6 of Asia's Most Sacred Pilgrimage Sites

Taktshang Monastery, Bhutan

Taktshang Monastery is Bhutan's most photographed and sacred site. This Buddhist monastery sits atop a high cliff in the Himalayas and is often shrouded in mist.

Visitors can join the locals in hanging Buddhist prayer flags on long strings around the monastery. But first, you must ask the monks if that day is an auspicious day.

Potala Palace, Tibet

Tibetans say that the palace was originally built a thousand years earlier than its current structure, in 637. Its builder was a king who unified the Tibetan Empire, brought Buddhism to Tibet, and created the Tibetan alphabet.

The palace contains over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 temples, and 200,000 statues. The Potala Palace is the reason many tourists come to Lhasa, in remote Tibet.

Varanasi, India

The city of Varanasi in northeastern India is the center of the Hindu religious world. Millions of devotees flock to Varanasi annually to pray and bathe in the Ganges River.

Hindus believe that the ritual cleansing with the holy waters of the Ganges River in Varanasi will wash away their sins and help them attain a higher status in the afterlife. Varanasi is sacred to Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists alike.

Many Hindus come here for their final cremation, believing it helps them achieve enlightenment. The bonfires you see in the Ganges River are the sites of these cremations.

Pashupatinath Temple, Nepal

The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu is the most visited temple in Nepal. It is the largest Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva. This extremely powerful deity is depicted as a tough figure, wearing a serpent robe and a crescent moon.

Pashupatinath attracts devout Hindus from all over the world, and only Hindu pilgrims are allowed inside the temple. Non-Hindus can observe everything happening from the opposite bank of the sacred Bagmati River and witness a cremation ceremony.

Dambulla Golden Temple, Sri Lanka

Dambulla is Sri Lanka's most impressive cave temple, having attracted Hindu pilgrims for nearly 2,000 years. Today, adventurous tourists visiting Sri Lanka also seek it out.

Dambulla is more than just a temple. Its entrance is a giant gilded Buddha statue leading into a vast monastery carved directly into the rock. Inside are five caves with white stone monasteries and temples, all carved into the solid rock. There are also 157 statues carved from solid rock.

Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar

The most sacred pilgrimage site in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is the Shwedagon Pagoda. Many tourists come to Myanmar solely to see the Shwedagon Pagoda.

The spectacular golden dome of the Shwedagon Pagoda rises 98.1 meters. The pagoda is covered in gold leaf and adorned with a 76-carat diamond. The Shwedagon Pagoda is more than just a display. Day and night, this magnificent structure is alive with the chanting and prayers of monks and Buddhist devotees. The pagoda also serves as a repository for the relics of four Buddhas. Among these sacred objects are eight strands of hair from Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism.

Huong Thao