Varanasi is Indias silk weaving capital where centuries-old handloom traditions meet vibrant bazaars offering everything from shimmering Banarasi sarees to spiced street food creating an intoxicating blend of artisanship commerce and timeless cultural heritage along the sacred Ganges.
India: Varanasi – Life along the Ganges River
🕉️ About Varanasi
The holy city of Varanasi goes by several names — Benaras, Kashi, and probably a few others we hadn’t quite got to grips with. Indians have always been fond of giving their important cities multiple names, and frankly, who can blame them? Some of the renaming happened when the old colonial labels were quietly but firmly shown the door — a process that began in earnest from the 1990s onwards, when cities like Bombay became Mumbai and Calcutta became Kolkata. Varanasi, to be fair, had always kept its ancient name ticking along nicely regardless.
The city is old. Really, staggeringly old. It is widely regarded as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the entire planet, with its origins as a centre of learning and civilisation stretching back well over three thousand years — putting it in the same rarefied company as Jericho and Athens. The American author Mark Twain visited in the 1890s and was so thoroughly gobsmacked by the place that he wrote: “Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” Which, coming from a man who had seen a fair bit of the world, was quite a thing to say.
At the heart of Varanasi flows the most sacred of all rivers: the Ganges. According to Hindu legend, Lord Shiva himself released the Ganges from the matted knot of his hair, allowing it to flow down to earth and bring life to the land below. For centuries, the river’s seasonal floods brought extraordinary fertility to the soil of the central Gangetic plains, nourishing some of India’s most prominent ancient civilisations and keeping them rather well fed into the bargain.
Varanasi’s legends stretch back some ten thousand years, rooted deep in the oldest epics of Hindu literature — the Puranas, the Vedas and the Mahabharata. According to these texts, Varanasi is the city of Lord Shiva himself, who is said to have walked here with his wife Parvati at the very beginning of time. It may also be the battlefield where the god Krishna set fire to a duplicate but fraudulent version of himself, or the very spot where Lord Rama came to do penance after slaying the demon Ravana. None of this can be proved, of course — but then neither can quite a lot of things we all take on faith — and it suffices to draw tens of millions of Hindu devotees to Varanasi every single year. They come to bathe in the Ganges, which they believe has the power to wash away the sins of mortals. Some come here simply to die. Hindus believe that to be graced with death in Varanasi is to attain salvation — moksha — and freedom from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth. It puts your average seaside retirement into a somewhat different perspective.
The area surrounding Varanasi isn’t exclusively important to Hindus, either. Just ten kilometres away lies Sarnath, the place where the Buddha delivered his very first sermon following his enlightenment in around 528 BCE — making it one of the most significant Buddhist sites in the world. Varanasi is also a pilgrimage centre for Jains, as it is believed to be the birthplace of Parsvanath, the twenty-third Tirthankar. So, within a fairly modest radius, you have sacred ground for three of the world’s great religions. Remarkable, really.
Given all of that theological weight, it is perhaps not terribly surprising that Varanasi also became a major centre of learning, medicine and the arts. It is home to Banaras Hindu University, founded in 1916 and one of the largest residential universities in Asia, covering a campus so vast it has its own internal bus service. Ayurvedic medicine — the ancient Indian system of holistic healing — is also widely believed to have its origins here.
Varanasi has long been famous for its trade and commerce as well, particularly for the manufacture of extraordinarily fine silk fabrics and the most intricate gold and silver brocades — the sort of thing that ends up at Indian weddings and makes everyone else’s outfit look decidedly underdressed.
🛶 1. Life on the Ganges
We arrived in Varanasi with very little real knowledge of the place beyond what we had absorbed from the odd television documentary and a few pages of a travel book on the flight out. Nothing, it turns out, can properly prepare you for the actual experience.
On the less encouraging side of the ledger, Varanasi is unquestionably one of the noisiest, busiest and most relentlessly chaotic places we had ever set foot in — and yes, it is genuinely quite grubby in places. That does put some visitors off, and we completely understand why. But to leave because of that would be, in our view, a serious mistake. Because Varanasi is also a genuinely fascinating and at times overwhelming place that assaults every single one of your senses simultaneously and leaves you rather wondering what to process first. It is unlike anywhere else we have ever been, and we came away from it rather glad we hadn’t chickened out and gone somewhere with better pavements instead. We would strongly recommend putting Varanasi on your travel itinerary when visiting India — assuming, of course, you have a reasonably robust constitution and aren’t too attached to peace and quiet.
