By road
~800 km by road from Delhi
North India · Uttar Pradesh
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Ghats, ritual and ancient light · ~800 km by road from Delhi
Getting there
By rail
Varanasi Junction (BSB)
By air
Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, ~22 km
Best time to visit
October to March; Dev Deepawali in November is peak spectacle
Don't miss
Dashashwamedh Ghat
Kashi Vishwanath
Sarnath
Manikarnika from the river
Things to do
Dawn boat ride
Evening Ganga aarti
Old-city food crawls
Silk weavers
Where to eat
Sources: open-meteo, wikimedia, Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
What to pack
Modest wear, slip-off sandals, small notes for boat rides
A quieter corner
Subah-e-Banaras raga session at Assi Ghat before sunrise
Before you go
One of the Sapta Puri and among the oldest living cities anywhere; a Jyotirlinga, a Buddhist great site and Jain tirthankara birthplaces in one place. Dev Deepawali (Kartik Purnima) is the most spectacular night of the year.
Questions travellers ask
When should I visit Varanasi?
October to March. Dev Deepawali in November is the peak spectacle if you want the city at its most extraordinary.
How do I reach the ghats?
The old city is best walked. Come prepared for lanes rather than roads, and keep small notes on you for the boat rides.
What should I wear and carry?
Modest wear, sandals you can slip off easily, and small notes for the boats.
What is worth getting up early for?
The Subah-e-Banaras raga session at Assi Ghat, before sunrise. A dawn boat ride afterwards is the classic pairing.
Where should I eat?
Kashi Chat Bhandar and Blue Lassi are the names everyone gives you, Baati Chokha for a proper meal, and malaiyyo if you are there in winter.
About Varanasi
- Riverside
Where it is
Varanasi is a city in south-eastern Uttar Pradesh on the western bank of the Ganges, where the river curves north and the city's ghats line a long crescent between the Varuna and Assi streams.
History
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Varanasi, also called Kashi and Banaras, has been a centre of Hindu learning and pilgrimage for millennia, and the Buddha gave his first sermon at nearby Sarnath. Its temples suffered under several conquerors, and the present Kashi Vishwanath Temple was built by the Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar in 1780.
People
Varanasi's people speak Hindi and Bhojpuri, and the city has long been a centre of Sanskrit learning, Hindustani classical music and the weaving of Banarasi silk, a craft carried on by generations of weaving families. Its lanes are famous for paan, kachori and lassi.
Known for
- Dawn boat rides past the ghats
- The evening Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh
- Kashi Vishwanath Temple
- Banarasi silk saris
- Sarnath, where the Buddha first taught
Did you know?
The spires of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple are plated with gold given by the Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the 19th century.
Shrines and sites
- Kashi Vishwanath Temple
- Dashashwamedh Ghat and the evening Ganga Aarti
- Sarnath
- Manikarnika Ghat
Traditions
- Hindu
- Buddhist
- Jain
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.