Lumbini can be reached by flight from Kathmandu to Bhairahawa, which is a larger town close to India border. The accommodation options around are pretty basic, but there is at least one resort with all the ammenities of modern leisure tourism. Front desk arranged a driver for us - pretty overpriced for Nepal at 70USD / 8 hrs, but with the good attitude required to brave the rural traffic and dusty roads...and find all the places he was not really familiar with.

1. Maya Devi 

After taking the parking permit from the tourist info center, the driver can go inside the park and leave you close to the Maya Devi temple - the birthplace of Lord Buddha listed as WHS. Even if little more to see physically other than few stones, reconstructed stupa foundations, a pond and few boddhi trees, the cultural load of this site remains strong, and watching pilgrims chanting their mantras while contemplating the place where one of world's most important religions emerged makes for a strong, and beautiful spiritual experience. Visiting just before the start of the season in the first days of october must have helped as well - great weather, few tourists.

2. Kenzo Tange's masterplan and Lumbini Museum

What really made this WHS visit an amazing one was the discovery of Kenzo Tange's legacy. This is one of Japan's most famous architects and he was tasked with designing the Lumbini tourist park masterplan in the mid 70's. His Lumbini Museum is an amazing architectural gem: while the exhibition itself is in dreadful disrepair, the building with its awe-inspiring geometric interior spaces is really worth the detour.

The masterplan further contains many buddhist monasteries, to be considered for their peaceful atmosphere if one is not familiar with Asian temple typologies from different countries. Japan's World Peace Pagoda is probably the most iconic of them.

3. Tilaurakot

This one day trip wouldnt be complete without a visit to Tilaurakot, a tentative WHS site 40min drive away from Lumbini. Again, little more to see other than reconstructed foundations and secular trees...but this is the place where Buddha actually lived for the first 29 years of his life...after a pleasant walk through the history-filled forest, you can watch the sun go down at the gate through which Buddha presumably walked away when leaving the worldly life behind.

Best explored with professional guiding in order to keep the tour informative and entertaining.

There is also a very interesting hindu temple with hundreds of elephant statues on the premises.