Travel in Lumbini

Lumbini is where Siddhartha Gautama was born in 623 BCE, and in our catalogue it is one day on one trip. Of our six Nepal itineraries, only the 11-day Trekking tour through Nepal goes there, from EUR 1,575. The other five — the nine-day The world of Nepal, the 14-day Culture and Himalayan hiking, the 14-day Temples, shrines & Himalayas, and the two 17-day routes, Impressions of Nepal and Majestic Himalayas — do not include Lumbini at all. If the birthplace is the reason you are going to Nepal, that one trip is where to start.

Where it falls in that trip matters. Day 8 closes the Poon Hill trek, walking back down to Nayapul at 1,070 metres and driving on to Pokhara. Day 9 is Lumbini. Day 10 is Chitwan National Park, and day 11 drives back to Kathmandu and straight to the international airport. So Lumbini gets a day of its own — not a stop on a longer drive — but it is one day, between the mountains and the lowland jungle, and the itinerary gives it no more than that.

What the day covers is specific. A pillar erected by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka marks the birthplace. The Maya Devi Temple is dedicated to the mother of the Buddha. Around it stand the preserved remains of temples and stupas from the early centuries of Buddhist pilgrimage. The wider grounds are park-like and planted with monasteries — many nations have built their own Buddhist temples here, each in its own architectural style, so the site reads as a set of national interpretations of one religion in one place. That is what our day note names, and that is what the day is. No meditation retreat, no monastery stay, no course attached. It is a site visit.

The drop in altitude is part of why the stop sits where it does. The trek's high point is Poon Hill at 3,210 metres, reached before sunrise on day 6. Two days later the trip is on the plains and stays there, for Lumbini and then Chitwan. The texture of the trip changes with it: rhododendron and oak forest and hill villages first, flat heat and long sightlines after.

One seasonal rule in this itinerary is worth knowing before dates are fixed, and it concerns the day after Lumbini rather than Lumbini itself — no jeep safaris run in Chitwan National Park during the rainy months of July, August and September. That is the only firm seasonal limit the trip states.

Everything we sell in Nepal is private, guided and tailor-made; there are no group departures. The trekking trip includes hotel accommodation, breakfast, a bottle of water on arrival, a German-speaking guide and someone reachable 24 hours a day for the length of the trip. International flights are not included. There is no five-star or luxury tier — accommodation runs Standard, Deluxe, Superior and Executive. Because the trip is built for one party rather than a fixed group, the Lumbini day is something we can extend when we plan the route with you. As the itinerary stands, it is one day, on one of our six Nepal trips.