Best things to do in Varanasi
From the ghats to the monkey temple and wandering the old city, these are the best things to do in Varanasi.
#1 Visit the ghats
The great riverbanks at Varanasi, built high with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century pavilions and palaces, temples and terraces, are lined by stone steps – the ghats – which stretch along the whole waterfront, changing dramatically in appearance with the seasonal fluctuations of the river level.
Each of the hundred ghats, big and small, is marked by a lingam, and occupies its own special place in the religious geography of the city.
For the visitor, joining devotees in the teeming temple precincts of the south, on the ghats at Varanasi, at the Sufi shrines of Ajmer and Delhi, before the naked Jain colossi of Sravanabelagola, or at any one of the innumerable religious festivals that punctuate the astrological calendar is to experience India at its most intense.
The easiest way to see the ghats is to follow a south–north sequence either by boat or on foot.
#2 Take a boat on the Ganges at dawn
Take a boat on the Ganges before dawn to watch the sunrise over India’s most ancient and sacred city.
All along the ghats, and especially at the main ones such as Dashaswamedh, the prices of boat (bajra) rental are highly inflated, with local boatmen under pressure from touts to fleece tourists and pilgrims.
Renting a boat to catch the dawn in particular can be a bit of a free-for-all, and haggling is essential. There used to be an official rate, which everyone ignored, but it’s now down to your bargaining skills.
You’ll get a far better rate if you walk up to Mir Ghat near the Alka hotel, where punters are thinner on the ground. Some small hotels and hostels offer special deals to their guests.
#3 Explore the Old City
At the heart of Varanasi, between Dashaswamedh Ghat and Godaulia to the south and west and Manikarnika Ghat on the river to the north, lies the maze of ramshackle alleys that comprise the Old City, or Vishwanatha Khanda.
The whole area buzzes with the activity of pilgrims, pandas and stalls selling offerings to the faithful, and there are lingams and shrines tucked into every corner. If you get lost just head for the river.
The Golden Temple and around Accessed from Vishwanatha Mandir Lane to the north of Vishwanatha Gali, but closed to non-Hindus, the Vishwanatha Mandir temple complex, also called Visheshwara (the “Lord of All”), is popularly known as the Golden Temple, due to the gold plating on its massive spire. Because it is largely hidden behind walls, non-Hindus have to make do with glimpses of it from adjacent buildings.