Pilgrims' Progress
More and more, the faithful are flocking to pilgrimage sites on and off the beaten path. Click on the interactive map to learn about some of the most popular destinations.
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<![CDATA[Santiago de Compostela, Spain]]>
A pilgrim travel on the Santiago de Compostela Trail.Religion: Christianity
Why Go: To visit the tomb of St. James, brother of John the Evangelist, who brought Christianity to Spain in the first century A.D. and, according to tradition, came back 800 years later as a ghost on a horse, leading the charge against the Moors.
Article of Faith: Dedicated folks come via hundreds of miles of footpaths, where criminals were once made to tread to reflect on their sinful ways.
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<![CDATA[Fatima, Portugal]]>
Visitors hold candles as a statue of the Holy Mary of Fatima is carried during a candlelight vigil at the Catholic Fatima shrine in central Portugal.Religion: Christianity
Why Go: To pay homage to three children in this village who said the Virgin Mary appeared to them many times from May to October 1917, telling them secrets (that, for instance, Russia would eventually return to Christianity) and predicting that the end of World War I was imminent.
Article of Faith: The children said the Virgin predicted two of them would die young. They did, in the flu epidemic of 1919-1920.
Photograph by Francisco Leong - AFP/Getty Images]]>
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<![CDATA[Vatican City/Rome, Italy]]>
An aerial view of Saint Peter's Basilica and Rome.Religion: Christianity
Why Go: To see the home of the pope and center of the Catholic faith in the Vatican City as well as Rome's hundreds of churches and other holy sites.
Article of Faith: At St. John's Lateran church, pilgrims can climb (only on their knees) a marble stairway, imported from Jerusalem in 326 B.C. A.D., where Jesus is said to have walked on the day of his death.
Photograph by James L. Stanfield - National Geographic Image Collection]]>
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<![CDATA[Medugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina]]>
On June 24, 1981, six schoolchildren say they saw an apparition of Mary in the sky above Medugorje, Yugoslavia. Now the town of 3,000 welcomes over 8 million visitors a year who come to pray for healing.Religion: Christianity
Why Go: To see the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have first appeared to six Croatian children in 1981 and to visit and pray with at least one of the visionaries.
Article of Faith: The Medugorje six say they continue to receive messages from Mary, which they share by fax and email with their supporters.
Photograph by Peter Essick - Aurora/Getty Images]]>
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<![CDATA[Mt. Kailas, China]]>
A pilgrim circumambulates Mount Kailas.Religion: Hinduism
Why Go: Pilgrims seek an end to their personal cycle of death and rebirth on Earth at this source of sacred rivers and home of the god Shiva.
Article of Faith: The 22,000-foot peak is one of the world's most remote pilgrimage sites. Out of respect for its holy power, no one has ever climbed to the top, according to the faithful, who instead walk a 32-mile circuit around the mountain.
Photograph by Alison Wright - National Geographic Image Collection]]>
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<![CDATA[Ujjain, India]]>
A Hindu woman offers prayers in the river shipra on the occasion of Kartik Purnima in Ujjain.Religion: Hinduism
Why Go: A drop of the nectar of immortality is said to have fallen to Earth at Ujjain; pilgrims come to break the cycle of death and rebirth and get a chance at permanent peace.
Article of Faith: To show the meaninglessness of worldly possessions, holy men march naked during the Kumbh Mela festival (see Haridwar).
Photograph by AP]]>
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<![CDATA[Shikoku, Japan]]>
Pilgrims chant mantras at the Ishite temple in the city of Matsuyama during the 800-mile pilgrimage.Religion: Buddhism
Why Go: To ride, walk, or crawl to some of 88 temples on an 800-mile-long route on Shikoku Island, birthplace of the Japanese monk Kukai, whose spirit is believed to accompany the pilgrims.
Article of Faith: A visit was once thought to cure leprosy as well as prepare the supplicant for enlightenment.
Photograph by Kaori Kaneko - AFP/Getty Images]]>
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<![CDATA[Uman, Ukraine]]>
To mark the Jewish new year, thousands pray at a lake near near the tomb of Reb Nachman of Breslov in the Ukrainian city of Uman. As part of the Tashlich ritual, they toss crumbs into the water—a symbolic casting off of their sins.Religion: Judaism
Why Go: To soak up blessings at the burial place of the Hassidic leader Rabbi Nachman.
Article of Faith: The time to come is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, when the rabbi used to gather followers for festivities and special lessons until his death in 1810.
Photograph by Menahem Kahana - AFP/Getty Images]]>
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<![CDATA[Jerusalem/Yerushalayim/Al Quds, Israel]]>
A young Orthodox Jew prays at the Wailing Wall.Location: Yerushalayim
Religion: Judaism
Why Go: To pray at the Western Wall, believed to have been part of King Solomon's temple.
Article of Faith: Supplicants write requests to God on notes and place them in cracks between the stones. A rabbinical team collects the notes twice yearly for burial on the Mount of Olives.
Location: Jerusalem
Religion: Christianity
Why Go: To see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, erected over what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus, and the Chapel of the Ascension, where followers say he rose to heaven.
Article of Faith: Pilgrims often walk the Via Dolorosa, a street where Jesus carried his cross before his death. Some carry their own wooden crosses.
Location: Al Quds
Religion: Islam
Why Go: To pray at the Dome of the Rock, where the prophet Muhammad is said to have flown into the sky on a winged horse.
Article of Faith: According to Islamic tradition, a trumpet call here will mark the end of the world.
