Hindu Pilgrimage Tour

Our representative meets you at Tribhuvan International Airport and transfers you to your hotel.

In the late afternoon we go to Pashupatinath for the evening aarati on the western bank of the Bagmati. The ceremony is performed at dusk by young priests with oil lamps, bells and conch, and the crowd on the terraces is largely local rather than touristic.

The complex is the holiest Hindu site in Nepal and one of the great Shiva temples of the subcontinent. Non-Hindus view the pagoda from across the river; the guide explains the layout, the Bachhareshwari and Guhyeshwari shrines and the cremation ghats below.

Overnight in Kathmandu.

An early return to Pashupatinath for morning darshan, which is far quieter than the evening. Hindu pilgrims enter the main temple; the guide accompanies others around the eastern complex, the 108 Shiva lingams and the sadhu compound.

The rest of the day covers the valley's other principal shrines: Guhyeshwari, one of the Shakti Peethas; Budhanilkantha, where a fifth-century Vishnu lies on a bed of nagas in a stone tank; and Dakshinkali, the Kali shrine south of the valley where sacrifices are made on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

If the calendar allows, the day finishes at the Changu Narayan temple, the oldest standing shrine in Nepal and a Vishnu foundation of the fourth century.

Overnight in Kathmandu.

A long drive south-east out of the hills onto the Terai — seven to eight hours on the highway with a lunch stop, dropping from 1,400 m to the flat plains near the Indian border.

Janakpur is the ancient capital of Mithila and, in the Ramayana, the birthplace of Sita and the place where she was married to Rama. The town is a working pilgrimage centre rather than a museum: dhoti-clad pilgrims, cycle rickshaws, and Maithili spoken everywhere.

You arrive in time for the evening at the Janaki Mandir, a marble temple in Mughal-Rajput style built in 1910 on the spot where Sita's image is said to have been found.

Overnight in Janakpur.

A full morning at the Janaki Mandir and the adjoining Ram Sita Bibaha Mandap, the pavilion marking the marriage itself, which is the focus of the Vivaha Panchami festival each winter.

The town holds dozens of sacred ponds — Dhanush Sagar and Ganga Sagar among them — and pilgrims bathe in them in a set order. Your guide walks the circuit with you.

The afternoon visits a Mithila art centre in one of the surrounding villages, where women paint the geometric and figurative wall art of this region on paper and canvas. It is one of the oldest living folk traditions in South Asia and the co-operatives sell directly.

Overnight in Janakpur.

East along the Terai highway across the Koshi barrage, where the river spreads into a wetland that is one of the best birding sites in Nepal — a stop worth making even on a pilgrimage.

Barahakshetra stands at the confluence of the Koka and the Koshi and is one of the four great Kshetras of Nepal, dedicated to Varaha, the boar avatar of Vishnu. Pilgrims bathe at the confluence before darshan.

The site is old, quiet and much less visited than the western shrines, set among sal forest above the river.

The night is at Dharan at the foot of the hills, from where the Dantakali Shakti Peetha and the Budha Subba shrine can be visited in the late afternoon. Overnight at Dharan.

A long westward drive along the Terai and up the Narayani — the single biggest travelling day of the tour, broken with stops.

Devghat lies at the confluence of the Kali Gandaki and the Trishuli, where the combined river becomes the Narayani. It is one of the most sacred confluences in Nepal and a place where devout Hindus come to spend their final years in the ashrams above the water.

Pilgrims bathe at the sangam and perform shraddha rites for their ancestors here, particularly at Maghe Sankranti in January when tens of thousands arrive.

The atmosphere is quiet and unusually gentle — old people, ashram bells, and the river. Overnight at Devghat or nearby Bharatpur.

North-west up the Prithvi Highway along the Trishuli, climbing off the plains and back into the hills — four to five hours.

In Pokhara (822 m) the afternoon covers the valley's own sacred sites: the Bindhyabasini temple on its hilltop in the old bazaar, one of the oldest in the region; the Tal Barahi shrine on its island in Phewa Lake, reached by rowing boat; and the Gupteshwor Mahadev cave, where a natural Shiva lingam stands in a chamber beneath Devi's Fall.

The evening is free by the lake, with the Annapurnas across the water.

Overnight in Pokhara.

An early flight from Pokhara up the Kali Gandaki to Jomsom (2,720 m) — twenty minutes between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna through the deepest gorge on earth.

A jeep continues up the valley through Kagbeni, where the green ends and Mustang's high desert begins, climbing to Muktinath (3,760 m).

The complex is one of the eight svayam vyakta kshetras of Vishnu and one of the 108 Divya Desams. Pilgrims pass beneath the 108 bull-head water spouts, bathe in the two Mukti Kunda pools, and take darshan at the pagoda. The Jwala Mai shrine below holds a natural gas flame burning over spring water — the meeting of the elements that gives the site its meaning.

The altitude is real at 3,760 m; move slowly. Overnight at Muktinath or Jomsom.

An early jeep down to Jomsom for the morning flight — mountain flights here operate before the valley wind builds, so departures are at first light.

The flight lands in Pokhara and connects onward to Kathmandu (1,400 m), arriving around midday.

The afternoon is free, or can be used for any shrine you would like to return to. Many pilgrims choose a second darshan at Pashupatinath now that the circuit is complete.

Overnight in Kathmandu.

The morning is free for last offerings or shopping in the bazaars around Ason and Indra Chowk, where puja goods, brass and rudraksha are sold.

We collect you from your hotel three hours before your flight and transfer you to Tribhuvan International Airport.

Over ten days the route has taken in the Jyotirlinga at Pashupatinath, Sita's Janakpur, the Varaha shrine on the Koshi, the ashrams at Devghat and Vishnu's Muktinath at 3,760 m — the principal Hindu pilgrimage of Nepal in a single circuit.