Golden Triangle with footprints of Buddha

Breakfast. Visiting Old Delhi, starting with the great Jama Masjid, Continuation in rickshaw ride (bicycle cart) to visit Chandni Chowk and Spice Market in Old Delhi, later visit Raj Ghat, which is the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi. Also visit Agrasen ki baoli (step well), Bangla Sahib Gurudwara (Sikh Temple), India Gate, Parliament Building, President House, Ministries. Continue to visit Humayun Tomb, Lotus Temple (Bahai House) and Qutub Minar. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast. Full day visit Amer Fort (Amer Palace), this palatial complex is imposed on the top of a hill that can be reached on the back of an elephant.

Evening visit the Maharaja's Palace (City Palace) and its museum, the Jai Singh Observatory (Jantar Mantar), Galta ji temple (Monkey temple). Later you will also explore the colourful market of Jaipur. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast and drive to Agra, in route visiting Abhaneri (90 KMS / 2 HRS) and visit Chand Baori and Temple of Harshat Mata dedicated to the god Vishnu. We continue drive to visit Fatehpur Sikri, built by the Mughal emperor Akbar between 1571 and 1585, in honor of the saint Salim Chishti.

Continue drive to Agra. It’s known for best inlay work on marble and soapstone by craftsmen, who are descendants of those who worked under the Mughals Kings. The city is also famous for good quality of carpets, embroidery with gold thread and leather items. On arrival check in at hotel. Overnight at hotel.

Early morning visit the Taj Mahal (Friday Closed) and enjoy one of the 7 wonders of the modern world, continue visit Red Fort (Agra Fort) built in red sandstone by the Mughal emperor Akbar. Breakfast at the hotel and drive to Delhi. Upon arrival visit Akshardham Temple which is most popular in the whole world which is one of the best Hindu temple in India. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast. Assistance on departure to the airport to board the flight for Varanasi. Assistance on arrival in Varanasi and transfer to hotel. In evening, you will attend from a boat on the river and attend AARTI ceremony that takes place in the "Ghats". Overnight at hotel.

Early morning boat ride on Ganges River where we can admire some of the temples located on the banks of the river Ganges. Later visit Golden Temple (Kashi Vishwanath Temple) and later panoramic tour of the Banaras Hindu University, Durga Temple (Durga Kund Mandir), Sankat Mochan Temple (Hanuman Mandir), Bharat Mata Temple and Golden Temple.

Breakfast. Drive to visit Sarnath, It is believed that after attaining the Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. Gautama Buddha preached his first sermon and Buddhist came into existence through the enlightenment. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast and drive from Varanasi to Bodhgaya, Bodhgaya is one of the sacred places for the Buddhists as well as for the Hindus. Here under the Bodhi Tree, Gautama attained supreme knowledge to become Budhha, the `Enlighted One'.

Bodhgaya is one of the sacred places for the Buddhists as well as for the Hindus. Here under the Bodhi Tree, Gautama attained supreme knowledge to become Budhha, the `Enlighted One'. "The Buddha once lived here"

Lord Buddha the gentle colossus who founded the first universal religion of the world, worked and lived much of his life in Bihar though he was born in Kapilavastu, now in Nepal. Most of the major events of his life, like enlightenment and last sermon happened in Bihar. Significantly. The state's name originated from 'Vihara' meaning Buddhist and Jain monasteries, which abounded in Bihar.

Though the Buddha was born as a Sakya prince in the Terai foothills of the Himalayas, Buddhism as a religion was really born in Bihar and evolved here through his preaching and the example of his lifestyle of great simplicity, renunciation and empathy for everything living. Perhaps the present day life of trauma and tension reminds us of the other alternative that was always available to us, the Buddha's way of life, gentle and simple.

Several centuries after Buddha's passing away, the Maurya emperor Ashoka (234-198 BC) contributed tremendously towards the revival, consolidation and spread of the original religion. It is the monasteries Ashoka built for the Buddhist monks and the pillars erected to commemorate innumerable historical sites associated with the Buddha's life, mostly intact to this day, that helped scholars and pilgrims alike to trace the life events and preachings of a truly extraordinary man.

The Buddha attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya, under the Bodhi tree, 10 km from Gaya. The ancient Hindu pilgrimage center. The tree from the original sapling still stands in the temple premises. It is the most important Buddhist pilgrimage center as Buddhism was born here.

The magnificent Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya is an architectural amalgamation of many centuries’ cultures and many heritages that came to pay their homage here. The temple definitely has architecture of the Gupta and later ages, inscriptions describing visits of pilgrims from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and China between 7th and 10th century AD. It is perhaps still the same temple Hiuen Tsang visited in 7th century.

On arrival check at hotel. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast and Sightseeing of Maha Bodhi Temple and Tree. Visit the Chinese Temple. In the afternoon visit Niranjana Temple and River. Visit the school of the destitute. Overnight at Bodhgaya.

Breakfast and proceed to visit the historical towns of Nalanda & Rajgir. Have lunch at Rajgir.

