Experiences
Spiritual in Nepal
Stupas, temples, gompas and ghats. Rituals at their own hours, explained by people who keep them, with the etiquette briefed before you go.
SpiritualDawn kora with the pilgrims of Boudha
Walk three slow circuits round the great stupa at first light with Tibetan families, monks and neighbours. We explain the …
SpiritualSit in on a Tibetan monastery puja
Visit two of Boudha's monasteries during prayers: deep chanting, long horns, drums and butter lamps. We explain the main images, …
SpiritualWalk down to Sankhu and Bajrayogini
Walk north-west from Nagarkot down through forest and villages to Sankhu, an old Newar town on the trade route to …
SpiritualMaghe Sankranti bathing at Panauti's triveni
On Maghe Sankranti, the first day of Magh in mid-January, pilgrims come to bathe at Panauti's triveni ghat, and families …
SpiritualPashupatinath with a guide who explains the rites
A guided visit to the Pashupati complex: the main temple seen from outside, the ghats, the east-bank shrines and Mrigasthali. …
SpiritualEvening aarti on the Bagmati at Pashupati
Join the crowds on the riverbank as priests perform the evening aarti with lamps, bells, conch shells and hymns to …
SpiritualMaha Shivaratri at Pashupatinath
On the great night of Shiva, Pashupati fills with sadhus from Nepal and India, fires burn on the riverbank, and …
SpiritualGolden Temple and Patan's hidden bahals
A morning walk through Patan's Buddhist courtyards: the gilded Kwa Bahal, the terracotta Mahabouddha, Uku Bahal's crowded shrines and Kumbheshwar's …
SpiritualGuru Rinpoche's caves with Tibetan pilgrims
A morning visiting the caves where Padmasambhava is said to have meditated: the Asura Cave on the hillside above Pharping …
SpiritualDakshinkali, the Kali temple in the gorge
Walk down into the forested gorge where the goddess Kali is worshipped at Dakshinkali. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, families bring …
SpiritualClimb the 365 steps with Kathmandu at dawn
Climb the old eastern stairway at first light with locals heading to prayers and exercise. Reach the summit as butter …
SpiritualCable car to Manakamana temple
Ride Nepal's first commercial cable car, 2.8 km from Kurintar on the Prithvi Highway, up to the hilltop temple of …
SpiritualBraga monastery and the old Nyeshang villages
Walk 30 minutes down-valley from Manang to Braga, a village of stacked stone houses below cliffs, and climb to its …
SpiritualPumdikot Shiva statue and ridge viewpoint
Drive or walk up the ridge southwest of Phewa to Pumdikot, a viewpoint at about 1,500 m with the second …
SpiritualBoat and hike to the World Peace Pagoda
Cross Phewa by boat, climb about 45 minutes through forest to the white Shanti Stupa at roughly 1,100 m, and …
SpiritualThe climbers' memorials at Thukla pass
On the climb above Dughla towards Lobuche, the Thukla pass, at about 4,830 m, is a field of stone chortens, …
SpiritualMorning prayers at Thubten Chholing
Walk an hour above Junbesi to Thubten Chholing, the monastic community Trulshik Rinpoche founded in 1968 after fleeing Tibet. Join …
SpiritualSee the yeti scalp in Khumjung gompa
Khumjung's gompa keeps a revered relic: a tall, conical cap of reddish hide said to be a yeti scalp. Scientists …
SpiritualEvening kora around Namche's gompa
Join older Namche residents on their evening kora, the clockwise walk around the town's gompa and prayer wheels, then sit …
SpiritualKhumbu's oldest gompa and its juniper grove
Climb to Upper Pangboche to visit the small, ancient gompa attributed to Lama Sangwa Dorje, said to be the oldest …
SpiritualClimb to Chiwong Gompa above Phaplu
Walk up from Phaplu through pine and village fields to Chiwong Gompa, a Sherpa monastery founded around 1920 on a …
SpiritualSit in on Tengboche's afternoon puja
Join the monks of Khumbu's largest monastery for their afternoon prayers: deep chanting, long horns, drums and butter lamps beneath …
SpiritualMorning prayers at Thame's cliffside gompa
Climb 20–30 minutes from the village fields to Thame gompa, built against a cliff high above the Bhote Koshi, and …
SpiritualHike to the Lawudo hermitage above the Thame trail
A steep side trail above Mende, on the way between Namche and Thame, climbs to the Lawudo hermitage, the cave …