This article covers a small slice of our time on the sacred river Ganges and along the ghats — the ancient stone steps and platforms that line the riverbank — which form the very soul of this extraordinary city.
🔥 2. Cremations on the Ghats
I had watched more than a few documentaries about Varanasi over the years, and the images that stayed with me most stubbornly were the cremations on the ghats. Open-air funeral pyres, right there on the riverbank, in full view of anyone passing by — about as far removed from a quiet English crematorium with piped-in Elgar as it is possible to get.
For some visitors this can be genuinely unsettling, and that is entirely understandable. But when you are actually there, it is almost impossible to avoid. The cremations are not tucked away or hidden from view. They are simply part of the fabric of daily life, as unremarkable to the locals as a bus stop is to us.
Shortly after checking in and grabbing something to eat, we headed out along the river. The ghats stretch along the western bank of the Ganges for roughly four and a half miles — a long procession of ancient stone steps, temples and bathing platforms. We had not been walking long before we arrived at one of the burning ghats, specifically designated for Hindu cremations.
Coming from a culture where the disposal of loved ones happens behind closed doors with tasteful flower arrangements and a vicar doing his best, the sight of what was essentially an open bonfire — some honestly looked more like a barbecue that had got slightly out of hand — was a deeply alien experience.
Almost as if on cue, a group of men came down carrying a body on a stretcher, wrapped in bright orange cloth and garlanded with marigolds. We had been there barely an hour and were already confronting actual human mortality rather directly. It made us feel, as the British invariably do in awkward situations, deeply uncomfortable and unsure of the correct protocol.
We had our cameras with us. It felt plainly wrong to start pointing lenses at somebody’s funeral — even though the family themselves were photographing proceedings with the cheerful enthusiasm one normally associates with a wedding. Before we had even decided what to do, a tiny man appeared beside us and informed us, in a tone that brooked absolutely no argument, that there would be no photographs. We put the cameras away without a word of protest. He then steered us firmly to one side and, quite unexpectedly, began to explain the ritual itself.
For Hindus, Varanasi holds a significance that goes far beyond mere pilgrimage. Many devout Hindus spend their entire lives hoping to draw their last breath in this city. The belief is straightforward and rather profound: to die here, on the banks of the Ganges, is to be granted moksha — liberation from the endless cycle of death and rebirth. It is, in short, the ultimate Get Out of Jail Free card, and millions of people plan their final chapter around it.
The cremations take place within hours of death, and we watched from a respectful distance, trying our best not to look like gawping tourists whilst almost certainly looking exactly like gawping tourists. The bodies were carried down to the river by an all-male procession — women, we were told, are considered too emotionally fragile for the occasion and are not permitted to attend. Make of that what you will. Each body was wrapped in simple white cloth, a modest garland around the neck, and covered with a brightly coloured drape of vivid oranges and golds.
At the river’s edge, the body was washed in the Ganges and then laid upon the funeral pyre. The chief mourner — the eldest son for a deceased father, the youngest for a mother — has his head shaved, dons a plain white robe, and performs the sacred rites before lighting the pyre using the holy fire. Nobody leaves until the cremation is complete, which takes three to four hours. The ashes, along with one significant unburnt bone — the hip bone for a woman, the sternum for a man — are then cast into the Ganges. A thirteen-day period of mourning follows.
We also learnt that not everyone is cremated. Pregnant women, holy men, children under two, lepers and those who die from snakebites are considered already spiritually pure and therefore have no need of the purifying fire. They are weighted and lowered directly into the Ganges instead. The cremations run twenty-four hours a day, every day, with around two hundred taking place daily. The smoke above the ghats is permanent. The smell, if you are downwind, stays with you.
Our new friend explained that his family belonged to the Dom caste — the hereditary community responsible for maintaining the cremation grounds and, most critically, the sacred fire that has burned continuously for thousands of years. Hindu belief holds that only this flame may light a funeral pyre in Varanasi. The Doms charge families for the use of the grounds and their services, and yet despite being entirely indispensable — every family, however wealthy, must come to them — they are classified as Dalit, the group formerly known as Untouchables, sitting at the very bottom of the traditional caste hierarchy. A community that everyone needs, everyone pays, and everyone officially looks down upon. We found that rather difficult to square, and if we are honest, we still do.
One of the most arresting sights Varanasi has to offer is a visit to the cremation ghats after darkness falls. It is not everybody’s cup of tea, but it is without question one of the most profoundly human things we have ever witnessed.
