This journey is $4499 USD per person (double occupancy).

The single supplement for this trip is $995 (please keep reading for information about the single supplement).  .

This price only covers journey within India and Nepal, not international airfare (for a full list of inclusions, please see below).

When registration opens, a $1000 deposit holds your space.  The second installment of $2000 is due by July 15, 2022 and the balance is due by August 15, 2022.  The single supplement ($995) is due along with the last installment.

If you prefer to have your own room, the single supplement is $995 USD and will be added to your last payment. (Click here to understand why this single supplement is necessary). Please note that we cannot guarantee you a roommate for this trip, and if you room alone, you will be responsible for the single supplement. This particular single supplement, although high, is actually subsidized by RetreaTours, and your entire supplement goes to cover the other half of the hotel rooms that a roommate would be covering. 

Price Includes:

• All accommodation in India and Nepal, from the night of November 1 to 14.
• All meals in India and Nepal, from dinner on November 1 until breakfast on November 15 (*except one lunch at the airport on November 2)
• All ground transportation within India and Nepal
• Flight from New Delhi to Varanasi, India
• Airport transportation upon arrival in New Delhi and departure in Lumbini
• All site fees
• Donation to Drepung Gomang monastery to fund new dormitory 
• Tips at hotels and restaurants
• Tips to expert local guide and driver
• Triple carbon offsets for your entire journey (door to door)

Price does not include:

• International airfare (although we will be more than happy to advise you!)
• Flight from Lumbini to Kathmandu ($100 USD)
• Indian visa fee (we will advise on the entire visa process; eVisas for 30 days will cost ~$25 USD)
• Nepal visa fee (~$30 USD)
• Travel insurance (required)
• Laundry services

Please refer to the Price tab for specific information about price & what is included on your journey.

We accept payments via check and credit or debit card (via PayPal) for our American guests.  For our guests outside the U.S., please write Lauren@RetreaTours.com for transfer details.

• Paying by Check: Checks can be made out to RetreaTours and sent to 8821 NW 14 Street, Pembroke Pines, FL 33024.

• Paying by Credit Card or PayPal balance: You can pay with credit card, debit card, or PayPal balance. All PayPal transactions must be in USD.  Note that you do not have to pay with your PayPal balance; please click here if you’d like further instruction.

We will email you an invoice via PayPal before each installment’s due date.

• Passport and Visa information
• Food
• Health & Vaccines, Travel Insurance
• Money & How to Get Local Currency
• Communication

PASSPORT/VISA

• What do I need to know about the visa?    

First and foremost, your passport MUST be valid at least 6 months beyond the end date of the trip (that is, May 15, 2023), and you’ll need three empty pages in the Visas section of your passport (make sure they are in the Visa section, not the Amendment or Endorsement section). 

You will need to arrange an Indian visa before you arrive; we will provide you more detailed information before you apply for your visa. You will get your Nepal visa upon arrival in Nepal for ~$30 USD.

FOOD

• I have special dietary needs—can I be accommodated?

Vegetarians should have no problem anywhere on our travels. The only thing that might prove difficult is veganism in India. Although meat is entirely avoidable, India is the world’s largest consumer of butter, and it is almost unavoidable in most of their curries, stews, and even breads. Many vegans that we have known to travel through India adopt what is locally referred to as a “pure veg” diet: no meat, no eggs, but it allows for dairy consumption.  (It is worth nothing that some of the reasons for avoiding dairy consumption in the west is slightly mitigated here, as there is less factory farming and antibiotic use in livestock.) Milk can be avoided by not consuming creamy dishes or milk tea.

Gluten is also avoidable in India by choosing rice over chapatis and other local breads. Celiactravel.com has GREAT printable cards in local languages to present to restaurants and hotels about your intolerance of gluten. Click here for the Hindi version.  If you have multiple dietary needs, it may be worth your while to check out these specialty cards, available in 60 different languages.

When you register for a trip, you will answer a set of questions, including a question about food allergies. We’ll take a look at your answers and let you know if we have any suggestions or concerns.

