On the river, where Varanasi makes sense
A stage for the sun: the whole city faces the sunrise across the Ganga.
- Ghats face
- East, across to an open sandbank
- Dawn boat
- About ninety minutes
- Boat
- Wooden rowing boat, not motor
- Evening aarti
- Dashashwamedh Ghat, at dusk
- Winter dawns
- Misty and cold, bring a shawl
- From the steps: you see only the crowd around you.
- From a boat: a hundred metres out, you see the full sweep of palaces, temples and bathing platforms, and understand how royal houses from across India competed to build here.
- Plan these first: everything else fits around the river.
A rowing boat at first light
When: be on the steps while the sky is still grey.
The boatman: from one of the old mallah families, the hereditary boat people of the river.
- What you pass: the bathers, the yoga on the ghats, the washermen and the temple bells.
- No motorboats: at this hour the engine drowns everything worth hearing.
- The stories: your guide tells them quietly, ghat by ghat, as the sun comes up straight onto the stone.
- December to February: bring a shawl, when river mist makes the dawn cold and silver.
The aarti seen from the water
At dusk: a boat downstream as the light turns gold, holding position off Dashashwamedh Ghat.
- What you see: the row of priests framed against the lit steps, with conch shells, bells and great brass lamps moving in unison.
- Getting a place: boats pack in tightly, so we send ours out early to hold a place at the front.
- Do it twice: once from the water and once from the steps, because the two feel completely different.
Crossing to the sandbank
What it is: the eastern bank opposite the ghats, a long, empty spread of sand the city has never built on.
When: in the dry months, ask your boatman to land you there for half an hour.
- What you find: children playing cricket and a few horse carts waiting for riders.
- The view: back across the water to the whole riverfront, the best panorama in Varanasi.
- Late afternoon: a lovely, quiet place to sit with a flask of tea before the aarti.
Floating a diya for someone you love
What it is: pilgrims set small lamps called diyas, a wick and a few marigolds on a leaf cup, onto the current as a prayer.
- Why: a gentle thing to do for a parent or a friend who could not come.
- Where to buy: from the women on the steps rather than the boys who jump onto boats, and ask for leaf cups without plastic.
- How: light it, hold it for a moment and let the river take it.
The ghats on foot, in sections
- Southern walk
- Assi to Kedar
- Man Mandir palace
- Around 1600, Raja Man Singh of Amber
- Observatory
- Eighteenth century, Sawai Jai Singh II
- Cremation ghat
- Manikarnika, no photography
- Quiet north
- Scindia and Panchganga
- Short walks: we split the ghats into sections, each with its own mood, and walk them at the cooler ends of the day.
- Footwear: the steps are steep and often wet, so wear shoes with grip that are easy to slip off at shrines.
Assi to Kedar, the southern walk
Start: at Assi Ghat, the city's traditional southern boundary, where students and families gather in the evening.
Walk north: past Tulsi Ghat, where Tulsidas lived, and the fortified Chet Singh Ghat.
- Finish: at Kedar Ghat, with its red and white striped stairs.
- The mood: the most relaxed stretch in the city, with fewer touts and more neighbourhood life.
- Halfway: our guides stop for a clay cup of tea and point out old family houses whose doors open straight onto the steps.
The wrestlers of Tulsi Ghat
What happens: at dawn, in an akhara, a traditional wrestling ground, young men train in soft, oiled earth, swing heavy wooden clubs and pray to Hanuman before they grapple.
- Not a show: it is a living tradition, so watch quietly from the edge.
- Photographs: ask your guide first.
- For families: our children always remember this more than any temple.
Man Mandir and the Rajasthani observatory
For a Jaipur family: this is a pilgrimage of its own.
The palace: built by Raja Man Singh of Amber on this ghat around 1600.
- The observatory: added on its roof in the eighteenth century by Sawai Jai Singh II, who founded Jaipur.
- The instruments: smaller cousins of those in our Jantar Mantar in Jaipur. Standing among them above the river, you see how far the Kachwaha kings reached.