Photograph by James L. Stanfield - National Geographic Image Collection
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<![CDATA[Mecca, Saudi Arabia]]>
A crowd of Muslims surround the Kaaba in the Haram Mosque in Mecca.Religion: Islam
Why Go: To carry out the hajj—the term for a pilgrimage to Mecca that is literally translated as the fifth "pillar of Islam." All Muslims who are able, must visit Mecca and Medina at least once.
Article of Faith: Islam's most holy place is in Mecca: the Kaaba , the cube-shaped building surrounding the rock on which Abraham is said to have offered to sacrifice his son to God.
Photograph by Reza - National Geographic Image Collection]]>
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<![CDATA[Medina, Saudi Arabia]]>
Muslim pilgramges pray the Al-Esha'a prayer in the Prophet Mohammed Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia.Religion: Islam
Why Go: To see where the prophet Muhammad died and is entombed.
Article of Faith: The Prophet's Mosque is built around Muhammad's tomb and home. Tradition says prayers offered from a special place near the tomb will always be accepted.
Photograph by Abid Katib - Getty Images]]>
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<![CDATA[Amritsar, India]]>
The temple complex with the 16th-century Har Mandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, at Amritsar.Religion: Sikhism
Why Go: To see holy manuscripts displayed at the religion's most sacred site, Har Mandir Sahib, a lavishly decorated golden temple.
Article of Faith: The temple sits in the middle of a sacred pool, which pilgrims approach on a marble causeway.
Photograph by Martin Gray - National Geographic Image Collection]]>
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<![CDATA[Utter Pradesh Province, India]]>
An Indian prays on the edge of the holy Ganges River in Varanasi, India. The late George Harrison, a longtime devotee of Hinduism, reportedly left over a million dollars to build a temple in Varanasi, according to Hare Krishna devotees.Location: Allahabad
Religion: Hinduism
Why Go: To wash away sins with a bath in the rough waters where the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers are believed to merge with a mythical "river of enlightenment."
Article of Faith: Some visitors shear their hair to offer it to the gods.
Location: Varanasi
Religion: Hinduism
Why Go: To visit the place where the god Shiva is said to have been born. The bathing platforms, or ghats , and temples here all include lingams —phallus-shaped carvings—that represent Shiva's powers of creativity and reproduction.
Article of Faith: If you die here, Hindus believe you'll have eternal life in the next world.
Location: Sarnath
Religion: Buddhism
Why Go: To see temples, shrines, and a silver casket said to contain the Buddha's remains.
Article of Faith: The Buddha recited his first sermon here.
Location: Kusinagara
Religion: Buddhism
Why Go: To visit monasteries and a museum commemorating the Buddha's death here in 486 B.C.
Article of Faith: Trees are said to have burst into bloom when the Buddha died.
Photograph by Ami Vitale - Getty Images]]>
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<![CDATA[Bihar Province, India]]>
A stone bas relief of the Buddha's footprints at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, India.Location: Bodh Gaya
Religion: Buddhism
Why Go: To get a taste of the enlightenment that the Buddha is reported to have achieved here while sitting under a tree in the "navel of the earth" in the sixth century B.C.
Article of Faith: After years of searching, Siddhartha Gautama fell into deep meditation here and is said to have reached nirvana and become the Buddha, or Enlightened One. For Buddhists, the stone marking the spot where he sat is sacred.
Location: Gaya
Religion: Hinduism
Why Go: To pray by the side of a banyan tree said to be immortal.
Article of Faith: You can see the imprint of what the faithful say is the god Vishnu's foot in solid rock, surrounded by silver.
Location: Patna
Religion: Sikhism
Why Go: To see the white marble temple that contains the cradle of Guru Gobind Singh.
Article of Faith: A museum holds a pair of ivory sandals that belonged to the Guru.
Photograph by Martin Gray - National Geographic Image Collection]]>
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<![CDATA[Haridwar, India and Dwarka, India]]>
Indian Hindu devotees worship at the Har-Ki -Pairi Temple on the banks of the River Ganges in Haridwar.Location: Haridwar
Religion: Hinduism
Why Go: To honor the dead in one of the places Hindus gather for the Kumbh Mela festival, perhaps the world's largest religious gathering, with millions of attendees. (The festival rotates among four sites over a period of 12 years.)
Article of Faith: People throw the ashes of deceased family members—and offerings of flowers, a symbol of continuing life—into the river.
Location: Dwarka
Religion: Hinduism
Why Go: To honor the god Krishna, who was born and died here.
Article of Faith: The sixth-century Queen Mira Baj gave up her royal title and came to this city to devote herself to worshipping and writing love poems to Krishna.
Photograph by AFP/Getty Images]]>
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<![CDATA[Lourdes, France]]>
Catholic pilgrims visit the Santuary of our Lady of Lourdes.Religion: Christianity
Why Go: To benefit from the reputed healing powers of the stream near Lourdes, where Bernadette, a young peasant girl, reported seeing the Virgin Mary in 1858.
Article of Faith: The stream now flows through spigots for waiting pilgrims. A team of doctors keeps tracks of visitors who say they've been cured.
Photograph by Carol Wolinsky - NG Image Collection]]>
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<![CDATA[Lumbini, Nepal]]>
A Buddhist monk from France prays in front of the birthplace of the Buddha, in Lumbini, Nepal.Religion: Buddhism
Why Go: To see the garden where Siddhartha, the future Buddha, was born and the pond where he was said to have been bathed by dragons.
Article of Faith: Legend says the newborn Siddhartha announced, "This is my last birth."
Photograph by Binod Joshi - AP Photo]]>
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