Varanasi Tours & Experiences

Things to do in Varanasi

Watch the Ganga Aarti

After sunset each evening, priests at Dashashwamedh Ghat raise tiered brass lamps to bells, conch shells and chanting, for about 45 minutes. Watch from the steps among the pilgrims or from a boat moored off the ghat, and come about an hour early for a good place. Our Varanasi Ganga Aarti tour arranges a boat where it suits the evening.

Row past the ghats at sunrise

Varanasi has more than eighty ghats, and a rowing boat at daybreak shows them as the morning's bathing and prayers begin. The Ganga Aarti tour adds this boat on the morning after the aarti.

Walk the lanes to Kashi Vishwanath

From the river, narrow lanes climb to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, one of the twelve jyotirlingas of Shiva. The temple bars phones, other gadgets and even pens but offers free lockers, and asks for decent dress. Four of our longer routes walk here on the day of the sunrise boat.

Spend half a day at Sarnath

Ten kilometres north-east of the city, Sarnath is where the Buddha is believed to have first taught. Walk round the Dhamek Stupa and the excavated monasteries, find the Chaukhandi Stupa, where he is said to have met his first five disciples, and see the Lion Capital of Ashoka in the museum, which closes on Fridays. Sarnath from Varanasi is a three-hour outing, drive included.

Eat your way through the sweets

Our Varanasi sweets walk visits long-running sweet shops on foot for malaiyo, a frothy milk sweet made only on cold winter mornings, Banarasi laddoo, lal peda and jalebi, with a stop for tamatar chaat and a thick lassi in a clay cup. Elsewhere, try kachori sabzi, chena dahi vada, litti chokha and a Banarasi paan.

Hear a classical music evening

Varanasi has its own gharana, or stylistic school, of Hindustani music. Our classical music evening arranges a live sitar, sarod, tabla or vocal recital by the river, in an old haveli or in a small hall, for an hour or so; some venues seat you on cushions.

Photograph the river at dawn and dusk

The Varanasi photo tour splits a day between a dawn boat and the evening aarti, with a guide who knows where to stand without intruding on people at prayer. At Manikarnika, the cremation ghat, ask your guide before raising a camera, and never photograph mourners.

See Man Mahal's observatory

Beside Dashashwamedh Ghat, Man Mahal holds the observatory Sawai Jai Singh built around 1734 and a virtual museum of the city's ghats, music, weaving and Ram Leela, open from sunrise to 9 pm: a good refuge in the heat of the day.

Choosing between our tours and experiences

The sweets walk and the classical music evening are experiences of a few hours, listed under culinary and performing arts in Varanasi: the walk suits a morning, the music an evening after the aarti. The Ganga Aarti tour covers the essentials in an evening and a morning, Sarnath fills half a day and the photo tour a full one. For a first trip to India, Golden Triangle with Varanasi — 8 days finishes here after Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, and the North India Classic Tour — 14 days arrives after Rajasthan. Spiritual India — Varanasi and Rishikesh adds yoga and rafting upstream, and the 6 Days Varanasi Ayodhya Tour with Prayagraj Chitrakoot continues on a pilgrim circuit. Our Varanasi tour packages page lists every one.

When to go for these

UP Tourism gives October to March as the season, with winter temperatures of 5–15.5°C: cold on the water before dawn, but the best months for the boat, the walks and malaiyo, which is made from about November to February. Summer runs from 32 to 43°C, so keep to dawn and dusk. When the monsoon floods the river, the authorities have stopped the boats and the aarti has moved to rooftops. Dev Deepawali, on the Kartik full moon about fifteen days after Diwali, lines the ghats with lamps, and photographers often find mist on winter mornings.

Planning tips

Cars cannot reach Dashashwamedh Ghat: get dropped at Godaulia and walk the last kilometre through the market. Dress modestly at the temples, ask before photographing people at prayer, and keep valuables close in the aarti crowds. For the ghats and temples one by one, see our Varanasi travel guide.