Destination: Both Gaya

Location: Bodh Gaya, India most frequented by: Buddhists For years, Siddhartha Gautama tried to find an end to human suffering through, well, human suffering. He nearly starved to death following a life of extreme self-denial. When that didn't work, he decided to try sitting under a tree and meditating. Luckily for him, after a few weeks, Gautama found Enlightenment

The understanding that suffering comes from desire—and thereafter became known as Buddha. Thus began one of the world's great religions. In a nutshell, that's why an average of more than 2,000 people per day visit the small town in northeast India known as Bodh Gaya. For Buddhist pilgrims and tourists alike, there are two main attractions:

The Mahabodhi Temple, a pyramid-shaped building first erected in the 3rd century BCE; and the Bodhi Tree, said to be a direct descendant of the tree under which Buddha attained Enlightenment. Buddhists regard Bodh Gaya as the first place Buddha began teaching his reap-what-you-sow idea of karma. Ironically, the city has the unsavory reputation as the center of one of the poorest and most lawless regions in India.