- When: in the morning, when the sundials actually cast a shadow.
Manikarnika, from a respectful distance
Why go: the great cremation ghat is part of the life of Varanasi, and many guests want to understand it.
How we visit: only with a guide, from a boat or an upper level above the pyres, for a short while.
- The absolute rule: no photography of the cremations, the bodies or the mourners.
- Behaviour: dress soberly and keep your voice low.
- The trap: ignore anyone who offers to take you closer or asks for money for wood.
- What your guide explains: the role of the Dom community, who keep the sacred fire, and the rites of the families.
- How to think of it: as a funeral at home, because that is what it is.
Scindia and Panchganga, the quieter north
Beyond Manikarnika: the crowds thin.
Scindia Ghat: a Shiva temple has sunk and leans into the river.
- Panchganga Ghat: it rises steeply below the minarets of the Alamgiri mosque.
- Everyday life: laundry, cricket, kite-flying and grandmothers on doorsteps.
- When: the late afternoon, catching a boat back as the light goes.
Temples, shrines and the faith of the city
A working pilgrim city: not a museum, its temples are crowded with people who have travelled far to be there.
- Kashi Vishwanath
- One of twelve jyotirlingas
- Present temple
- 1780, Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore
- River corridor
- Since 2021
- Hanuman's days
- Tuesdays and Saturdays
- Jain link
- Birthplace of Parshvanath
- Dress and behaviour: our temple etiquette guide.
- Our approach: our page on temples and pilgrim towns explains how we visit sacred places across north India.
Kashi Vishwanath and its corridor
What it is: the temple of Shiva as Lord of the Universe, one of the holiest Shiva shrines in India.
The gold: its spires were plated with gold given by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab.
- The corridor: a broad stone walk links the temple to the river, so you can walk up from the ghats instead of squeezing through the lanes.
- Security: strict, and phones are usually held outside, so we arrange that.
- When: early on an ordinary weekday.
- Avoid: Mondays in Shravan and Mahashivratri, unless you love a crush.
Kal Bhairav, the city's guardian
Who he is: a fierce form of Shiva, known as the kotwal of Kashi, its chief of police.
The custom: devotees say you should ask his permission before you settle in the city.
- The temple: small and busy in the northern lanes, smelling of mustard oil and incense.
- The blessing: priests tap visitors on the shoulder with a bundle of peacock feathers.
- Why go: a short visit that shows a side of Varanasi most tours miss.
Sankat Mochan, Hanuman's temple
Where: in the south of the city, among trees full of monkeys.
Its founding: said by tradition to be the work of Tulsidas.
- Hanuman's days: queues run long and the courtyard fills with recitations of the Hanuman Chalisa.
- Prasad: try the besan ladoo, gram-flour sweets.
- Watch your bags: the monkeys are quick.
The Durga temple and Tulsi Manas Mandir
The Durga temple: close to Sankat Mochan, with red ochre walls and a tiered spire beside a large tank.
- Tulsi Manas Mandir: a few steps away, in white marble, with the verses of the Ramcharitmanas engraved on its walls.
- How long: easy to combine in an hour, and both are calmer than the temples near the river.
The new Vishwanath temple at BHU
What it is: a tall white temple on the green campus of Banaras Hindu University, built by the Birla family.
- Open to all: people of every faith and caste, as its founders intended.
- The campus: after the heat of the old city, the wide lawns and students on bicycles feel like a different town.
- Pair it: with the Bharat Kala Bhavan museum nearby.
Jain and Buddhist Varanasi
Jains: they revere Varanasi as the birthplace of Parshvanath, the twenty-third Tirthankara, with temples in Bhelupur and the old city.
- Buddhists: they come for Sarnath, just outside the city, where the Buddha preached his first sermon.
- Travelling for faith: tell us, and we will shape the days around the traditions that matter to you.
Lanes, looms and the crafts of Banaras
The galis: the old city is a knot of lanes too narrow for cars, and almost every craft the city is known for still happens inside them.
