on a platform Ashoka is credited with building. The Vajrasana, a polished sandstone slab, marks the seat itself.

   What counts as a visit

   The Mahabodhi Temple complex inside the boundary wall, including the Bodhi tree enclosure.

   Access

   Run by the Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee. Mobile phones are controlled at the gate and footwear is left outside. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

3. 3

   Sarnath

   सारनाथ

   Varanasi, India

   

   Sarnath is the deer park at Isipatana where the Buddha gave his first teaching to five companions. The Dhamek Stupa marks the spot in a rebuilt sixth century form. The Ashokan pillar nearby carried the lion capital that India later took as its emblem, now in the site museum.

   What counts as a visit

   The Archaeological Survey of India excavated site around the Dhamek Stupa, and the Sarnath Museum.

   Access

   The excavated site and the museum are ticketed separately. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

4. 4

   Kushinagar

   कुशीनगर

   Kushinagar, India

   

   Kushinagar is where the Buddha died and where his body was cremated. The Mahaparinirvana Temple holds a reclining figure of him carved in the fifth century, set in front of a stupa. The Ramabhar Stupa a short distance away marks the cremation ground.

   What counts as a visit

   The Mahaparinirvana Temple and stupa enclosure, and the Ramabhar Stupa grounds.

   Access

   An open archaeological site under the Archaeological Survey of India. Footwear is left outside the temple. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

Respect and access

Footwear comes off at every shrine and at the Bodhi tree enclosure. Shoulders and knees stay covered. People will be practising around you at all four places, often for a long time and sometimes in tears. Photographing them is not part of the visit. Monastics of many nationalities live at these sites; do not assume a shared language or ask for photographs.

Opening times, prices, permits and eligibility change. Nothing on this page is a statement about today. Follow the Check access link on a place before you plan around it.

Sources

• whc.unesco.orghttps://whc.unesco.org/en/list/666 · checked September 17, 2026
• whc.unesco.orghttps://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1056 · checked September 17, 2026
• incredibleindia.gov.inhttps://www.incredibleindia.gov.in/en/uttar-pradesh/varanasi/sarnath · checked September 17, 2026
• kushinagar.nic.inhttps://kushinagar.nic.in/tourist-place/mahanirvana-stupa/ · checked September 17, 2026

TravelDay selected and grouped these places. Naming a custodian, a government agency or UNESCO as a source is not a claim that any of them endorsed this journey.