Ultimate Varanasi Travel Guide: Experiencing India's Oldest Living City
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Born in Benares—revisited 2014
Proud and privileged, I feel, to have been born in the holy city of Benares. I have stayed there, but it is as good as not staying because I had not come to terms with my senses during that period. So when my wife proposed that we pay a short visit to Benares during the summer of 2014, I was excited.
Why Visit Varanasi (Benares)?
Excited to visit a city that carries a highly inspiringly vivacious introduction in Lonely Planet—"Brace yourself. "You are about to enter one of the most blindingly colourful, relentlessly chaotic, and unapologetically indiscreet places on earth. Varanasi takes no prisoners. But if you are ready for it, this may just turn out to be your favourite stop of all." Benaras is also known as Kashi, ‘the abode of Lord Shiva, the Hindu God’, or Varanasi nowadays. It is about 600 km from Calcutta and involves a comfortable overnight train journey.
Top Things to See & Do in and around Benaras
We stayed in Hotel Surya in the Cantonment area, which is a relatively peaceful retreat and located behind Benares Station. The hotel itself is a treat to watch and stay in, as it was earlier the palace of the Maharajah of Nepal, with its entire heritage intact. We had hired a car from the hotel's travel desk to see places of interest around Benares. Our co-passenger was a retired marine engineer, Sanjeev, now settled in Australia and a travel bug like us. An interesting character with a passion for drama and music. Apart from common interests like sightseeing, his specific interest was to buy some books of Gulshan Nanda, his favourite author. Based on his stories, many classic Bollywood movies were made in the sixties.
SARNATH
We first visited Sarnath, where Gautama Buddha delivered his first sermon to his disciples. Later, Emperor Ashoka built a stupa there in 234 BC. Excavation still continues today on this vast sprawling area, where several structures between the 3rd century BC and the 11th century AD are seen scattered as ruins.
Kashi Naresh
From there we drove down to Ramnagar Fort. This is located on the bank of the River Ganga opposite the famous Ghats of Benares. One has to cross the century-old Malavya Bridge to reach there. This bridge over the River Ganga is a famous landmark of Benares. Ramnagar Palace was built in 1750 AD and was the residence of Kashi Naresh (Maharajah of Benares). The palace houses a museum where some very interesting exhibits dating back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are on display—like palanquins, royal palkis, vintage cars, costumes, swords, sabres, guns, etc.
Chunar Fort
Before proceeding to Chunar, we had lassi in an earthen pot (kulhar) for which Benares is so famous. Like Ramnagar Palace Fort, Chunar Fort also overlooks the Ganga and is strategically located on its banks. This fort, which stands on a hillock, was built in the early 11th century. It was in the possession of the Mughals for almost two hundred years. In 1772, the East India Company captured the fort and established an artillery and ammunition depot. Warren Hastings is said to have taken a liking to the place and had started staying there. It has now been converted to a guesthouse. At present, these barracks in the fort are used by the Provincial Armed Core (PAC) as their training establishment. While returning, we asked our driver to take a shorter route by crossing to the opposite bank via a pontoon bridge laid across the river for lighter vehicles. A strange feeling as our car literally crawled on the vast water of Ganga.
👉Tours and Tickets to Experience Benares
In Varanasi, you can easily get lost in the labyrinth of streets and river ghats. Booking a guided boat tour or cultural walk with a trusted operator means you won’t miss out on key stories and historic sites:
| Experience |
Duration |
Key Highlights |
Book Online |
| Sunrise Ganges Boat Ride & Ghat Walk |
2 - 3 Hours |
Morning rituals at Assi Ghat, boat cruise across 50+ ghats, cremation ghat view |
Reserve on Klook
|
| Evening Ganga Aarti Cruise |
2 Hours |
Prime seats on the river for the grand Dashashwamedh Ghat Aarti |
Reserve on Klook
or Book on Tiqets
|
| Varanasi Heritage Walking & Food Tour |
3 Hours |
Hidden Galis, Vishwanath Temple corridors, local Kachori & Lassi tasting |
Check Details on Tiqets
|
| Sarnath Buddhist Heritage Tour |
Half Day |
Dhamek Stupa, Ashoka Pillar, Archaeological Museum with guide |
Book on Klook
|
Benaras Hindu University (BHU)
From there, we proceeded to BHU, perhaps the oldest residential University, founded by Pundit Madan Mohan Malviya at the beginning of the twentieth century. The sprawling campus, beautifully maintained, is like a town by itself.