There is typically a large amount of Western/”Continental” food available at meals, for those of you who aren’t in the mood Indian food.

Click here for our very own Indian Food Primer!

• Can I drink the water?

In a word, No. Although many cities around the world are getting more advanced public water systems, we don’t recommend it.  Not only from a pathogen standpoint, but it’s a different set of bacteria than your body is used to. Why risk an upset stomach if you don’t have to? We recommend drinking only bottled water, and you will want to rinse your toothbrush off in bottled water.

For those of you who wish to use your own filtration system (LifeStraw bottle, etc), you can definitely bring them and use tap water in them, which will save on the plastic of water bottles!

HEALTH

• What vaccines do I need?

None are required to enter India, but we suggest you work with your physician or your area’s travel health expert to decide what options are best for you.  You can read the CDC’s recommendations here and the UK NHS recommendations here.

• What about malaria? 

You may or may not wish to consider anti-malarial drugs, so please work with your physician or travel doctor when making these choices. Please see our blog about this topic for more information.  Here is an NHS malaria map for India and one for Nepal.  You’ll see on the maps that the areas we will be visiting are in the low to no risk” areas, although BodhGaya is on the border of “low to no risk” and “low risk.”

• What are the physical requirements for this trip?

Participants should be able to comfortably climb stairs, slowly but in a stable fashion. Guests should be able to walk unassisted for 1 mile at a time. Guests should be comfortable sitting for 2-3 hours at a time on the bus without a break. We won’t be at most sites for more than 2-3 hours at a time, and even then there will be benches or low walls to take breaks on. Guests make wish to bring an inflatable meditation cushion for meditation opportunities.

• Do I need travel insurance?

Yes, travel insurance is required on this trip. Please find out what must be covered in the “Travel Insurance” tab on this page. You’ll provide us with your travel insurance company name, policy number, and emergency number before the start of the trip.

MONEY

• How much money should I bring?

All of your meals and transportation are covered once you arrive (except your $30USD Nepal visa and tip to local guide/driver), so you just have to gauge how much you want to spend on extras (laundry, souvenirs, and alcohol when available [only in Nepal]). Please see the “Price and Inclusions” tab on this page for all the specifics.

• How do I get the local currency?

You can either exchange cash in Nepal and India or use a local ATM (which we personally prefer for ourselves). Just make sure you call your bank and credit card company to let them know you’ll be traveling in India and Nepal, so they don’t put a hold on your card when they see it being used halfway across the world.  Most smaller shops will not take credit cards.

COMMUNICATION

• Will I be able to charge my electronics (phone, iPad, etc)?

Yes, just be sure to bring along a Universal Travel Adaptor that can go with you anywhere in the world!

• Will we have WiFi?

We will have access to wifi at all of our hotels, but please know it may be strongest (or only functional) in common spaces like the lobby or the restaurant. WiFi speeds may not be what you are used to at home.

We will be asking that you download WhatsApp for communication on tour, in addition to communication with family back home, as it works remarkably well on very little internet connectivity.

• Should I get an International phone plan? What about a local SIM card?

Please check with your cell provider about international options that might work for you.  If you have an unlocked smartphone, you can purchase a SIM card upon arrival at the airport in New Delhi for our time in India. However, as we are crossing overland into Nepal in a rural area, there is no convenient place to purchase a Nepal SIM card for our 3 night stay there.   

• How can my family get ahold of me in an emergency?

Before the trip begins we will give you a contact for our hotels; in addition, we will give you our Indian phone numbers and WhatsApp numbers ahead of time, as well as an American number good for text messages and voicemails.

Each of our hotels will have a private ensuite bathroom, air conditioning, and WiFi access (although in some locations the connection will not extend to the rooms and will only be usable in common areas like the lobby or restaurant).