Our evening had been organised in advance: a boat ride on the Ganges, followed by dinner. Our guide met us around dusk and led us down the ghat below our hotel and onto our waiting boat. Now, when we say boat, we should manage expectations. This was not some gleaming tourist vessel. This was a rowing boat propelled entirely by a young man wielding a pair of oars that looked as though they had been assembled from bits of driftwood retrieved from the riverbank that very afternoon. They worked perfectly well, but gave the whole enterprise a pleasingly improvised quality.
We pulled out onto the Ganges as the last daylight faded and made our way downstream to the main cremation ground at Manikarnika Ghat — the oldest and most sacred of Varanasi’s burning ghats, where the fires have reportedly not gone out in over three thousand years. Around fifteen cremations were in progress simultaneously when we arrived.
We watched in complete silence and considerable awe. The ceremonies were at different stages. One body was being washed at the river’s edge, another pyre carefully arranged, others already burning fully. Then one cremation completed its cycle. The chief mourner descended the steps carrying what appeared to be a hip bone, waded into the river, and cast it into the Ganges. Quiet, unhurried, and utterly matter-of-fact. An act of farewell performed on that same riverbank for longer than most civilisations have existed.
One of the most spectacular things we did in Varanasi was to make our way down to the cremation ghats after dark. If you only do one thing here, make it this.
Every evening, as the sun drops behind the rooftops, the city gathers for the Aarti — an ancient Hindu devotional ceremony performed nightly at the Dashashwamedh Ghat, the grandest of Varanasi’s eighty-odd ghats. The ceremony is believed to have been performed here continuously for centuries, and watching it, you could well believe it.
Before setting off, we bought small earthenware diyas — candles nestled in cups of stitched dried leaves — from one of the remarkably persistent small children working the ghat steps below the hotel. As we headed out onto the river by wooden boat, we joined the quiet nightly ritual of lighting our candles and setting the little leaf rafts gently onto the surface of the Ganges as a tribute to family and friends struggling with illness back home.
It was, if we are being completely honest, a genuinely profound moment. Not something one says lightly. But there was something about being on that river, in that ancient city, at that hour, that was quite difficult to shrug off. We didn’t try.
🔥 3. Watch the Aarti — A Spectacular Daily Religious Ceremony
The Ganga Aarti takes place every evening at Dashashwamedh Ghat — the most important of Varanasi’s eighty-seven ghats — and is one of the most extraordinary things we have ever watched. It begins after dark, which in Varanasi feels entirely appropriate.
Many visitors watch from boats on the Ganges, which is exactly what we did on our first evening. By the time we arrived, the water in front of the ghat was packed with vessels of every conceivable size, jostling for position with the cheerful aggression of a supermarket car park on Christmas Eve.
The ceremony honours Lord Shiva and is performed by seven immaculately turned-out young priests studying the Vedas and Upanishads. Standing on elaborately decorated platforms, they moved through forty-five minutes of perfectly choreographed ritual — mantra chanting, conch blowing, great clouds of incense, and at the centre of it all, the waving of a seven-tiered camphor lamp that resembles an inverted chandelier that someone has enthusiastically set on fire. In the darkness, with flames reflected across the Ganges, it was genuinely spectacular.
Equally compelling was the chaos surrounding us — boats constantly nudging for better positions while young men leapt between them in the dark, selling trinkets with frankly alarming athleticism. When it was all over, our oarsman navigated the resulting mayhem with calm expertise and delivered us safely back. We felt he deserved considerably more than we paid him.
We had already watched the Ganga Aarti from a boat on the river, but on our last night in Varanasi we decided to plant ourselves on the ghats instead. A decision we should probably have made considerably earlier in the trip.
The walk from our hotel to the ghat was a short stroll, and we arrived with enough time to secure a decent spot on the stone steps without too much jostling. Once settled, we did what any self-respecting visitor to Varanasi learns to do very quickly — we watched the people. Pilgrims, sadhus, tourists, persistent small boys selling things you absolutely don’t need. The full cast, assembled with impressive efficiency.
Watching the Aarti from the bank was an entirely different proposition to drifting past it on a boat. From the water it had been spectacular — fire, chanting, smoke drifting across the dark river. From the steps it was something altogether more intimate. We were close enough to take in the real detail of the ceremony — the precise, deliberate movements of the priests, the careful layering of each ritual sequence, the sheer weight of repetition that had turned the whole thing into something remarkably close to perfection.
