North India · Heritage
Where the Buddha first turned the wheel of dharma
Photo: Yusuke Kawasaki · CC BY 2.0
Best: Oct–Mar
After his enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, the Buddha walked some 250 kilometres to the deer park at Isipatana, found the five ascetics who had abandoned him, and taught them the Middle Way and the Four Noble Truths. Sarnath is that deer park. Ashoka came in the third century BCE and built the first stupas and a pillar with four lions on its capital; the lions are now in the Sarnath Archaeological Museum, one of the finest small museums in India, polished to a mirror sheen after 2,300 years, with the stump of the pillar still standing in the excavated monastery ground.
The Dhamek Stupa, 43 metres high and rebuilt in the Gupta period, carries a band of carved lotus and geometric patterns at the height of a walker's eyes; in the evenings monks from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet and Japan circle it chanting. Nearby is the ruined Dharmarajika Stupa, the Chaukhandi Stupa where the Buddha met his disciples, and the Mulagandha Kuti Vihar, built by the Mahabodhi Society in 1931, with a Bodhi tree grown from a cutting of the Anuradhapura tree and murals by the Japanese painter Kosetsu Nosu. Modern monasteries from each Buddhist nation line the roads, and the Thai temple has an 80-foot standing Buddha.
Sarnath is quiet where Varanasi is loud; give it a slow morning, read the sermon under the trees, and come back for the museum when it is cool.
Best Oct–Mar
October to March; Buddha Purnima in May draws pilgrims despite the heat.
Give Sarnath 1 day and it repays the time; with fewer you are choosing between Dhamek Stupa at evening chanting time and The Lion Capital of Ashoka in the Sarnath Archaeological Museum. We build the hours around the weather — early starts when it is hot, long afternoons when it is not.
On the ground
The days we would actually plan for you, in the order that suits the light.
At the table
Street foodUttar Pradesh
Tomatoes and boiled potato mashed on a hot iron pan with ginger, chilli and garam masala, then piled into a leaf bowl with crushed namkeen, coriander and a squeeze of lime. It is served scalding hot in Varanasi, most famously at the Godowlia and Dashashwamedh stalls after an evening at the ghats.
Getting there
Sarnath is 10 km north-east of Varanasi; Babatpur airport is 20 km away and Varanasi Junction is 8 km, with Sarnath's small station served by a few local trains.
Airport pickups, station transfers and the driver for the days here are all part of what we arrange — including the hour you should leave, which is usually earlier than you think.
Next door
Places that join Sarnath without a long drive — the way a real week is built.
RiverUttar Pradesh
The oldest living city, waking on the Ganga
RiverUttar Pradesh
Where three rivers meet and the Kumbh gathers
TempleBihar
The tree under which a prince became the Buddha
TempleUttar Pradesh
Ram's city on the Saryu, rebuilt and radiant
2 journeys
6 days · 5 nightsEasy · Best Oct–Mar
Six days from the ghats of Kashi to the Sangam and the Saryu
Route: Varanasi → Sarnath → Prayagraj → Ayodhya
7 days · 6 nightsEasy · Best Oct–Mar
Bodh Gaya to Sarnath, where the Buddha woke and first taught
Route: Bodh Gaya → Rajgir → Nalanda → Varanasi +1 more
From the journal
· Culture · 6 min
One full day on the ghats of Banaras, hour by hour: the pre-dawn boat, the walk from Assi to Manikarnika, the lanes behind Kashi Vishwanath, the kachori and malaiyo worth queueing for, and where to sit for the evening aarti.
Before you ask
Photograph of Sarnath: Yusuke Kawasaki · CC BY 2.0
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