Banaras, a city that has something to offer for everyone..!

Recently we completed a 3-day family trip to Varanasi and below are the things one can keep in mind if travelling to Varanasi.

Transportation

We reached Varanasi Jn in the afternoon and took a rickshaw to our stay. If you are in Banaras, rickshaw and E-rickshaw options are easily available and are affordable too. Uber and Rapido also is there but trust me any rickshaw will be any day quicker compared to a car.

Note: If you have booked your stay in old Banaras (near any ghats/Godowlia or major famous temple) then make an exit from Platform 1 and not 9 if you are reaching there by train.

Places to Visit:

Kaal Bhairav Temple: People say that he is the Kotwal of Kaashi and before visiting Vishwanath temple it's mandatory to visit Kaal Bhairav temple.

Vishwanath Temple: Book a ticket for Mangla Aarti well in advance if it's your pilgrimage trip. It costs 500/- PP but it's limited to 200-300 people only so you won't get it on the last days. You will be able to do darshan very peacefully without much rush and they allow you to do touch (sparsh) darshan post Aarti. The Aarti starts at 3 AM and you will be given entry at 2.40-2.50 AM from GATE 1. We reached there at 2.30 AM and found out that people who had booked Aarti tickets were standing in queue from 1.30 AM. There are shops near GATE-1 where you can deposit your phone and shoes. There is no locker as such in the temple if you are entering from GATE-1. We didn't carry any phones with us, so removed shoes on the temple premises only.

Note: The garbhgruh has 4 sides, please stand at the one near to Black Nandi ji's statue, as the entrance is the widest one and will be given entry first from that side. Also, carry whatever you want to offer to Shivlinga from home itself (you will be able to do quick Abhishek post Aarti when your sparsh darshan turn comes) as the milk bought from shops near to temple has milk in water rather than water in milk...! Also, don't carry a pen as it's not allowed.

If you didn't get a chance to book Mangla Aarti tickets then from 4 AM to 5 AM they still allow sparsh darshan but people were standing in queue for that at 2 AM itself when we were in a queue for Mangala Aarti so more rush will be there from 4 AM to 5 AM as it's open for everyone.

If you happen to visit the temple during any other time then it's better to book Rudrabhishek for 450/- per couple. You have to make an entry from GATE-4 for Rudrabhishek and you can carry your phone and chappals inside as you will get a locker facility when entering from GATE-4. One of the Panditji will be assigned to you and 450/- includes the cost of puja items except for milk, which you have to buy separately. (Panditji will ask you to buy 5 ltr/couple 1 ltr costs 50/- but TBH again it's more of milk in water than water in milk). They will perform the Rudrabhishek in one of the other 15-20 shillings in the temple premise and not the main one. IMO Rudrabhishek is just an express entry ticket to the temple otherwise not very spiritual. But the VIP darshan costs 300/- PP so it's better to opt for Rudrabhishek at 450/- per couple as after Rudrabhshiek you will be able to do the darshan of the main Shivlinga quickly.

Vishalakshi Mata temple: This also is near Kashi Vishwanath temple, and it's one of the 52 Sakthipithas. Not much of a rush will be there.

Annapurna Mata temple: It will come first while entering from GATE-1 for Mangla Aarti, but you can visit it later also during the daytime.

Durgakund, Tulsi Manas Mandir, Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple: It's about 2-3 KM from Kashi Vishwanath temple and you will get share auto easily from Godowlia Chauraha.

Apart from all these don't miss the evening Ganga Aarti of Dasaswamegh Ghaat(reach there before 5 PM to get a better seat) and morning Ganga Aarti of Assi Ghat.

We also visited Ramnagar Fort (good if you are into museums), BHU and the new Kashi Vishwnath temple inside BHU but IMHO BHU can be skipped if you have a tight schedule and if you are not into universities.

We didn't get a chance to visit Sarnath so won't be able to comment on it.

Book the cruise tickets early on to get tickets on Alaknanda cruise. We did the cuise and chakku boat ride(immediately after morning Ganga Aarti from Assi ghat). My 2 cents: we enjoyed more in the chakku boat ride so the cruise can be skipped if you are not into it but a normal boat ride is a must early in the morning or evening.

Stay:

We were a group of 5 and decent hotel rooms were costing us 2-3K/night so I was looking for other options and found 2BHK AirBnB just behind the Durgakund temple. It was very good and conveniently located near Assi ghat (10 min walk) or Lanka (7 min walk) or you get an auto even at 2 AM just outside the building to reach Godowlia(near to main temple, Dasashwmegh ghat, Vishalakshi mata temple)

Food:

Try tamatar chaat, paalak patta chat, aaloo tikki, dahi samosa chaat and khasta kachori at Kashi chaat bhandar or Deena chat bhandar or at both (these are near Gadowlia chauk, 300 m and 800 m from main temple chauraha)

Malaeyo at Shriji sweet shop (near to main temple)(personally I didn't like it as it had more of gulab jal flavour) or Pahelwaan lassi (near Lanka, close to Durgakund) didn't get a chance to try this.

Thandai (with or without Bhaang) at Baba Thandai near to Main temple

Lemon tea at Pappu tea stall(our PM modi had tea there) near Assi ghat

Lassi at Pahelwan lassi (Lanks, close to Durgakund) it was a good one, we also tried lassi at Blue Lassi Shop(near to main temple, gate-4) but I feel it was overhyped and not worth the price of 120/- but not bad though.

Kachori(not the aalo or khasta one, this is like poori) sabji at Ram Bhandar (near to Main temple) and Prasiddh chachi ki kachori (Lanka, near Durgakund)

Paan at Chaurasiya Paan (Godowlia, near main temple) or Ram Paan (Lanka) we tried Keshav Paan(Lanka) but didn't like it.

We had on the list: Laxmi tea stall but don't know which one was original so left the plan after reading mixed reviews(please put the correct one comment if you happen to know).

Also wanted to try Baati Chokha, tried it at one restaurant but the Baati was chewy and the taste wasn't up to the mark. please suggest a good place for others in the comments.

We had 3 females in the group and they did shopping from Gadowlia chauk only, if you had other shopping experiences from Banaras, please share them in the comments.

Last but not least, to get the real feel of Banaras visit Thateri Bazaar, try curd from any local shop, try lemon tea on any of the ghat, try roadside food stalls whenever you feel like, explore Banaras by walking in its narrow and traffic-packed lanes. Banaras has many things to offer for everyone. The people of Banaras are sweet and welcoming, though they use a lot of gaali casually, I haven't seen anyone fighting over any issue in my 3 days of stay, they just give 2-3 gaali and walk off.

If you are from Banaras, can you please tell me when the Malai Poori would be available at Shriji sweet shop? I visited it 2 times but couldn't get my hands on it. Also, better places to do shopping and any other info you would like to share? please put that in the comments.

Feel free to ask questions or put any suggestions in the comments.

Thank you 🙂