Things to do in Lumbini, Nepal
Visit the important archaeological site, Tilaurkot, the ancient palace of King Suddodha (Siddhartha Gautam's father), where the Buddha spent his formative years as a Shakya Prince. And when you are in here, allow yourself for a moment to wander around and soak the atmosphere. There's a museum nearby, The Kapilvastu Museum; the pottery, jewelry and ornaments are gathered in-house. End up the remarkable tour in Tilaurkot by visiting the shrines, monasteries and stupa near the sacred garden.
Lumbini, the holiest place for Buddhist and the birthplace of Lord Buddha, is the famous destination for exploring the Kingdom and the ancient lifestyle of King Suddodha (Lord Buddha’s father). The Garden Park and mayadevi temple are the main attraction of this place. This place is enlisted in UNESCO world heritage site.
Religious Tour / Sightseeing
Lumbini houses many monasteries and a famous Ashoka pillar, which is the sign for peace and brotherhood. This place is also the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha. And you can do some sightseeing around this historical monument to educate and create memories of this Buddhist influenced area. The World Peace lamp is also fabulous to see and as well as the Peace Garden is truly liked by many of the tourists to visit. Another great spot is the MayaDevi Temple where the “Marker Stone” showing the exact spot of Siddhartha Gautam Buddha’s birth can be found. Similarly the ruins of the old cities have recently been revealed and we can clearly see the artifacts and remains of the old cities of Lumbini.
For relieving your hunger of Buddhist culture, sightseeing tour is perfect. And do not forget to hire some experienced and educated guide, if you really like to make most out of this tour.
Visit old Museum
The Lumbini Museum is located in the Cultural Zone and preserves some of the rare and very old Mauryan and Kushana coins, religious manuscripts, terra-cotta fragments, and stone and metal sculptures within the extensive collection of stamps depicting the Lumbini and Buddha. For research purpose there is Lumbini International Research Institute which is located in the opposite side of the museum.
There is another museum known as Tilaurakot Museum which is just 27 km west in the village of Tilaurakot. This museum holds coins, pottery and toys dating between the seventh century BC and fourth century AD. The museum also has good collection of jewelry and other ornaments of that period.
It is a great experience to see all the ancient collections while you are in Lumbini. Good luck and if you need any help reaching there or want to hire tour guide, we are here.
Cycling
Cycling can be the perfect activity in Lumbini to get closer to the inside of local culture and it is cheap and easily accessible. Though you can rent either a cab or a rickshaw, it is better to hire a cycle and you can burn some fat and who knows maybe you can get some abs? Benefits.. eh! And to inform you for summer, you better get ready to experience hell in Lumbini because you should never make mistake of hiring cycles during this season. It is because during this season Lumbini is very hot, hotter than you can imagine (above 40 degree Celsius in day).
Usually many tourists hire bicycle in Lumbini because the roads are flat and easy to ride with warm weather and less traffic. You will love riding around the country side in quit roads as you pass by local huts, mustard fields, rice paddies and smiling children who cheers Namaste. This activity will be quite surprising as you will be seeing friendly people and animals. This place is not developed much so you will also see the ancient ways of living style and methods of working.
Meditation / Yoga Classes
For keeping mind and body rejuvenated, Yoga and Meditation is the perfect choice. And to reach all your needs Lumbini is the best choice. Meditation in Lumbini is must, as the lord Buddha himself did meditation here.
Nepal is the homeland of yoga with rich history of culture which includes healing of body, mind and soul. In this beautiful and scenery filled country, thousands of Yogis and Rishis had come here to learn the art of attaining wisdom through yoga. Learning to become physically fitter, emotionally calmer, mentally alert, personally more stable, and building confidence are the main benefits of/merits of Yoga and Meditation.
Meditation in Buddhism is like another part of the coin. And for sure in the birthplace of Lord Buddha you can never say no. To give it a try you can get assisted by Buddhist Monks inside Lumbini premises. You can book a room and a cardboard and be the part of the community to experience ultimate peace.
Village tour
There is typical village in Lumbini and a walk through the village surrounding Lumbini interaction with warm and hospitable local people. Observing their traditional rituals and buying their authentic handicraft products will bring one closer you to understand the diversity of terai culture. As the village is purely typical you will enjoy your tour by seeing new way of lifestyle. This tour also gives you the opportunity to observe the amazing landscape of Terai as well as vegetation found in the outskirt of the settlement.
People of this village are very kind and helpful too. The people of this traditional village offers you a peek at their agro-based rural lifestyle colorful costume and that festival which they celebrate with much joy and gracious hospitality. Most of the people of this village are Tharu, Yadav, Chamar, Gupta, and Muslim. Visitors also can visit Shiva Shrines observing traditional costume and local agro-based lifestyle of people.
The cultural ceremonies of this village are very unique and beautiful. All the villagers get to gather together and celebrate their festivals. The main occupation of that place is agriculture and they do not have to buy rice, paddy, wheat etc. from the market. They also rare animals for their economy. Houses of that are small and well groomed. This is an interesting kind of place to visit.
Shopping
Lumbini is a hub of Buddhist items and handicraft products. Whenever you walk around the city, in most of the market you will only find Buddhist paraphernalia. Near the entrance to the Maya Devi Temple lots of Buddhist items are kept to sale like the statue of Buddha made from clay or holy soil of birthplace of Buddha, key rings, pashminas and t-shirts where the photo of Buddha is plated, Holy rudraksha mala etc.
There is large market in Lumbini with lots of beautiful Buddhist item. Some of the handicraft of Lumbini includes flower and fruit baskets, trays, ladies bags, dry flower pots etc. are made from fiber. These natural fiber based handicrafts are made by terai women from villages with full indigenous skills. Similarly, clay sculpture like Pancha Buddha, Lord Buddha, Little Buddha, Maya Devi Temple, Shakya Muni made from the pure soil of Lumbini is available.
Tourist highly buys these items for their relatives and friends when they return their home rather for themselves. As the sculpture of Buddhist item is very unique they like to buy it to decorate their home in own country.
Study Buddhism
Buddhism in Nepal started spreading since the reigning of Asoka. There is Buddhist University in Lumbini where all the teachings, rules and regulations toughed by Buddha can be learned. There is the bachelor and Master level in Buddhism in Lumbini. Many visitors take the Particular courses about Buddhism. Mostly those people who really appreciate the teachings of Buddhism and are very curious about the history of Buddha take the particular course of Buddhism.