The four priests moved through each phase in extraordinary synchrony — and one of them, we both noticed almost simultaneously, bore a quite uncanny resemblance to Kit Harington. Jon Snow, apparently moonlighting on the banks of the Ganges in ceremonial robes. We’re not entirely sure what that says about us as cultural tourists.
The forty-five minutes passed in what felt like about ten.
🚣 4. Take an Early Morning Boat Ride to Observe the Devotees Bathing in the Ganges
I’ll be honest — the idea of floating past people engaged in something as deeply personal as their morning devotional bathing felt a little awkward before we set off. There’s something inherently voyeuristic about it, isn’t there? A boatload of tourists drifting past with their cameras whilst people are trying to commune with the divine. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about the whole business. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. Once we were out on the water, any self-conscious discomfort evaporated fairly quickly, replaced by something closer to quiet wonder.
We were up early — earlier than either of us would have chosen, left to our own devices — and when we pulled back the curtains and peered out towards the Ganges, which was barely a hundred feet from our window, we couldn’t see a blessed thing. Varanasi had disappeared overnight beneath a thick, impenetrable blanket of fog. The river, the ghats, the far bank — gone, the lot of it. The plan for the morning had been to take a boat along the riverfront to watch the daily rituals of the Hindu devotees and pilgrims who come down to the ghats at dawn to bathe in the holy waters — a practice that has been going on here, without interruption, for thousands of years. In the pea soup that greeted us that morning, the prospects for this did not look especially promising.
So, after breakfast — and having quietly resigned ourselves to the possibility that the whole thing might be called off — we were pleasantly surprised to find our tour guide waiting for us, apparently entirely untroubled by the weather and ready to proceed. Fair enough. We headed down towards the riverbank in good spirits.
It was at this point that Karen found what turned out to be an extraordinarily slippery patch of ground and went down like a sack of wet cement. We strongly suspect the culprit was a fresh contribution from one of the water buffaloes that wander the ghats with magnificent indifference to everyone around them, which the morning mist had rendered essentially invisible to the human foot. She was, shall we say, not at her most fragrant. In fairness, the general olfactory atmosphere along the Ganges at that hour would have provided reasonable cover for almost anything — but nobody particularly wants to spend an hour on a small rowing boat in that condition, so she headed back to the room to change. Take two.
We made our way back down to the dock, this time rather more attentive to what we were walking through, and clambered aboard our little rowing boat. The oarsman pushed us off from the ghat and we nosed out into the current, keeping close to the shore as the fog showed absolutely no intention of lifting. Through the grey murk, shapes began to emerge — figures standing waist-deep in the river, others kneeling at the water’s edge, some in silent prayer, some moving through rituals passed down through generations. The atmosphere was extraordinary. We hadn’t planned on fog, obviously, but it lent the whole scene a quality that sharp sunlight could never have managed — something hushed and ancient and slightly otherworldly, as if we had accidentally rowed back several centuries and hadn’t quite noticed.
After perhaps half a mile, our guide tapped the oarsman on the shoulder and indicated we should pull in to shore. From here, we would continue the rest of the tour on foot
☀️ 5. Stroll Along the Banks of the Ganges and Enjoy Some People Watching
After the morning’s damp and malodorous beginning, the fog performed a minor miracle and simply dissolved. The sun came out, the river sparkled, and we set off on foot along the riverfront towards the main burning ghat, Manikarnika, a couple of miles downstream.
The walk was worth every minute. Women were washing vast quantities of bed linen in the river and spreading it across the steep stone steps to dry. Holy men sat with their disciples putting the world to rights in that unhurried way that suggests they had absolutely nowhere else to be. Goats, dogs, water buffaloes and rather lordly cows wandered through the whole scene as though they owned the place. We took rather a lot of photographs — some better than others.
At Manikarnika Ghat, where Hindus have cremated their dead for well over two thousand years, several cremations were underway amid enormous stacks of wood. Little shops nearby sell everything required for a Hindu funeral. Death here is not hidden away or whispered about. It is simply part of daily life.
Amid all this, the animals of Varanasi were getting on with their own affairs entirely undisturbed — until we encountered the tiniest, scrappiest little puppy we had ever clapped eyes on, clearly separated from its mother. Karen scooped it up, located what appeared to be its family nearby, and effected a reunion. We chose to believe it was the right family. It seemed churlish to dwell on the alternative.
