Sarnath

Sarnath is the Buddhist site just outside the places to visit in Varanasi list that most travellers add as a half-day trip. This guide covers the Dhamek Stupa, ruins, museum, monasteries and ticket notes.

Sarnath, about 8 km north-east of Varanasi, is where the Buddha delivered his first teaching after enlightenment. The centrepiece is the Dhamek Stupa, a solid cylinder about 28 m across and 43 m high whose present form dates to the 5th–6th century AD, with Gupta-era floral carving on the lower section; Ashoka is believed to have modified an earlier structure around 249 BCE.

The Archaeological Survey of India maintains the stupa and the surrounding ruins, including monastery foundations and votive stupas. Close by are the remains of the Ashoka Pillar, whose Lion Capital is now India's national emblem, and the Mulagandha Kuti Vihara, a modern temple built in the 1930s by the Maha Bodhi Society where the Buddha is said to have spent his first monsoon.

The Sarnath Museum on site holds the Lion Capital and the fifth-century 'Buddha Preaching his First Sermon' sculpture. Several monasteries built by Buddhist communities, including Japanese, Tibetan and Cambodian ones, are within walking distance. Incredible India lists the monument as open from sunrise to sunset. Published ticket prices differ between sources, so check the current ASI rate at the gate or on the ASI ticketing portal.