Lumbini
Lumbini is located in the Rupandehi district of southern Nepal close to the Indian border. It is renowned for being the official birthplace of The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. The main site is known as Lumbini Development Zone which is sealed in by a perimeter fence. Bordering the zone is Lumbini Bazar which is a small village/town where accommodation, restaurants and transportation can be found.
 
Importance of Lumbini
 
World Peace Pagoda 
Located outside the main compound, but easily accessible by bike, the impressive gleaming white World Peace Pagoda was constructed by Japanese Buddhists at a cost of US$1 million. The shining golden statue depicts the Buddha in the posture he assumed when he was born. Near the base of the stupa is the grave of a Japanese monk murdered by anti-Buddhist extremists during the construction of the monument.
 
Myanmar Golden Temple 
The Myanmar Golden Temple is one of the oldest structures in the compound. There are three prayer halls – the most impressive is topped by a corncob-shaped shikhara (tower), styled after the temples of Bagan. Within the temple grounds is the nearby is the Lokamani Pula Pagoda , a huge gilded stupa in the southern Burmese style, inspired by the Shwedagon Paya in Yangon.

Ashokan Pillar 
The Indian emperor Ashoka visited Lumbini in 249 BC, leaving behind an inscribed sandstone pillar to commemorate the occasion. After being lost for centuries, Ashoka’s pillar was rediscovered by the governor of Palpa, Khadga Shumsher Rana, in 1896. The 6m-high pink sandstone pillar has now been returned to its original site in front of the Maya Devi Temple.
 
Maya Devi Temple 
This temple sits on the site of the the Buddha's birth, according to Buddhist scholars. You will need to buy your entrance ticket 50m north of the gate to the Sacred Garden. At the gate you must remove your shoes.
(A spare pair of socks may be a useful item as there is a fair bit of walking round the garden to see everything.) 
Excavations carried out in 1992 revealed a succession of ruins dating back at least 2200 years, including a commemorative stone on a brick plinth, matching the description of a stone laid down by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. There are plans to raise a grand monument on the site, but for now a sturdy brick pavilion protects the temple ruins.
 
You can walk around the ruins on a raised boardwalk. The focal point for pilgrims is a sandstone carving of the birth of the Buddha, reputedly left here by the Malla king, Ripu Malla, in the 14th century, when Maya Devi was worshipped as an incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess. The carving has been worn almost flat by centuries of veneration, but you can just discern the shape of Maya Devi grasping a tree branch and giving birth to the Buddha, with Indra and Brahma looking on. Directly beneath this is a marker stone encased within bulletproof glass, which pinpoints the spot where the Buddha was born.
 
The sacred pond beside the temple is believed to be where Maya Devi bathed before giving birth to the Buddha. Dotted around the grounds are the ruined foundations of a number of brick stupas and monasteries dating from the 2nd century BC to the 9th century AD.