ITINERARY IN DETAIL:
Day 01: Arrive in Kathmandu and transfer Hotel.
Meet our airport representative transfer to Hotel and briefing about the trip.
Day 02: Kathmandu to Maratika by 4wd Jeep.
Drive early in the morning by 4 wheeler jeeps in Maratika where you have to accommodate yourself into very basic lodges without attach bathroom and basic Nepali food like Dal bhat and Tibetan noodles like, chaumin, thenthuk and thukpa etc included can be served. To reach Maratika by the jeep, it takes about 12 hours. More information of Maratika: Maratika Cave and Maratika Monastery are located in Khotang District in Nepal, circa 260 km south west of Mount Everest. It is a venerated site of pilgrimage associated with Mandarava, Padmasambhava and longevity. Mandarava and admasambhava realized a number of terma that had been elementally encoded as terma in Maratika Cave by Dakini Sangwa Yeshe, terma that number among the longevity teachings of Buddha Amitabha and given at the behest of Bodhisattva Avalokiteswara. At Maratika Cave, Mandarava and Padmasambhava attained the Vidyadhara of longevity or long life. According to current scholarship, the caves of Maratika are referred to in Himalayan literature from the 12th century. Kathang Zanglingma, a biography of Padmasambhava, a terma revealed and transmitted by Nyangrel Nyima Ozer, describes the original events which made the Maratika caves a sacred place for Vajrayana practitioners. Haleshi Mahadeva or Maratika Cave- The famous natural cave in Khotang District, said to be the abode of Mahadeva while hiding away from the monster Bhasmasur. It is famous pilgrimage centre in east Nepal for both Hindus and Buddhist and is also nicknamed as 'the Pashupatinath of the east'. Huge religious fairs are observed here on Shivaratri. In and around the Maratika cave we will visit other 3 caves which are within 15-20 minutes walking distance. There, we also visit 5 Neys (temples) which represent five universal elements and local take them differently for fulfilling all aspect of lives. Visiting this holly site grants one to wash away whatever sins he or she has committed in his or her life. It normally takes 12 hour to reach Marartika and on that day we will break in Murgibeshi (name of the local place) for lunch after the 4-5 hours of driving distance.
Day 03: In Maratika.
Exploring Maratika and meditate over here as long as you can. Stay overnight again in the same standard hotel with all the same facilities.
Day 04: Maratika to Kathmandu.
Drive back to Kathmandu from Maratika. This is again the day for driving 12 hours to Kathmandu. We have lunch in the same place on the way back. Check in the same hotel in Kathmandu.
Lunch on the way includes but dinner is not included.
Day 05: Sightseeing in Kathmandu sacred and historical places.
Morning visit to Kathmandu Durbar Square, Kumari Temple, other various temples museum. Kathmandu Durbar Square offers you the most visualized information of medieval art, history, culture and architecture. Then drive to soywambhunath Temple: is a self made stupa and one of the oldest stupas and monasteries in Kathmandu valley. Soywambhunath temple gives you clear picture of different Buddhist symbols. Here you can see number of monkeys and it is the reason why this temple is commonly called a monkey temple as well. Then we drive to visit Bhaktapur the oldest city of Kathmandu valley. Basically in Bhaktapur durbar square, we can experience medieval art and architecture especially wooden craft. This is the place to observe the finest example of pagoda styled temple. Siddalaxmi or Nyatapola temple is the tallest temple in Nepal and gives you the purest example of pagoda style. Visiting Pottery square obviously adds you to experience traditional poetry making in Kathmandu valley which is only possible to observe in Bhaktapur.
Day 06: Kathmandu to Lumbini.
Fly from Kathmandu domestic Airport to Lumbini, it takes about an hour to fly to get in the Lumbini Domestic airport and check in the Hotel Lumbini Garden or to Hotel Annada Inn and start visiting the oldest palace where Gauttam Buddha was born, Lumbini garden where we can see the activities of Buddha of his life time. Motto of visiting Lumbini in fact is to meditate under the holy Buddha tree and visiting holy lakes and various monasteries including Ashok Stambha (Pillar).
Day 07: Excursion to Tilaurakot which lies 25 kilometers east of Lumbini and is the ancient capital of Kapilvastu. The Buddha grew up and lived in Tilaurakot/Kapilvastu Kingdom to the age of 29. Siddhartha spent his early life in Kapilavastu as a prince, mostly oblivious of worldly miseries. He was married to Yashodhara and had a son named Rahul. Upon confronting worldly miseries such as disease, aging and death, he left Kapilavastu in search of enlightenment and in quest of answers to his questions about such miseries, pain and sufferings. Lunch in our hotel. Tour of Monastery Zone and the Lumbini Village. Return to Hotel.
Day 08: Lumbini to Kathmandu & Sightseeing in Patan Durbar square.
Fly back to Kathmandu, our luxurious bus is waiting for you in Kathmandu domestic Airport to directly drive to Patan durbar Square to Visit historical and medieval architectural Patan Durbar square and one of the oldest Golden Temple where we can explore more about Newari Buddhism Golden temple including Museum where you can see a lot of Buddhist sculptures.
Drive back to the Hotel and take a rest.
Day 09: Buddhist Holy Sites of Nepal — Pharping.
Pharping is so Holy site because Great Guru Padmasambhava got enlightened at Asura Cave, Gorakhanath and Sheshnarayan Cave at Pharping. It's important religious place for Buddhist pilgrimages as well. There are many nice monasteries to visit and where we can make special puja if you want. After our exploration to the sacred site of holy pahrping we drive back to the hotel in Kathmandu.
Day 10: Kathmandu Namobuddha Kathmandu.
Early in the Morning, drive to Namobuddha 45 kilo meters and hour and half drive to reach there. Nomobuddha Monastery connects the story of compassion shown by the Buddha in his one of the incarnations, offering his own flesh to the hungry tigress who was totally ill and was about to eat her cubs around. After visiting such a sacred place, we will drive back to Kathmandu and check in the same hotel.
Day 11: Final Departure from Kathmandu
Our vehicle will drop you to Kathmandu international airport with our Airport representative.
Join with us on Maratika Haleshi Namobuddha Lumbini Buddhist Pilgrimage Tour in 2025/2026.
Customize Your Trip: This is a general itinerary, which can always individually be “tailormade”. The trek package can be redesigned or redeveloped as per your taste, For more information please e-mail us at snftnepal@yahoo.de
Note: In case of emergency during the trip, Helicopter will be arranged by Swiss Family Treks & Expedition GmbH. The charges must be paid by the clients themselves.