We weren’t done with good deeds. Shortly after, we found two elderly English ladies — one a very pleasant woman from Devon — looking rather at sea amid the cremations and crowds. We guided them back to a stretch of the riverfront they recognised. They were extremely grateful. Two lost souls reunited with the world in a single morning, and all before lunch
🙏 6. Look Out for the Holy Men
Varanasi draws millions of Hindu pilgrims every year — and has been doing so, more or less without a break, for the better part of three thousand years. They come to pray, to contemplate, to bathe in the sacred Ganges, and in some cases, as we mentioned earlier, simply to die in a state of grace. It is, by any measure, one of the most spiritually charged cities on earth, and the weight of that devotion is something you feel almost immediately upon arriving — even if, like us, you turned up slightly bewildered and clutching a guidebook.
Among the vast and constantly shifting tide of pilgrims and worshippers, you will find the holy men — the sadhus and priests who have dedicated their lives entirely to spiritual practice. They are not difficult to spot. Many are dressed in saffron or ochre robes, some are smeared in ash, a few sport extraordinarily elaborate arrangements of dreadlocked hair piled high on their heads in a style that makes your average music festival attendee look rather conservative by comparison. Some sit in deep meditation on the ghats, apparently impervious to the noise and chaos swirling around them, which, given the general racket of Varanasi, is an achievement worthy of considerable respect.
As you wander along the riverfront and through the narrow lanes of the old city — and wandering is really the only sensible approach, since no map or plan survives contact with Varanasi for very long — you will encounter these men going quietly about their business. Some will be in prayer, some performing rituals at the water’s edge, others simply sitting and watching the river as it rolls past, as people here have done since long before anyone thought to write any of it down. There is no theatre to it, no performance for the tourist trade. They are simply getting on with it, which is precisely what makes it so compelling to watch.
It is all part of the extraordinarily rich and layered fabric of daily life in Varanasi — and it is, frankly, one of the things that makes this deeply improbable city so utterly unlike anywhere else we have ever been.
🪤 7. Be Wary of Craft Salesmen
Cast your mind back to our friendly local who materialised out of nowhere on our first unescorted venture into Varanasi and so helpfully told us all about the cremation ceremonies. Charming fellow. Absolutely not, it turned out, doing any of it out of the goodness of his heart.
This is extremely common across India, and we fell for it with the sort of wholehearted enthusiasm that would make veteran travellers wince. Hook, line, sinker and quite possibly the fisherman’s wellies. To be fair, he was extraordinarily good at his job.
From the cremation ghats — Manikarnika Ghat, which has burned continuously for over two thousand years — he walked us past the enormous stacked piles of firewood sold to mourning families for the pyres. The wood type depends on what families can afford, with sandalwood at the premium end, chosen partly because it masks the rather less agreeable smell of burning flesh. We were then led through alleyways so narrow I genuinely began wondering whether we were about to be robbed. We weren’t. Instead we arrived at a small house where a loom clattered away producing Varanasi’s famous silk — more on that later.
Then came the stairs, leading up to a room lined with shelves of scarves, tablecloths and pashminas. A second man appeared from nowhere — enthusiastic, excellent English, an absolute professional. Karen selected a few items, we paid up, and our guide walked us cheerfully back to the hotel.
Entirely obvious in hindsight. We’d ignored every guidebook warning ever written. Still — genuinely interesting morning, and Karen got two rather lovely silk scarves.
🐃 8. Beware of the Water Buffalo
One of the first things we spotted from our hotel balcony was a small group of water buffalos ambling along the ghat below, looking thoroughly unbothered by everything going on around them. Which, given the general chaos of Varanasi, was frankly impressive.
It is worth being clear about something straight away: water buffalos are not cows, and in India that distinction matters enormously. Cows are considered genuinely, seriously sacred in Hinduism — they wander wherever they please, and injuring or killing one is a criminal offence in many Indian states. You do not mess with the cow. That is simply the rule.
Water buffalos, however, enjoy no such diplomatic immunity. They are milked, eaten and, in certain religious contexts, sacrificed. Despite this rather less glamorous status, the buffalo is a remarkably useful animal — its milk is richer and creamier than cow’s milk, with a higher fat content that makes it considerably better for dairy products. The cow gets all the glory; the buffalo quietly gets on with being productive. There is probably a lesson in there somewhere.
For the most part, the buffalos we watched were entirely indifferent to the magnificent pandemonium around them. However, they do occasionally get agitated — and when an animal weighing up to nine hundred kilograms decides it has had quite enough of your proximity, the correct response is to find somewhere else to be. Promptly.
