Planning A Budget Trip To Varanasi: What First-Time Visitors Should Know About Stays, Transport And Timing
Varanasi has quietly become one of India's most accessible destinations for travellers on a modest budget — and a wave of first-time visitors arriving by overnight train from Kolkata, Patna and Delhi is proving the point. The train remains the sensible way in. Overnight services drop travellers at Varanasi Junction or Banaras station early in the morning, which suits the city's rhythm: the ghats are at their best between sunrise and eight o'clock, long before the heat and the crowds arrive. From the station, shared autos and e-rickshaws cover most of the old city cheaply, though the last stretch into the lanes will always be on foot. Accommodation is where budgets are won or lost. Hostels and dormitories in the Assi and Bhelupur areas now offer beds at a fraction of hotel rates, and several sit within walking distance of the river. Staying close to a ghat matters more than staying in a large room, because almost everything worth seeing in Kashi is best reached by walking. A workable first visit needs about three days. One morning for a sunrise boat ride and a ghat walk, one afternoon for Kashi Vishwanath Dham and the surrounding lanes, one evening for the Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh, and a half-day trip to Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon. The rest is best left unplanned. Banaras rewards wandering — a chance turn into a gali, a stranger's directions, a cup of chai in a clay kulhad. That, more than any itinerary, is what visitors tend to remember.
Compiled by HelloBanaras from public sources: