This tour commences with your arrival in the village of Varanasi. After you check into your hotel, drop off your luggage and stretch your legs for a bit to shake off that travel fatigue, we’re off to our first stop on the tour. That stop is the holy lands of Sarnath. One of the most important sites anywhere in India for the people who follow both the Buddhist philosophies as well as Jain philosophies, this place has a number of monuments scattered throughout its expanse that tell the story of why this place has the reverence that it does in these cultures.

The first of these places is the famed Deer Park of Sarnath. Next up on the tour of Sarnath are its magnificent stupas. Stupas, in Buddhist culture, were originally meant to function as tombs, not too dissimilar to how pyramids function in Egyptian culture. Another stupa here that is worthy of note is the Chaukhandi Stupa. Whereas the Dhamek Stupa enshrines the spot where Gautam Buddha taught his disciples for the first time, the Chaukhandi Stupa marks the place where they first met, as Gautam Buddha returned from Bodh Gaya after achieving enlightenment.

Following this, we travel to Sarnath’s main chowk, where a monument named Mulagandha Kuti Vihar is located. After our tour of Sarnath is completed, we make our way back to Varanasi at around 5 pm, just in time to witness the wonderfully choreographed ritual of the Ganga Aarti, performed here at Dasaswamedh Ghat during every sunset. After this tiring yet fulfilling jaunt around these sacred towns, we return to the hotel for dinner and an overnight stay.