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The city of Amritsar has a golden heart, with the Golden Temple, the holiest site in Sikhism, dominating the city. Glowing in the hot Punjabi sun, the temple is as golden as its name suggests, and sits in the middle of the holy Amrit Sarovar pool, which lends its name to the city.
This became a place of pilgrimage after six youths in the Bosnian mountain village of Međugorje claimed to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary. For a Međugorje vision of your own, begin in the famed bridge town of Mostar; Međugorje is about 30 mountainous kilometers away.
One of the great Christian pilgrimages is to the tomb of the apostle St James in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela. It’s a journey of such spiritual note that it has been named Europe’s Premier Cultural Itinerary and is also listed on the Unesco World Heritage register.
The peak of Mt Kailash in Tibet is revered in a number of religions. To circuit holy Kailash is a pilgrimage for Buddhists, Hindus, Bonpos, Jains and, more recently, trekkers. The journey to Kailash is itself an epic worthy of being called a pilgrimage, so allow time for this remarkable trek.
For Hindus, the source of the Ganges is a holy of holiest, and many thousands make the pilgrimage to its source near Gangotri. To join them requires a trek of 24km from Gangotri, threading through Himalayan valleys to Gaumukh, where you’ll find the trickle of water that will flow on to become one of Asia’s major rivers.