NALANDA - Nalanda, where ruins of the great ancient university have been excavated, is situated at a distance of 90 km. south east of Patna by road. It falls on way to Rajgir. It is also linked by rail with Patna, Rajgir and Bakhtiyarpur (on Delhi-Howrah main track).

Hieun Tsang, the renowned Chinese traveler of the seventh century, says that according to tradition the place owed its name to a Naga of the same name which resided in a local tank. But he thinks it more probable that Lord Buddha, in one of his previous births as Bodhisatwa, became a king with his capital at this place and that his liberality won for him and his capital the name Nalanda or "Charity without intermission". The third theory about the name of the place is that it derived from Nalam plus da. Nalam means lotus which is a symbol for knowledge and Da means given the place had many lotuses.

Nalanda has a very ancient history. It was frequently visited by Lord Vardhamana Mahavir and Lord Buddha in the 6th century BC. During his sajourns, the Lord Buddha found this place prosperous, swelling, and teeming with population and containing mango-groves. It is also supposed to be the birth place of Sariputra, one of the Chief disciple of the Lord Buddha.

RAJGIR - The Buddha lived in the sixth century BC. Mahavir was born in 567 BC and the traveler in Bihar will encounter them both constantly. Rajgir is 10km south of Nalanda and sacred to the memory of the founder of both Buddhism and Jainism. Lord Buddha spent many months of retreat during the rainy season here, and used to meditate and preach on Griddhkuta, the 'Hill of the Vultures'. Lord Mahavir spent fourteen years of his life at Rajgir and Nalanda. It was in Rajgriha that Lord Buddha delivered some of his famous sermons and converted king Bimbisara of the Magasha Kingdom and countless others to his creed. Once a great city, Rajgir is just a village today, but vestiges of a legendary and historical past remain, like the cyclopean wall that encircles the town and the marks engraved in rock that local folklore ascribes to Lord Krishna's chariot. This legend, like many others associates Rajgir to that distant time when the stirring events recorded in the epic Mahabharata were being enacted. Rajgir is located in a verdant valley surrounded by rocky hills.

An aerial ropeway provides the link with a hill-top stupa "Peace Pagoda" built by the Japanese. On one of the hills in the cave of Saptparni, was held the first Buddhist Council. The Saptparni cave is also the source of the Rajgir Hot Water Springs that have curative properties and are sacred to the Hindus.

Patna, the capital city of Bihar, is a historical city, which has like Delhi, experienced the trauma and pain of being conquered. The heritage of Patna or Pataliputra as it was known, goes back to two millennia. This city was the seat of administration for many rulers and each of them ascended with a new name for their capital.

Kusumpura became Pushpapura, Patliputra, Azeemabad and now Patna. Pataliputra was the capital of Magadha, a kingdom, which dominated and influenced the politics of India for a long time. Located on the banks where rivers Sone and Ganga merge, this city has witnessed the rules of Chanakya, Chandragupta, Ashoka and the Nanda rulers. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast and drive to Patna. On arrival check in at hotel. Afternoon visit Patna City, including the Buddha Park, GolGhar and Mahavir Mandir. Overnight at hotel.

Breakfast and drive to Kushinagar, En route visit Vaishali, also explore the side where Buddha was cremated and visit Mahaparinirvana Temple.

VAISHALI - Vaishali has a past that pre-dates recorded history. It is held that the town derives its name from King Vishal, whose heroic deeds are narrated in the Hindu epic Ramayana. However, history records that around the time Pataliputra was the centre of political activity in the Gangetic plains, Vaishali came into existence as centre of the Ganga, it was the seat of the Republic of Vajji. Vaishali is credited with being the World's First Republic to have a duly elected assembly of representatives and efficient administration. The Lord Buddha visited Vaishali more than once during his lifetime and announced his approaching Mahaparinirvana to the great followers he had here. Hundred years after he attained Mahaparinirvana, it was the venue of the second Buddhist Council. According to one belief, the Jain Tirthankar, Lord Mahavir was born at Vaishali. The Chinese travellers Fa-Hien and Hieun Tsang also visited this place in early 5th and 7th centuries respectively and wrote about Vaishali. While talking of the famous men and women associated with Vaishali, Amrapali was the cynosure not only of Vaishali but of the neighboring kingdoms as well. Therefore, to avert bloodshed, the parliament of Vaishali declared her to be a Court dancer besides consigning her to lifelong spinsterhood. Later she became a devout Buddhist and served the Lord Buddha.

KUSHINAGAR - The Buddha is believed to have breathed his last in this land with pastoral surrounding, the small hamlet of Kushinagar, 53 km west of Gorakhpur. The land is venerated as the site of the Buddha's Mahaparinirvana, his death and cremation that marked his final liberation from the cycles of death and rebirth. This small town in the former kingdom of the Mallas was surrounded by dense forest. It remained oblivious to the outside world until it was rediscovered by the archaeologists in the nineteenth century. The modern Indo-Japan-Sri lanka Buddhist center, Kushinagar is rediscovering its roots, and is home to many viharas, including a Tibetan gompa devoted to Sakyamuni, a Burmese vihara, and temples from China and Japan.  Overnight at hotel.