Pilgrimage & Temple Destinations in India

Also known as Harmandir Sahib, it is the preeminent spiritual site of Sikhism.

The world's most visited Hindu temple — 30 million pilgrims a year climb the seven hills of Tirumala to see the deity Venkateswara, richer than any church or cathedral on earth.

A cave shrine to the Mother Goddess at 5,200 feet in the Trikuta range, reached by a 12 km pilgrim trail from Katra — one of the 108 Shakti Peethas and, with an average of 26,000 pilgrims a day, the most visited Hindu shrine after Tirupati.

Embankments made in steps of stone slabs along the river bank where pilgrims perform ritual ablutions.

A Bahai House of Worship whose 27 free-standing marble petals, arranged in three concentric clusters of nine, form one of the most visited buildings on earth — open to every religion, silent, and stunning at dusk.

A 12th-century Vaishnavite temple on the Odisha coast whose 65-metre shikhara dominates the Puri skyline — one of the four Char Dhams and the setting for the annual Rath Yatra, when the deities ride 16-wheeled chariots pulled by 4,000 devotees through a two-km avenue of a million pilgrims.

A stone Shiva temple at 3,583 metres in the Garhwal Himalayas — one of the twelve Jyotirlingas and the most remote of the four Char Dham shrines, approached only on foot or by pony along a 16 km alpine trail from Gaurikund.

Known as the "Yoga Capital of the World" and a gateway to the Himalayas.

The samadhi shrine of Sai Baba — the 19th-century fakir who preached 'Sabka Malik Ek' (one God for all) — drawing 60,000 devotees a day from every religion to a small village in Ahmednagar district, where his marble idol sits above the very grave he chose.

The UNESCO site where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment in 528 BCE beneath the Bodhi tree and became the Buddha — the most sacred place in all of Buddhism.

A south-facing Shiva shrine on the banks of the Rudra Sagar in ancient Avanti — one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the only one where the lingam is 'Swayambhu' (self-manifested), and the only major temple in India where the morning Bhasma Aarti is performed with ashes from the cremation ground at 4 a.m.

A vermilion-and-gold temple to Vishnu at 3,133 metres in the Garhwal Himalayas, flanked by the Neelkanth peak and the hot-spring Tapt Kund — one of the four Char Dhams and among the 108 Divya Desams revered by the Tamil Alvar saints.

India's most sacred lake town — the only Brahma temple on earth, 52 bathing ghats, and a November camel fair that doubles the population to 200,000 for one week of folk music, pilgrimage, and livestock trading.

A Dravidian sea-side Shiva temple on Pamban Island with the longest temple corridor in the world (1,212 metres, 1,212 pillars) — one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, one of the four Char Dhams, and the spot where, in the Ramayana, Rama worshipped Shiva before crossing to Lanka.

The 'Jagat Mandir' — Krishna's 2,500-year-old capital city on the Arabian Sea — a five-storey, 78-metre temple whose 52-yard flag is changed five times a day and visible from anywhere on the Gomti coast. One of the four Char Dhams and the seat of the Dwaraka-Sharada Peetham founded by Adi Shankaracharya.

The 13th-century dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti — 'Gharib Nawaz' (Benefactor of the Poor) — a white-marble tomb complex at the foot of the Taragarh hill where Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians queue side by side under the same rose-garlanded gate.

The first of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva — a 7th-century oceanfront temple destroyed and rebuilt seven times over 1,000 years by Mahmud of Ghazni, Allauddin Khilji and Aurangzeb, and reconsecrated by Sardar Patel in 1951 as the symbolic rebirth of independent India.

A 16th-century Shakti Peetha on Nilachal Hill above the Brahmaputra — the place where, by tradition, Sati's yoni fell when Vishnu cut her corpse, making it the most powerful of the 51 Shakti Peethas and the only major Hindu temple that celebrates the goddess's menstruation (Ambubachi Mela).

The 400-year-old Galden Namgey Lhatse — India's largest Buddhist monastery and the second-largest in the world — perched at 3,048 m near the Tibet border, home to 450 monks and the 18-foot gilded Buddha.

One of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva — the 'Abode of the Physician' temple draws 8 million pilgrims during the Shravani Mela, the world's longest religious fair.

A rare temple that is simultaneously a Jyotirlinga (one of 12 Shiva shrines) and a Shakti Peetha (one of 18 Devi shrines) — set above the Krishna river gorge inside the Nallamala forest tiger reserve.

The sacred battlefield of the Mahabharata and the birthplace of the Bhagavad Gita — Lord Krishna delivered the Gita's 700 verses to Arjuna here 5,000 years ago.

An ancient capital ringed by five hills where the Buddha preached the Lotus Sutra and Mahavira spent 14 monsoons — a single valley sacred to Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, with hot springs and a Japanese-built peace pagoda on its highest hill.

A 16th-century Vijayanagara temple famous for its hanging pillar that does not touch the ground, the largest monolithic Nandi bull in India, and ceiling frescoes considered the finest surviving examples of Vijayanagara mural art.