Temples of the World
Shrines Across Borders
The great Hindu and Buddhist monuments of Asia, done in chapters.
Consult Our Travel PlannerJourney Highlights
- Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the largest religious monument on earth, its five towers mirrored in the moat.
- Borobudur in Indonesia, a ninth-century Buddhist mountain of stone climbed in circles to the summit stupas.
- Prambanan’s tall Hindu towers on Java, dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma side by side.
- Pashupatinath and Lumbini in Nepal — Shiva’s great riverside temple, and the birthplace of the Buddha.
- Bagan in Myanmar, a plain scattered with thousands of brick temples and stupas from the pagan kingdom.
- Sri Lanka’s Temple of the Tooth at Kandy, and the great ancient stupas of Anuradhapura.
- Bodh Gaya in India, where the Buddha reached enlightenment, and Bali’s sea temples at Tanah Lot.
Across Asia, Six Countries
Best Done in Chapters
Experience Overview
This is the long one — the great Hindu temples and Buddhist shrines of Asia, gathered across borders. Angkor and Borobudur, Prambanan and Bagan, Pashupatinath and Lumbini, Anuradhapura and the Temple of the Tooth, Bodh Gaya and Bali’s sea temples. Together they trace how two Indian faiths built some of the finest sacred architecture ever raised.
No one does it in a single trip. It works in chapters — Nepal and India for Pashupatinath, Lumbini and Bodh Gaya; Sri Lanka for Kandy and Anuradhapura; Myanmar for Bagan; Cambodia for Angkor; Indonesia for Borobudur, Prambanan and Bali. Each leg is a country in itself, with its own visa, flights and best season to weigh.
The span is vast in time and belief. Borobudur and Angkor both date from around the ninth to twelfth centuries; Anuradhapura is older still. Some are living worship — Pashupatinath’s cremation ghats, the Temple of the Tooth’s daily rites, Bodh Gaya’s meditating pilgrims. Others, like much of Bagan, are quieter monuments now. Faiths overlap here more than they divide.
Some moments are built for lingering: dawn over Angkor Wat as the towers colour against the sky; the climb up Borobudur through its stone reliefs to the bell-shaped stupas; the aarti at Pashupatinath across the Bagmati; the balloon-dotted plain of Bagan at first light; the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya where the Buddha is said to have sat.
For serious pilgrims and lovers of sacred building who will give it the years it needs. It is not a single holiday — it is long-haul, multi-visa and best done in chapters over time. Not for anyone wanting one flight, one country, or a quick, comfortable loop.
Everything you
need to know
Do we need to do all of it at once?
No — and we would advise against it. The sites span perhaps six countries and thousands of kilometres, so we build it as chapters: a Nepal-and-India leg, a Sri Lanka leg, a Southeast Asia leg, done over separate trips. Each stands on its own, and together they add up to the full pilgrimage across years.
What about visas and dress codes?
What shapes the cost?
Ready to Photograph
Sacred Asia
Angkor Wat at dawn silhouettes five sandstone towers against a pink sky, reflected in the moat, while Borobudur from above reveals concentric stone terraces and bell-shaped stupas rising to a central dome in morning mist. The plain of Bagan spreads hundreds of brick temples to the horizon at sunrise under drifting hot-air balloons, and Pashupatinath temple on the Bagmati river in Kathmandu lifts its tiered golden roof above the cremation ghats. At sunset, the Tanah Lot sea temple in Bali perches on a rock offshore as waves break around its base.