SpiritualDawn with pilgrims at the confluence
Arrive at first light to watch pilgrims bathe at the meeting of the Kali Gandaki and Trishuli, offer water to …
SpiritualMaghe Sankranti mela at Devghat
On the first day of Magh, usually 14 or 15 January, Devghat hosts one of Nepal's largest melas. Pilgrims bathe …
SpiritualVisit the temple of Shiva's bow
See the temple where pilgrims worship what they believe is a fragment of Shiva's bow, broken by Rama to win …
SpiritualMakar Sankranti fair at Dhanusha Dham
Join the mid-January mela, when pilgrims from Nepal and the Indian side of Mithila crowd the temple of the bow, …
SpiritualEvening at the Janaki Mandir
Visit the white marble temple to Sita at dusk, when lamps are lit, bells ring and devotees sing in the …
SpiritualKankali temple and the Tughlaq story
A shikhara-style temple in the south-east of the market, home to a black stone image of Kankali Mai said to …
SpiritualMaya Devi's home town circuit
A morning circuit of Devdaha's main sites: the Maya Devi temple and ruins at Bhawanipur, the Kanya Mai shrine of …
SpiritualPilgrimage to the Buddhas of the past
A half-day pilgrimage linking Gotihawa and Niglihawa, the two sites Ashoka marked for the earlier Buddhas Krakuchchanda and Kanakamuni, with …
SpiritualThe homecoming story at Kudan
A slow walk around Kudan's stupas with a guide who tells the story of the Buddha's return to Kapilavastu: the …
SpiritualThe Sacred Garden at first light
Walk the Sacred Garden while the monks chant: the Maya Devi temple and the Marker Stone, Ashoka's pillar, the Puskarini …
SpiritualSit in on morning chanting
Join the early prayers at a working monastery in the Lumbini monastic zone, Theravada or Tibetan, then talk with a …
SpiritualCircle the unopened relic stupa
A slow, guided circuit of the Ramagrama stupa: the story of the eight shares of the Buddha's ashes, the legend …
SpiritualClimb with pilgrims on a festival day
Join local families climbing Resunga on a major festival day, when the forest trails fill with pilgrims carrying offerings to …
SpiritualMorning darshan at the Rishikesh temple
Join the morning worship at Ridi's Rishikesh temple, from the bath at the confluence to the queue for darshan of …
SpiritualDawn bath at the Maghe Sankranti mela
Be at the Kali Gandaki ghats before sunrise during Ridi's three-day Maghe Sankranti fair, when thousands bathe in the cold …
SpiritualBefore the sacred fire of 1895
Attend morning or evening worship at the yagya kunda of Swargadwari, where priests feed a fire said to have burned …
SpiritualMorning with the cows of Swargadwari
Visit the cattle sheds at dawn, when the ashram's cows are milked and fed, to see the daily work behind …
SpiritualThe cliff gompas of Garphu and Nyiphu
Visit two small monasteries built against the cliffs of the Chhoser valley, Garphu and Nyiphu, partly using the caves as …
SpiritualBon and Buddhist gompas of the Tarap valley
Spend a morning visiting the gompas of Dho Tarap, some Bon and some Tibetan Buddhist, with a guide who finds …
SpiritualLo Gekar, the old gompa of Guru Rinpoche
A full-day walk from Ghami via Dhakmar over a high ridge to Lo Gekar, also called Ghar Gompa, an old …
SpiritualShaligrams on the Kali Gandaki riverbed
Walk the gravel bed of the Kali Gandaki with a guide who knows the stones, learn why Hindus worship these …
SpiritualMorning puja at Kag Chode gompa
Visit Kagbeni's Sakya monastery, traditionally founded in 1429, at the hour of morning prayers. Sit at the back of the …
SpiritualAncestor rites at the Kagbeni confluence
For Hindu travellers, a chance to perform shraddha or pinda daan for departed parents and ancestors at the meeting of …
SpiritualWatch Tiji's masked dances in the palace square
Time your trip for Tiji, the three-day festival in May when the monks of Chhoede gompa perform masked dances in …
SpiritualVisit Lubra's Bon monastery with a local guide
Meet the old religion of Tibet in Lubra's monastery: Bon statues and paintings, a counter-clockwise kora and, if he is …
SpiritualChhairo gompa and the Tibetan settlement
Cross the Kali Gandaki south of Marpha to Chhairo, home to a Tibetan settlement founded after 1959 and to the …