We have carefully chosen each hotel based on comfort, location, and safety. These are our intended hotels for each stop on our journey:

• New Delhi: Novotel Aerocity
• Varanasi: Hotel Madin
• Bodh Gaya: Hotel Anand International
• Rajgir: Indo Hokke
• Patna: Lemon Tree
• Kushinagar: The Imperial Kushinagar
• Lumbini: Buddha Maya Gardens Resort

About many Indian and Nepali bathrooms…

You will have a Western toilet in all of your rooms (as opposed to a squat toilet). However, it is worth noting that many Asian bathrooms are considered “wet rooms”—that is, the shower shares the entire bathroom space with the sink and toilet (as opposed to having an inset shower stall or bathtub with a curtain or shower door). You may also find, in addition to a traditional showerhead, a large bucket and a smaller dipper for a “bucket bath.” This is a great way to save water, and we’ll tell you all about it in our orientation!

If you are traveling with RetreaTours, we require that each guest carries travel insurance that covers emergency medical treatment and emergency evacuation and repatriation. 

We suggest trip cancellation insurance, as well, as you never know what obstacles life can toss at you leading up to a trip. However, we do not require this coverage, we only suggest it highly. You may even wish to consider a “Cancel for Any Reason” policy.

Below you will find some options to look into, if this is a new world to you. However, we ask that you carefully consider your choice in travel insurance. What works for some people may not work for others, particularly if you have any pre-existing conditions. Please do take the time to consider the best policy for your individual needs.

World Nomads provides medical coverage for guests under 70 that includes trip cancellation, as well. You can use the box on this page to get a quote and see coverage.

InsureMyTrip.com is a good place to see and compare many policies at once, and you can refine the options by what coverage you would like.

It may also be a good idea to check with your credit card companies, especially American Express, to see if they offer any medical coverage for travel.

We are more than happy to recommend international flights, but ultimately you will make the purchase yourself directly through the airline website or through a 3rd party site like Expedia or Kayak.

Because the new flights from Lumbini to New Delhi have not begun yet, a flight into New Delhi and out of Kathmandu is your best bet. However, if you wish to purchase a roundtrip ticket to New Delhi, you can fly from Kathmandu to New Delhi on the evening of the 18th (after your flight from Lumbini to Kathmandu). 

Expected temperatures

The expected and historical temperatures on this journey range between 65°F (18°C) at nights and 85°F (30°C) during the day. This means mornings and late evenings might be cool, but temperatures will get warmer in the afternoons. This is not a rainy time of year, although it will still be humid.

Updated packing list coming soon!

There is no required reading for this trip, but for those of you interested, here are some reading materials to help familiarize yourself with the historical footsteps of the Buddha.

• Buddha by Karen Armstrong
• Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Gautama Buddha by Vishapani Blomfield
• The Buddhist Pilgrimage by Duncan Forbes

Please visit our Carbon Negative page to learn more about what we are doing to mitigate the impact of our collective journey, including a triple carbon offset credit to cover not only your time in India and Nepal, but travel to and from your home.

* * * 

We purchase triple carbon offsets for your travels with us—that’s from your home, through the entire tour, and back to your home again, times three! 

RetreaTours is officially a Carbonfree® Partner with Carbonfund.org, as well as a “Certified Carbon Fighter” with Cool Effect.

You may have heard the term “carbon neutral,” which means that a company offsets as much carbon as it produces. With this 300% offset, RetreaTours is actually offsetting more carbon than we produce each year, making us “carbon negative” (or “climate positive,” which has a nicer ring to it!)

Since 2012 we’ve focused on making travel safe and easy for our guests; with our triple carbon offset tours, we’re pleased to make our trips as sustainable as they are memorable.

BJ Graf and Lauren Rathvon have traveled the globe year-round since January 2013, researching, designing, and leading impactful journeys. We are deeply grateful for the trust placed in us by our guests; we save our guests’ time and resources during trip planning and maximize their engagement and enjoyment on tour.

We are committed not only to our guests, but to our host destinations and the planet. We engage with local businesses and guides to keep money within the community, and we triple carbon-offset each of our tours.

We invite you to visit our Testimonials page to see what other people have to say about us!

Please write to Lauren for any questions you may have about this journey. If you have not received a reply within 48 hours, please do check your spam folder.