In summary …
- Never try and drive in Varanasi unless you are crazy
- Always look down while you are walking as you’ll never know what you are stepping in
- Don’t stop and talk to locals at the main tourist areas – they want to sell you something
- Don’t wash, drink or clean your teeth in the Ganges
- Cow dung and water makes a slippery hazard
- Lassi is very tasty
Planning Your Visit to Varanasi
📍 Location
Varanasi lies in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, roughly 820 km from Delhi. The city straddles the Ganges, bounded by two tributaries — the Varuna and the Assi rivers — from which its name derives. It divides naturally into the Old City, a dense, labyrinthine quarter of narrow alleys and ancient temples that stretches back from the riverbank, and a more modern New City further inland.
The famous ghats — broad stone steps descending to the river — line the entire western bank, stretching for several kilometres. There are more than 80 of them in total, each with its own character and religious significance. The city of Sarnath, where the Buddha is said to have delivered his first sermon after attaining enlightenment, lies just 10 km to the north and makes an easy and worthwhile half-day excursion.
✈️ Getting There
By Air The nearest airport is Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (airport code: VNS), located in Babatpur, approximately 26 km northwest of the city centre. It operates domestic flights connecting Varanasi to major Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata. A number of international flights also operate through the airport. For international visitors, flying into Delhi or Mumbai and then taking a connecting domestic flight is the most common approach. From the airport, taxis, auto-rickshaws, and app-based cabs such as Ola and Uber are readily available for the journey into the city.
By Train The train is widely considered the most practical and atmospheric way to travel across India, and Varanasi is exceptionally well connected by rail. Varanasi Junction (also called Varanasi Cantonment, station code: BSB) is the main station, situated a few kilometres from the Ganges, with direct services from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, and many other cities. The Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express services from Delhi take roughly 8 to 12 hours. Banaras (Manduadih) station handles additional services and eases congestion. From either station, cycle rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, and taxis are plentiful.
By Road Varanasi is accessible via National Highways NH19 and NH31. State-run UPSRTC buses and private operators including luxury Volvo and air-conditioned sleeper coaches connect the city to Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Kanpur, Agra, and Jaipur, among others. If you are already in Prayagraj (Allahabad), Varanasi is just 120 km away by road. Road travel can be rewarding for those who enjoy the scenery of the Gangetic plain, though traffic on the approach to the city can be heavy.
🛺 Getting Around
Varanasi is best explored on foot, particularly the Old City, where the narrow, winding lanes — known as galis — are impassable for most motor vehicles. Getting pleasantly lost in this maze is very much part of the experience.
Cycle Rickshaws are the most charming and practical way to meander through the old quarters, moving at a pace that allows you to absorb the sights, sounds, and smells. They can access areas where motorised vehicles cannot travel, making them especially useful around the ghats and temple districts.
Auto-Rickshaws are ubiquitous and useful for covering medium distances, such as reaching Sarnath or the railway station. Always agree on a fare before you set off, as meters are rarely used.
Electric Rickshaws (E-Rickshaws) have become increasingly common in the city and offer a quieter, cleaner alternative to petrol auto-rickshaws. They are a good option for short to medium journeys.
App-Based Taxis such as Ola and Uber operate in Varanasi and offer the reassurance of fixed fares, particularly useful for journeys to and from the airport or railway stations.
Boats are the ideal way to see the ghats from the river, and every visitor should take at least one boat trip on the Ganges. Rowing boats can be hired privately from the ghats, or you can join a shared tour. The sunrise trip — setting out before dawn — is considered particularly special, as the city wakes slowly and pilgrims begin their morning rituals at the water’s edge.
🙏 The Ghats
The ghats are the soul of Varanasi. Built over the 18th and 19th centuries, the great stone riverbanks are lined with pavilions, palaces, and temples, rising dramatically from the water. Each ghat has its own history and purpose.
Dashashwamedh Ghat is the most famous and most visited — a spectacular place at any time of day, and the site of the nightly Ganga Aarti ceremony, when priests perform an elaborate ritual of fire, incense, chanting, and ringing bells that draws enormous crowds of pilgrims and visitors alike. Arriving early to secure a good vantage point, either on the steps or from a boat, is strongly recommended.
Manikarnika Ghat and Harishchandra Ghat are the principal cremation ghats, where funeral pyres burn around the clock every day of the year. This is one of the most viscerally powerful sights in all of India — an open, public, and entirely unselfconscious enactment of death and release. Dozens of cremations take place here daily.
Assi Ghat, at the southern end of the main waterfront, is a more relaxed and sociable spot popular with students, pilgrims, and travellers. A Shiva lingam under an ancient peepal tree marks this as a place of particular sanctity.