SpiritualBathing under the 108 spouts at dawn
Walk up from Ranipauwa before sunrise and join the pilgrims who run beneath all 108 water spouts in front of …
SpiritualThe flame on water in Mharme Lhakhang
Visit the small Buddhist temple beside the Muktinath shrine where a blue flame of natural gas burns next to running …
SpiritualRingmo's Bon village and gompas
Spend an afternoon in Ringmo, the Bon village on the landslide dam at the foot of Phoksundo, visiting its gompa, …
Morning at the Briddim gompa
Join villagers at the small gompa in the early morning as butter lamps are lit, prayer wheels turn and older …
SpiritualWalk with the pilgrims at Janai Purnima
Join the Hindu and shamanic pilgrimage to Gosaikunda on the full moon of Shrawan: a monsoon trek from Dhunche, a …
SpiritualGompa trail from Melamchi Ghyang to Tarkeghyang
A full trekking day between two Hyolmo villages and their gompas, dropping about 800 m to the Melamchi Khola and …
SpiritualMorning at the Kyanjin monastery
A quiet visit to the small village monastery that gives Kyanjin its name: butter lamps, prayer wheels and, on some …
SpiritualWater prayer wheels and mani walls to Mundu
An easy morning walk from Langtang village to Mundu past long mani walls, chortens and small huts where streams turn …
SpiritualBhairavi and Taleju temple circuit
A morning loop to the temples that guard the fort: the Bhairavi pagoda where offerings start at dawn, the old …
SpiritualHike to Pungyen Gompa under Manaslu
Climb from Samagaon to Pungyen Gompa, the monastery destroyed by avalanche in the 1950s and later rebuilt, in a meadow …
SpiritualMilarepa's cave at Piren Phu
A short pilgrimage walk from Chhokangparo to Piren Phu, the pigeon cave linked by Buddhist tradition with the Tibetan yogi …
SpiritualVisit Rachen Gompa nunnery
Spend time at Rachen Gompa, one of the main nunneries of the Tsum Valley, where Buddhist nuns study, pray and …
SpiritualDantakali and Budhasubba temples below Bhedetar
A morning visit to two temples on the hills at the edge of Dharan, on the way up to Bhedetar: …
SpiritualMorning at the Ghunsa gompa
A short, quiet visit to the Buddhist temple above Ghunsa village, with prayer wheels, butter lamps and murals, and a …
SpiritualThe Hile gompa and bazaar walk
A short morning walk through Hile's ridge-top bazaar to the small Buddhist monastery near the road, with a guide who …
SpiritualMai Pokhari wetland day trip
A jeep trip north of Ilam to Mai Pokhari, a small sacred lake at about 2,100 m inside forest. It …
SpiritualDawn climb to Pathibhara Devi with pilgrims
Climb through the dark forest with pilgrims to the summit shrine of Pathibhara Devi at 3,794 m, arriving for sunrise …
SpiritualJanai Purnima fair on the high pastures
Join thousands of pilgrims at Badimalika for the Janai Purnima fair, with fasting, bathing at Triveni, sacred threads, offerings at …
SpiritualBathing and camping at Triveni Dham
Camp at Triveni Dham, where three streams meet near the borders of Kalikot, Achham and Bajura, and watch pilgrims bathe …
SpiritualThe eternal flame of Shirasthan
Visit Shirasthan in Rawatkot, where a natural gas flame burns inside the shrine and a Nath ascetic keeps the fire, …
SpiritualThe Panchakoshi circuit of five holy sites
Follow the Panchakoshi pilgrimage around Dullu: Shirasthan, Nabhisthan, Dhuleshwar, Padukasthan and Tallo Dungeshwar, a circuit of flames, springs and old …
SpiritualEvening lamps at the lakeside temple
Visit the small temple near the main lake in the evening, when local families come to offer flowers and light …
SpiritualEvening worship at Chandannath temple
Join the evening crowd at the Chandannath and Bhairabnath temples in Khalanga bazaar, the spiritual heart of Jumla, where the …
SpiritualA quiet hour at Khaptad Baba's hermitage
Visit the hermitage where Khaptad Baba, a Kashmiri doctor turned ascetic, lived for about fifty years and from where he …
SpiritualTriveni, Sahasralinga and Khaptad Daha
A gentle loop to the holy places of Khaptad: the small lake of Khaptad Daha with its wooden Jagannath temple, …
SpiritualInside Halji's Rinchenling monastery
Visit the Rinchenling gonpa at Halji, believed to have been founded by the 11th-century translator Rinchen Zangpo, with a lama …