- Banarasi brocade
- Madanpura and Lallapura
- Brass and copper
- Thatheri Bazaar
- Wooden toys
- Lacquered, south of the city
- Gulabi meenakari
- Pink enamel on silver
- Who we walk with: guides who grew up there, never a stranger who offers to show you a factory.
- Avoiding commission shops: our shopping guide explains how.
A morning with a silk weaving family
Who weaves: families, many from the Ansari community, in neighbourhoods such as Madanpura and Lallapura, often on handlooms at home.
What you see: sit beside the loom and watch a zari motif of gold thread appear line by line.
- Buying: directly, if you want to, from families we know.
- The time it takes: a fine handloom sari can take weeks, which changes how you look at the price tags in the shops.
- In context: our textile shopping page sets Banarasi silk beside the block prints of Rajasthan.
Thatheri Bazaar and the brass-beaters
Find it: follow the ringing of hammers to the lane of the thatheras, the brass and copper workers.
- What they make: the pots, lamps and ritual vessels pilgrims carry home, including small sealed pots for Ganga water.
- The best souvenir: a small brass lota or a lamp, which costs very little.
Wooden toys and pink enamel
Wooden toys: turned on lathes, lacquered and painted in bright colours in workshops in the south of the city.
- Gulabi meenakari: pink enamel worked onto silver, a delicate, rare art that came to Banaras from Persia through the Mughal courts.
- Protected: both carry geographical indication status.
- Meeting the makers: a guide can take you to the artisans themselves.
The Vishwanath lanes at golden hour
The stalls: in the late afternoon, rudraksha beads, sacred threads, vermilion, bangles and wedding turbans.
- The scene: bulls in doorways, shrines glowing in wall niches, and sweet shops starting to fry.
- How to walk: slowly, keeping to the left, with your guide leading.
- For photographers: the best street photography in north India, as long as you ask people first.
Eating like a Banarasi
Street city: Varanasi eats on the street, early and often.
- Where we go: stalls our guides trust, where the oil is fresh and the turnover fast.
- Vegetarian: as most of the old city is.
Kachori-sabzi and jalebi for breakfast
- What it is: small puffed breads stuffed with spiced lentils, served with a thin potato curry and followed by hot jalebi.
- When: standing at a counter in the lanes after your dawn boat, when the city is waking up and hungry.
Malaiyo, the winter foam
When: only from about November to February.
- How it's made: sellers whip boiled milk with saffron and cardamom and leave it out overnight under the winter sky.
- By morning: a light, cold foam, sold in clay cups and gone before noon.
- Why it matters: nothing else in India tastes like it, and it is the single best reason to visit in winter.
Tamatar chaat and chooda matar
- Tamatar chaat: in the evening, a hot, sour and sweet tomato mash in a leaf bowl, found only in Banaras.
- Chooda matar: in winter, flattened rice cooked with fresh green peas, on every corner.
Lassi in a kulhad, and thandai at Holi
Lassi: thick, in a kulhad, an unglazed clay cup thrown away after use, topped with a layer of cream.
- Thandai: at Holi, every household makes this chilled milk with almonds, fennel and spices.
- Ask for it plain: the festive version is often laced with bhang.
Paan, the Banarasi way
What it is: a betel leaf folded around areca nut, rose petal jam, fennel and spices, famous across India.
- The ritual: every family has a favourite paanwala, and watching him fold it is half the pleasure.
- How: ask for a sweet paan without tobacco, and chew it slowly after dinner.
Music, learning and the arts
- Tabla school
- The Benares gharana
- Museum
- Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU
- Ramlila
- About a month each autumn, Ramnagar
- Recognised by
- UNESCO, as Ramlila heritage
A private recital by lamplight
The tradition: the Benares gharana, or school, of tabla is one of the great lineages of Hindustani music.
The musicians: the city is full of trained players from old families.
- What we arrange: an evening recital on a terrace or in a haveli courtyard, usually sitar, vocal or tabla.
- The explanation: the musician introduces the raga before playing.
- Why: the most intimate evening you can have in Varanasi.