Godhulia, Ghats & Ganga Aarti
Before dusk set in, we were in original Benares, at Godhulia More (a junction). The most exhilarating place on earth—that's how I look at it. This is a place where the human race from our entire planet seems to have descended. The junction fluttered like an international Maypole. We inched our way through a snarl of traffic and then jostled with the crowd as we headed towards the famous Dashaswamedh Ghat for watching the Ganga Arati. On our way, we passed brightly lit shops, hotels, paan shops, and eateries. A labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways led off from our main path. They led to Viswanath Temple and also connected to other Ghats.
Viswanath Temple
Although Viswanath Temple is accessible from several points at Godhulia, we always used the main gate approach, which led straight to the temple to avoid getting lost. This alley is flanked by shops selling famous wooden toys of Benares, brass utensils, artificial jewellery, etc. They glittered with lights and activities even at odd hours like three in the morning. However, one has the choice of using an amazing maze of narrow alleys (Galis) crisscrossing each other and leading to the temple door. But I must warn you that some of them are infinitesimally narrow and similar to 'Bhulbhulaya,' the labyrinthian corridors of Bada Imambara at Lucknow, built for the Nawabs and Begums to play hide and seek. At the temple, we offered pujas smoothly and peacefully without the ire of jostling, pushing, and shoving normally experienced with such swelling crowds of pilgrims all throughout the day and night. Thanks to the temple authorities for their excellent crowd management
Ghats & Akhadas
Outside on our way to Dasaswamedh Ghat, the air was heavy with the tempting whiffs of freshly fried kachoris and jalebis for which Benares is famous.
Ganga Aarti on Dasaswamedh Ghat. A lifetime experience. When it started, an effervescence of spirit built up inside us. The chanting of hymns, pulsation of drums and cymbals, blowing of conches, the sweet smell of incense, and the water of Ganga sparkling with floating diyas produced a wonderful feeling. Mingled with it the rattling noise and whistle of a train as it passes over the Malavya Bridge; Mike's blaring political speech of a party’s election campaign meeting; and the chattering and laughter of crowd milling around on the steps and in the boats, creating a strange symphony reminiscent of Neil Diamond’s famous song “It’s a beautiful noise coming out from the street, like a symphony parade…" We were so enthralled that we attended the Ganga Aarti (in the morning from Tulsi Ghat and in the evening from Dashaswamedh Ghat) every day of our stay there.
We were amazed to find that this oldest living city in the world never sleeps. When we decided to go to the Viswanath temple early in the morning to offer Puja and also see the sunrise and morning prayer at Kedar Ghat, we found a sizable movement of people and vehicles. When we went to Tulsi Ghat, we caught glimpses of wrestlers exercising and preparing for training at Akhadas (wrestling pits). Regarded as an elixir of life from its early inception, this wonderful and highly disciplined sport has come to stay in this city for ages, even before ‘kushti’ (modern wrestling) was brought into this city and northern India by the first Mughal emperor, Babar, in the sixteenth century. Emperor Babar, who was of Mongol descent, was himself a great wrestler. We also attended the Arati at Sankat Mochan Temple, where we recited the Hanuman Chalisa from booklets available to all.
Whether it is the gong of a temple bell or the chanting of mantras, the noise is sure to reverberate in every part of your body, and you will get carried away to sheer pleasure in this holy city.
Photo credit:
Arundhati Sengupta
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| Stupa built by Emperor Ashoka at Sarnath. Gautam Buddha delivered his first sermon at this spot |
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| Excavated ruins at Sarnath |
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| Ramnagar Palace & Fort |
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| A view of Ganga from Ramnagar Palace |
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| Chunar Fort |
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| A view of the Chunar Fort from Ganga |
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| Crossing the Pontoon Bridge from Chunar |
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| Statue of Madan Mohan Malavya, founder of Benaras Hindu University. Behind is the entrance to BHU |
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| BHU Campus |
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| Godhulia More |
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| Ganga Arati at Dasaswamedh Ghat |
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| A short video clip of the Arati |
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| Sunrise |
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| Morning Prayer at Kedar Ghat |
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| A Gali in Benaras |
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| Lassi shop in Benaras |
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