Wat Thai Sarnath (Thai Temple)

A short walk from the Dhamek Stupa, where the Buddha is believed to have delivered his first sermon, Wat Thai Sarnath is the calmest and most photographed of the deer-park town's cluster of international monasteries.

• Founded in 1933 by Thai dignitaries and still run by a resident community of Thai Buddhist monks, the compound feels like a quiet transplant of Bangkok's temple architecture onto the Gangetic plain: a viharn (assembly hall) crowned with steeply pitched, multi-tiered roofs in vermilion, ochre and gold, elegant chofa finials curling skyward at the gable ends, and gilded pillars framing a golden principal Buddha seated in the earth-touching pose.
• The grounds are impeccably kept — clipped lawns, flowering borders, lotus ponds and shaded walkways that draw pilgrims, photographers and school groups alike.
• The temple's most famous feature stands in the gardens behind the viharn: an 80-foot (about 24.3 m) standing Buddha, carved from Chunar sandstone and inspired by the great cliff Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
• Conceived as a symbol of Indo-Thai friendship, the statue took roughly fourteen years to complete — work began in 1997 and, after a pause, the figure was formally unveiled in March 2011.
• It is widely cited as the tallest standing Buddha statue in India, hand of abhaya-mudra raised in reassurance over a landscaped plaza with fountains and lotus beds.
• Together the monastery and the giant Buddha form Sarnath's most popular international-temple stop, an easy and moving complement to the ancient ruins nearby.
• Entry is free and the atmosphere is contemplative rather than commercial, which makes it an ideal slow-travel pause.
• Visitors are asked to remove footwear before entering the viharn, dress modestly with shoulders and knees covered, keep voices low around meditating monks, and walk clockwise around shrines in the Buddhist tradition.
• Early morning and late afternoon are the loveliest windows, when the light turns the gilded roofs to fire and the crowds thin.
• For vegetarian travellers, Sarnath is one of the gentlest towns in India to eat in.
• As a living Buddhist pilgrimage centre it is overwhelmingly satvik and meat-free by custom, so simple pure-veg dhabas and family restaurants around Dharmapala Road serve thalis, chole-bhature, litti-chokha, South Indian dosas and Indo-Chinese without a scrap of meat, fish or egg on the menu.
• Nothing alcoholic is sold in the temple precinct.
• Carry a bottle of water, and for a wider spread of the city's legendary chaat and lassi, the old-city ghats lie about 8-10 km southwest.