Bharat Kala Bhavan at BHU
The collection: miniature paintings, Banarasi textiles, Gupta-period sculpture and objects tied to the city's history.
- The crowds: rarely any.
- When: an hour before lunch.
- Why first: the later walk through the lanes is richer, because you start to recognise motifs on the saris and temple walls.
The Ramlila of Ramnagar
What it is: the story of Rama, performed each autumn across the river at Ramnagar, over about a month.
How it moves: from one open-air setting to another, as the audience walks with it.
- Its patrons: the tradition is linked to the Maharajas of Banaras.
- The mood: evenings are crowded and wholly devotional.
- How we go: with a guide who knows which episode falls on which night.
Sarnath, Ramnagar and further afield
- Sarnath
- About 10 km north-east
- Ramnagar Fort
- Across the river, by boat
- Chunar Fort
- About an hour south-west
- Prayagraj
- About three hours by road
Sarnath, where the Buddha first taught
Why go: this is where the Buddha gave his first sermon.
What to see: the Dhamek Stupa and the ruins of the great monasteries.
- The museum: with the lion capital of Ashoka, which India adopted as its national emblem.
- Around the park: temples built by Buddhist communities from Thailand, Japan, Tibet and Sri Lanka.
- When: the late morning, staying for lunch.
Ramnagar Fort across the river
What it is: the eighteenth-century fort of the Maharajas of Banaras, on the eastern bank upstream of the ghats.
- Still a home: part of it is the family's.
- The museum: palanquins, old cars, arms, costumes and royal curiosities, a little dusty but full of character.
- How: by boat in the late afternoon, back on the water at sunset, a gentle half-day.
Chunar Fort on its rock
Where: on a sandstone bluff above a bend of the Ganga.
- Its history: fought over by Sher Shah Suri, the Mughals and the British.
- The town: known for its stoneware pottery.
- Who it suits: travellers with time who like military history, for a quiet day out of the city.
Prayagraj and the Sangam
What it is: the old Allahabad.
- The Sangam: a boat takes you to where the Ganga meets the Yamuna, the most sacred river confluence in Hinduism and the site of the great Kumbh Mela.
- Pace: a long day, best combined with an onward journey.
- Who it suits: guests with a real interest in pilgrimage.
Slow hours, which are the real luxury here
A terrace afternoon with the river
Where: if you stay on the ghats at BrijRama Palace, the river is outside your window all day.
- How: spend the hot hours on a terrace with a book and a pot of tea, watching boats, kites and bathers.
- Why: you will learn more about the city from that chair than from any tour.
A garden retreat in the cantonment
Where: guests at Taj Nadesar Palace have something rarer here, lawns, old trees and silence.
- How: a long lunch in the garden between a dawn on the river and an evening aarti.
- Who it helps: many of our older guests manage the city this way without tiring.
Yoga or meditation at sunrise
On the ghats: yoga at dawn is part of the city's morning ritual.
- In private: we arrange a teacher to come to your hotel terrace or a quiet stretch of steps, before the crowds.
- Your preference: tell us if you prefer meditation or simple breathing practice, and we will find the right person.
A private dinner above the ghats
- The last evening: dinner on a terrace overlooking the river, with a Banarasi vegetarian thali, a musician and the lamps of the ghats below.
- Our version in Rajasthan: our page on rooftop dining. Varanasi has its own.
How we would spend your time
River first: a dawn boat on the first full morning sets the map of the city in your head.
The aarti twice: once from a boat and once from the steps or a balcony.
The lanes: with a guide in the late afternoon, keeping the hot hours for rest.
- Sarnath: on a morning after a dawn boat, when you need a change of pace.
- Photographs: never of cremations or mourners, and ask before photographing sadhus or pilgrims.
- Shopping: only with makers you meet through a trusted guide, never through a stranger or a driver.
- Plans and seasons: our Varanasi itinerary turns these into one- to four-day plans, and our best time to visit Varanasi shows which months suit which experiences.
- Where to sleep: our luxury hotels in Varanasi guide.
- A longer trip: our Rajasthan and Varanasi journey.