Best Time to Visit Varanasi
Varanasi — also known as Kashi or Benares — is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities and the spiritual heart of India. Perched on the western banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, it draws pilgrims, travellers, and seekers throughout the year. However, the experience varies dramatically depending on the season, so choosing when to visit can make an enormous difference to your trip.
🌸 Spring (March–April)
Spring marks the transition between the cool, comfortable winter and the punishing heat of summer. In March, temperatures are still relatively pleasant — typically between 20°C and 30°C — making early spring a reasonable time to visit if you missed the peak winter season. The city feels fresh, the ghats are uncrowded compared to winter, and accommodation prices begin to fall.
By April, however, the heat starts to build noticeably. Daytime temperatures push towards 35°C and above, with humidity beginning to creep up. Mornings remain the most comfortable time for boat rides and ghat walks. The festival of Holi, usually celebrated in March, brings explosive colour to the streets of Varanasi and is one of the most spectacular ways to experience the city’s festive spirit.
What to pack: Lightweight cotton or linen clothing in loose fits, a wide-brimmed hat or cap, high-SPF sunscreen, UV-protective sunglasses, a reusable insulated water bottle, a light cotton scarf or dupatta (useful at temples), comfortable breathable walking shoes, and a thin cardigan or layer for cooler early mornings in March.
☀️ Summer (May–June)
Summer in Varanasi is intense. Temperatures regularly soar to 42°C–45°C, with hot, dry winds known locally as loo sweeping across the plains. This is the least popular season for tourism, and for good reason — the heat can be genuinely debilitating during the middle of the day. Outdoor activities such as ghat walks and boat rides are best undertaken before 8am or after 6pm.
That said, summer has its own quiet appeal. The crowds thin considerably, hotel prices drop, and those who are comfortable with high temperatures may find a more intimate, unhurried encounter with the city’s temples and alleyways. The spiritual life of Varanasi continues unabated regardless of the season, and the morning and evening Ganga Aarti ceremonies remain as moving as ever.
What to pack: Ultra-lightweight, breathable cotton or linen in light colours, a wide-brimmed hat, UV-protection sunglasses, high-factor sunscreen (SPF 50+), lip balm with SPF, a large insulated water bottle, oral rehydration salts or electrolyte tablets, cooling towels, comfortable sandals and walking shoes, and a small battery-powered handheld fan.
🌧️ Monsoon (July–September)
The monsoon arrives in Varanasi in late June or early July, bringing blessed relief from the summer heat. Temperatures ease to between 25°C and 35°C, but humidity levels rise sharply, making the air thick and steamy. Rainfall ranges from moderate to heavy, and the Ganges swells dramatically — sometimes flooding the lower steps of the ghats entirely.
Despite the rain, Varanasi during the monsoon has a brooding, atmospheric beauty that photographers particularly prize. The skies are dramatic, the light extraordinary, and the city takes on a quieter, more contemplative mood. Rivers of marigolds float downstream during religious observances, and the reflections on the water are stunning. Budget travellers benefit from significantly reduced hotel rates. The main drawbacks are the risk of disrupted travel, waterlogged streets, and the possibility that some ghat areas become inaccessible.
What to pack: Quick-dry clothing in synthetic or moisture-wicking fabrics, a compact waterproof rain jacket or packable poncho, a sturdy compact umbrella, waterproof sandals or quick-dry shoes (avoid leather), a dry bag or waterproof pouch for electronics, insect repellent (DEET-based), anti-malarial medication if advised by your GP, and a small first-aid kit with anti-diarrhoeal tablets.
🍂 Autumn (October–November)
Autumn is the shoulder season that bridges monsoon and winter, and it is one of the most rewarding times to visit. The rains taper off through October, the air becomes clearer, temperatures cool to a very comfortable 18°C–28°C, and the festival calendar reaches a glorious peak. October brings the celebration of Navratri and Dussehra, while November is dominated by Diwali and, most spectacularly, Dev Deepawali.
Dev Deepawali — celebrated on the full moon in November, fifteen days after Diwali — is arguably the single most extraordinary event in Varanasi’s calendar. The entire riverfront is illuminated by over a million earthen lamps (diyas), and the ghats throng with pilgrims, priests, and visitors. Boat rides during this event offer an unforgettable panorama of light reflected across the dark Ganges. Accommodation books up quickly during October and November, so advance planning is essential.
What to pack: Lightweight layers for daytime warmth (20°C–28°C), a medium-weight fleece or jumper for evenings as November progresses, comfortable walking shoes, modest attire for temple visits (shoulders and knees covered), a compact day pack, a camera or smartphone with good low-light capability for festival photography, and earplugs (the city is vibrantly noisy during festivals).
