Talking about the most spiritual tourist destinations in the world means going deeper into a belief system where God is the main objective, which leads us to look for the meaning of life, of our origins, trying to answer the questions that every human being asks himself: Where we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?
That God who receives several names, according to the religion that each one professes, but in the end it is the same, that divine entity that gave us life and that brought us to this world to fulfil a mission, that makes us have beliefs based on faith and that makes us look for spiritual paths.
For these reasons, we will describe in this article the most spiritual tourist destinations in the world, which millions of tourists attend every year, renewing their faith in spiritual beliefs, and where they feel at peace, full of hope and devotion to these manifestations of faith in that God who provides everything and leads them on the right path.
First of all, we have Jerusalem, a tourist destination that annually attracts millions of tourists and which is cataloged as one the spiritual places of the world for its meaning and its divine manifestations. Therefore, Jerusalem is one of the cities with the greatest spirituality according to those who understand the subject, as well as being one of the oldest in the world, where the foundations of the three most important religions in the world were laid, such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Jerusalem is called the “Holy City”, and it is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea; and even though it has faced a series of armed conflicts for thousands of years that have brought death and desolation to its inhabitants, it keeps that dose of spirituality emanated in its great amount of temples of the different religions with its own God, that in the end is the same God of all.
Despite this series of conflicts throughout the history of humankind, this holy city has known how to preserve and keep its religious and spiritual customs with beautiful spaces that provide tourists with the tranquillity and spirituality they seek during their stay, which is why it is considered one of the most spiritual tourist destinations in the world.
In this beautiful and world-famous city, you should not miss Wailing Wall, The Muslim Rock Dome and The Mount of Olives, emblematic spiritual places that allow you to experience a magical experience.
Another of the spiritual destinations that has welcomed millions of visitors year after year is the Vatican city in Italy, through which people walk who seek spiritual answers, others who carry in their backpacks a set of Christian beliefs based on the existence of their God who can do everything, that omnipotent being that is the fundamental pillar of their religion, and that is found in each place, each temple, each sanctuary, each mountain or landscape around the world, manifesting himself with divine and spiritual presences that the human being values and defends with devotion.
It should be noted that the Vatican is officially considered as a state, and although it is within the geography of Italy, it is listed as the smallest country in the world and where all the powers of the Catholic Church are concentrated, thus being the central point of this religion, where the largest temple is located, where millions of people gather in the famous square and the Basilica of San Pedro, in addition to the fact that there are many museums in its surroundings with historical works of art and high doses of spirituality.
Following our route, we find ourselves with Bodh Gaya in India, a beautiful tourist destination, full of peace and tranquillity which transmits the most beautiful of the spiritual world, where tourists from all over the world deposit their faith and pray before the magnificent temples, which are sanctuaries where tribute is paid to Buddha and that highlights the importance of firm religious beliefs, which in turn support their value system.
Bodh Gaya is located in north-eastern India, and it is considered a synonym of spirituality par excellence because it is the place where the spiritual leader “Buddha” is believed to have attained his enlightenment in the 5th century before Christ, time when he was known as Prince Siddhartha, who within his philosophical principles, defended the thesis that “everything we are is the result of what we have thought; it is based on our thoughts and is made of our thoughts”, a belief that is closely related to current psychological approaches.
In this so spiritual tourist destination, tourists can attend the various celebrations that take place, including joining the pilgrimages that take place there, as well as visit the dozens of temples that have become emblematic sites for Buddhism.
Likewise, the Buddhist religion has found its support in other regions, such as, for example, the “Pedreguer” Monastery, located between the cities of Valencia and Alicante in Spain, which is on top of a hill and with a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea, which is open to anyone regardless of their religion or the God they represent, where people can practice Buddhist meditation and access to their world of high spirituality.
Another tourist destination of high spirituality is “Mecca” in Saudi Arabia, a place that for Muslims is like the Vatican for Christians. However, those who do not profess the religion of Islam cannot enter this sacred temple for Islamists.
In Mecca, which is the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, followers of Islam can perform the Hajj or pilgrimage, which is considered one of the spiritual rituals that the faithful must fulfil at least once in their lives. Likewise, the Islamists who visit the place must go around a large box, which is covered with a black cloth called Kaaba.
If we move to England, we can visit “Stonehenge”, which are the famous vertical structures whose existence is considered very mysterious since it dates from the XX century before Christ, and no explanation has been found for the motives and the way they were sculpted, being considered as a place with a lot of spirituality, considering that thousands of years ago the equinoxes of summer and winter and the alignment of planets were already taken into account.
If we go to Japan, on the island of Honshu we find another place of high spirituality, as “Mount Fuji” is, a mountain of volcanic origin that was baptized with that name in honour to the God of Fire. It is a mysterious mountain that attracts not only the attention of Buddhists, but also climbers’ because its almost 3,800 meters high offers climbing lovers the perfect option to practice this sport and be filled with pure spirituality in a sacred site since antiquity but that only at the end of the 19th century was it allowed for women to reach the top.
Also in India it is the Rishikesh, a city considered the Disneyland of Yoga and located in the north of this country, very close to the Himalayas and considered sacred since antiquity, where the Hindus go on a pilgrimage and perform many yoga courses for local and visitors, being the most popular the TTC (Teacher Training Course), whose duration is 200 hours and through which the person is instructed in topics related to anatomy, philosophy, meditation, breathing and postures.
Another spiritual centre par excellence is in Mazunte, Mexico, considered as a centre of “Silence Retreat”. It is a very spiritual town, in which plans are organized that offer visitors the possibility of staying 10 days without speaking in a beautiful jungle with a very spiritual environment. This retreat is called “Vipassana”, and it is offered in many Buddhist centres and monasteries around the world with no cost, but with lots of demands.
In China we have the Wudang Mountains, at northeast of Hubei, where there are more than 70 peaks whose main summit is called “Pillar of Heaven”, where there is a lush nature that exudes peace and spirituality, as well as ancient buildings of breath-taking beauty that easily project to a past life. In these buildings the first martial techniques related to Taoism were born, such as “Tai Chi Chuan” and “Pa Kua” of hands and feet; practiced by the monks.
In addition, in these mountains a lot of temples with great beauty are located, which combine the landscape with these shrines where you worship “Tao”, which impregnates a lot of spirituality to this wonderful site that gives tourists the opportunity to delve into a mysterious and spiritual world in order to find himself and relax to the fullest.
It should be noted that, despite the fact that many tourists do not belong to the Buddhist religion, they seek as a tourist destination, countries or regions where these types of temples or sanctuaries are located and which are typical of that religion and / or culture because they feel the curiosity to know spiritual places where beliefs and customs are the base of the tourist activity, and that correspond to cultural, historical and / or religious tourism, or that simply because it gathers these three basic elements for those tourists who love this type of experiences, without being exclusively devoted to a specific religion.
The same happens with those tourist destinations where Catholic or Christian beliefs are the basis of tourist activity, as tourists from other religions visit them in the constant search for new information and spiritual experiences through visits to temples, shrines, roads, caves, etc., where there has been a transcendental spiritual event for the world and religion and that has been the basis of beliefs, no matter what religion is concerned, just that the presence of God is implicit.
ALFA