Backpacking India: Spiritual Journeys

By | August 28, 2025

Backpacking India: Spiritual Journeys – Of the 65 countries I have visited so far, India is the most spiritual. In this story, I will tell you about five spiritual places in India that are worth seeing.

Whether you consider yourself religious or spiritual, the confluence of belief systems and their associated historical sites in India is fascinating.

Backpacking India: Spiritual Journeys

Add to this the incredibly low travel costs, including on airlines like Spicejet, and the ease of obtaining a six-month visa, and it’s easy to see why backpackers choose to spend half a year there at a time.

Best Road Trips In India

My seven weeks in India were guided by my spiritual curiosity. Here are five places I visited while traveling across northern India from east to west.

The journey from Gangtok, Sikkim to Bodhgaya over a day and a half was indeed my form of pilgrimage!

But it was worth coming to Bodhgaya, where I spent a few nights in a Tibetan monastery and sat under the Bodhi tree, where it was believed that the Buddha achieved enlightenment.

The Bodhi Tree is the most important site of Buddhism and attracts monks and lay practitioners from all over the world.

Spiritual Sites In India Worth A Pilgrimage

I left Bodhgaya on the 5:15 train westbound to Varanasi, a city on the Ganges River.

Buddha is believed to have founded Buddhism there in the 6th century B.C. (he preached his first sermon in nearby Sarnath, which I also visited).

Therefore, if they can afford it, many go on pilgrimage to Varanasi when death is imminent so that they can be cremated at the ghats along the river.

I had never seen people cremated, let alone done in public places, until I went for a walk on the ghats in Varanasi.

A Journey To Mother India

It took 24 hours to travel by train and bus from Agra to McLeod Ganj, but I arrived in one piece and just in time to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak at the Tibetan Children’s Village the next day.

A few months earlier, I had tried to visit Tibet, China, but had to cancel the trip two days before departure because the Chinese government had closed the border to foreigners.

As a result, my visit to McLeod Ganj was extremely important to me, and I liked the atmosphere so much that I spent three weeks there, which was about half of my total time in India.

If you want to immerse yourself in Tibetan Buddhist practices and Tibetan culture, this is one of the best places to do it.

Best Destinations For Spiritual Trekking In The Indian Himalayas

I left McLeoda Ganja by bus at 5 a.m. for Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple, the most important place of worship for the Sikhs. The journey took about six hours, but it was worth it.

Guards wearing purple turbans and spears walked around the temple. The sun was hot and the white marble floor was warm but not hot underfoot.

I visited several buildings in the area that housed religious items. However, the queue to the Golden Temple itself was too long for me.

The day after arriving in New Delhi, I visited Jama Masjid. Built in the mid-17th century, it is the largest mosque in India.

Ways To Make Your Trip Into A Spiritual Journey

I walked around the perimeter of the inner courtyard and climbed the 40-meter minaret for a fantastic 360-degree view of Delhi.

Writing this article about spiritual places in India brought back many memories of my trip, including a lot of time spent traveling overland.

If I were to return to see more of the country, I would consider booking with Air India or otherwise adding more flights to my travel itinerary rather than relying solely on trains and buses.

Dave is the founder and editor-in-chief of Go Backpacking and Feastio. He has been to 66 countries and lived in Colombia and Peru. Read the full story of how he became a travel blogger. The Indian subcontinent is one of the most important spiritual centers in the world. However, it is also known for its mixed religions and constant conflicts between them. This colorful land is a great mix of various beliefs, rituals and customs. Religion and spirituality are closely linked here. And it is for this reason that places of worship can only become a center for man to embrace his soul.

I Traveled 8,000 Miles For A Spiritual Awakening

If you’re looking for a spiritual retreat, this is a place that holds great promise for both theists and atheists. Get cheap flight tickets to India from USA and experience one divine trip of your life. However, if you are planning to spend some intimate time with yourself and learn the art of connecting with your inner self, our top recommendations are yoga and meditation centers:

The mighty Himalayas provide the ultimate backdrop, and the Blue Mango Meditation center in the Spiti Valley further ensures an immersion in deep peace, enabling you to tap into your inner voices more clearly than ever before. Amidst the breathtaking views, the place is clearly influenced by Buddhist culture. Several yoga and meditation sessions, as well as natural therapy programs, are available throughout the year. To participate in this meditation therapy, you need to book your tickets online to India.

It is a luxurious Ashram that will immediately soothe your mind and soul from the moment you enter. Spread over 28 acres in Pune’s Koregaon Park, the place offers a tranquil serenity everywhere that is almost enticing. There is a color code that requires all participants to wear burgundy robes. The Ashram, unlike most others in India, is not segregated by gender and the aim is not only to focus on highly disciplined and organized courses, but above all to ensure that people feel at ease in them. The guided meditations and workshops do not only focus on personal development, they focus on light mental and mental healing when you get here by booking cheap tickets to India from USA.

Probably the most famous names around the world, Art of Living. It was founded by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in 1982. The organization focuses on the use of breathing techniques, yoga and meditation to help the practitioner free themselves from worldly worries and grow as an individual. The Art of Living Ashram in the Panchagiri Hills near Bangalore is believed to provide the ultimate experience of life-changing spiritual enlightenment; the organization strives to. First, fly to Bangalore and join a three-day, on-site beginner’s course. This requires the student to revitalize breathing techniques and attune them to the rhythm of life – which is the first step towards a happy life.

India Travel Guide

A meditation technique aimed at making the practitioner aware of his or her mental and physical processes and sensations. The Buddha initially practiced this form of meditation. This is known to bring a person closer to his or her inner instincts. It also helps them rekindle their positivity. However, for many newbies, completing the entire course is a challenge. They last at least ten days and do not involve conversations or gender segregation. In addition, 10 hours of meditation per day are required, and dawn begins at 4:00 a.m. There are 25 centers in the country. So you can book tickets to India and visit the most important ones in Bangalore, Jaipur, Dehradun, Bodhgaya.

Another spiritual center following the ways of Lord Buddha. It helps visitors discover and connect with each other. Situated in the picturesque Dharamshala, this place offers a beautiful setting where you can absorb the tranquil atmosphere of mother nature. In addition, Tushita Meditation Center organizes several spiritual activities throughout the day. These include great ways to help people reach a stage of pure relaxation. We focus on enabling them to find their inner voice in the silence that surrounds them.

There are countless other spiritual centers in the country. And also modest abodes in his lap, where he connects with the richness of nature – mesmerizing flora and fauna, gushing rivers, pulsating winds, valleys and peaks, calm sea coasts. All of this being separated from the bustling human chaos also helps you reconnect with your inner elements. It may be a meditation course in one of the ashrams or a spiritual stay in a quiet place in solitude; your trip to India will be enriching. You can book flight tickets to India from USA with us and avail great discounts. I traveled 8,000 miles for spiritual awakening. Was India the land of spirituality I was hoping for?

At the ripe age of 22, feeling it was time to mature and possibly awaken, I traveled to India with my worn-out backpack and spent several months traveling, meditating in ashrams, practicing yoga, and spending afternoons drinking chai and playing guitar with others Millennial hippies.

The Ultimate Backpacking India Itinerary & Travel Route

It was 2004 and most of the OG hippies had entered the baby boom period, and the era of the savvy digital traveler had not yet arrived. So there were a lot of us and we had the wonderful opportunity to explore the land without taking selfies and unnecessary maps, so that we wouldn’t get lost and end up in unexpectedly magical situations. 

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