❄️ Winter (December–February)
Winter is unequivocally the most popular season to visit Varanasi, and it earns that reputation. Temperatures drop to between 5°C and 20°C, with cool, crisp days ideal for exploring the ghats, navigating the winding old city lanes, visiting Sarnath (where the Buddha delivered his first sermon), and attending the Ganga Aarti in comfort. January mornings can feel quite cold — often below 10°C — and the river is frequently shrouded in ethereal mist at dawn, which lends sunrise boat rides a particularly magical quality.
Festivals continue to animate the city in winter. Makar Sankranti in January is marked by kite flying and holy dips in the Ganges. Shivratri, usually in February or March, is one of Varanasi’s most sacred observances and draws vast numbers of pilgrims to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The downside of winter is simple: it is the peak season, meaning prices are higher, accommodation must be booked well in advance, and popular spots can be considerably crowded.
What to pack: Warm layers including thermal base layers, a medium to heavyweight fleece or woollen jumper, a down or padded jacket for early mornings, a warm scarf, gloves and a beanie for January, comfortable walking shoes or boots, modest conservative clothing for temple visits, hand warmers for early morning river excursions, and a compact torch or head torch for pre-dawn boat departures.
🗓️ Summary Table
🌟 Overall Best Time to Visit
For most travellers, the window from late October through to early March represents the sweet spot for visiting Varanasi. The weather is at its most accommodating, the city’s festival calendar is at its richest, and the conditions for experiencing the ghats — whether at dawn, dusk, or by lamplight — are at their finest. Within this window, November stands out as the single strongest month, combining the tail of the autumn festival season (Dev Deepawali in particular), comfortable temperatures, and a beautiful post-monsoon freshness in the air. December and January offer the quintessential cool-season Varanasi experience with the added enchantment of river mist at sunrise. Those travelling on a budget, or with a particular interest in monsoon atmosphere and dramatic skies, may find the quieter months of August and September surprisingly rewarding — provided they come prepared for heat, humidity, and rain.
Where to stay?
1. Amritara Suryauday Haveli
Perched on the sacred banks of the Ganges at Shivala Ghat, Amritara Suryauday Haveli is one of Varanasi’s most enchanting heritage stays. The haveli traces its history back to the early 20th century, originally built by the Royal Family of Nepal as a retreat for the aged, and has since been painstakingly restored to offer an authentic ghat experience in Banaras. Housed in a refurbished fort-style mansion, the property is just a 15-minute walk from the iconic Kashi Vishwanath Temple, yet feels like a world apart from the city’s bustle. Guests are treated to serene river views, live classical music, and complimentary boat rides, while the rooftop terrace makes for a magical perch to watch the sun dip over the Ganges. With only 14 individually decorated rooms, the haveli offers an intimate, almost personal atmosphere — part heritage retreat, part spiritual sanctuary.
2. BrijRama Palace
Perched regally on the banks of the sacred Ganges, BrijRama Palace in Varanasi is a living testament to India’s regal past. Originally built in the 18th century as a Maharaja’s residence, this magnificent heritage property has been lovingly restored into one of India’s most celebrated luxury hotels. With its ornate sandstone façade, soaring arched corridors, and rooms adorned with hand-painted frescoes and antique furnishings, every corner tells a story. Guests wake up to breathtaking sunrise views over the Ghat, the river shimmering gold as priests perform their morning rituals below. More than just a hotel, BrijRama Palace offers an immersive window into Varanasi’s spiritual soul — where ancient tradition and refined elegance coexist in perfect, timeless harmony.
3. Shiva Ganges View Guest House
Nestled along the sacred ghats of Varanasi, Shiva Ganges View Guest House overlooks Kedar Ghat and offers an intimate, atmospheric base for exploring one of India’s holiest cities. Recently renovated, the property features a sun terrace, garden, and free Wi-Fi, with family rooms and private bathrooms ensuring comfort for all guests. The family-friendly restaurant serves Asian cuisine in a traditional and romantic ambiance, with breakfast options ranging from continental to vegetarian and vegan, complete with local specialties and fresh fruit. Guests consistently rave about waking up to breathtaking river panoramas — watching the sunrise over the holy Ganges each morning is described as a genuinely spiritual experience. Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Manikarnika Ghat are just a short walk away, making this charming guesthouse a wonderful home base for soaking up everything Varanasi has to offer.
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