Footsteps of the Buddha

Yes, with a looser plan. Lumbini is pleasant by day then, around 20 °C, but mornings drop near 9 °C and Terai fog can hold Bhairahawa's flights for hours, because the airport needs about 1,800 m of visibility. In those weeks we book the 11:15 down instead of the 09:00, move the cranes to whichever morning is clear, and pack a warm layer for the Sacred Garden at opening. October, November, February and March avoid the problem.

Because the Sacred Garden is two different places. At dusk on day three pilgrims settle to chant under the bodhi tree; at opening on day four you are among the first into the Maya Devi Temple. That same day takes in Tilaurakot, about an hour west, and the monastic zones by e-rickshaw, and the cranes need a third dawn before the midday flight. One night means choosing between the birthplace and Kapilavastu; three suit meditation or Ramagrama.

Usually, yes. Lumbini is flat and low, at 150 m, and inside the master plan area e-rickshaws cover the distances along the canal, so most walking is on temple floors and garden paths. The hard parts are heat and early hours: October afternoons reach about 32 °C, and day four starts at 05:45. Everyone rests through the early afternoon, Tilaurakot moves to late afternoon on a hot day, and the car stays close.

If the Buddha's first 29 years interest you, yes. Tilaurakot, on the Banganga 27 km west of Lumbini, is a walled citadel of about 500 m by 400 m, raised over a timber palisade of the sixth century BCE, with a proposed site of King Suddhodana's palace, and the Kapilvastu Museum stands nearby. Whether it, or Piprahwa across the border in India, is the Kapilavastu of the texts is still argued, and your guide sets out both cases fairly. The drive is about an hour each way, and on a hot day we move it to late afternoon.

Tradition and archaeology agree on this garden in Nepal's Rupandehi district. The Ashoka pillar, found in December 1896, records the emperor's visit and the birth in Brahmi letters, and a marker stone under glass in the Maya Devi Temple is held to mark the spot. Excavations since 2010, with Durham University and UNESCO, found a timber shrine of the sixth century BCE beneath the brick temples. UNESCO listed Lumbini as a World Heritage Site in 1997.

Yes, in several places. Shambaling has its own meditation room, and at Shechen we ask the evening before whether visitors may sit at the back of the monks' morning prayers. In Lumbini you may sit under the bodhi tree beside the Maya Devi Temple for as long as you like, and the monastic zones hold temples built by Buddhist communities from many countries. Tell us your practice, and we plan the quiet hours around it.