Varanasi
India
The oldest continuously lived-in city on earth, where the Ganges is lined with steps and funeral pyres
Photo by Pratish Srivastava on Unsplash
Photos by Aimanness Harun, Indre Velaviciute, Sergio Capuzzimati and Samyak Jain on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of India
November to February (April to June reach 42°C; the monsoon floods the ghats)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 320mm in Jul
Where it is
25.32°N, 83.01°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Take a rowing boat at first light and watch the city bathe
- Stand at the back for the Ganga Aarti rather than paying for a boat seat
- Get lost in the lanes deliberately, in daylight
- Go out to Sarnath for a completely different quiet
- Drink a lassi at Blue Lassi and watch the lane go by
Varanasi travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget India
Very cheapChange at a bank or authorised dealer, not with the men who approach on the ghats. Small notes matter here — nobody at a stall can break a five hundred.
ATMs & cards
HDFC, ICICI and SBI machines around Godowlia and the cantonment are the reliable ones. Machines in the old lanes are frequently out of cash. Draw in the morning, when they have been refilled.
Avoid these
- the machines in the old lanes, frequently out of cash
Use these instead
- HDFC
- ICICI
- State Bank of India
Draw in the morning, when the machines have been refilled, and ask for small notes — nobody at a stall can break a five hundred.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of India
Reasonably safeThe city is not dangerous but it is intense, and first-time visitors are frequently overwhelmed. Persistent touts and unlicensed guides work the ghats; agree everything in advance and expect to say no often. Photographing the burning ghats is forbidden and people asking for a "donation" there are running a scam. The river water is heavily polluted and not for swimming. Women travelling alone report more hassle here than in most of India.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the lanes after dark — a maze, unlit in places, and easy to lose your bearings in
- the ghats around the cremation grounds — where unlicensed guides ask for 'donations' that are not donations
- the river itself — heavily polluted, and not for swimming whatever you see others do
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa India visa rules
e-Visa requiredup to 30 days$25-$40 depending on season and duration
The e-Tourist visa is applied for online at least four days before travel. One-year and five-year versions exist at higher cost. Apply only through indianvisaonline.gov.in — the commercial lookalikes charge many times the real fee.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Apply at indianvisaonline.gov.in, upload a photo and passport page, and print the approval — airlines check it at the gate. Allow a week; the site is slow and rejections for photo formatting are common.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of India
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies — India has the world’s highest rate of rabies deaths
- Japanese encephalitis for rural stays
- Hepatitis B for longer stays
Getting treated
Private hospitals in the big cities are genuinely excellent and inexpensive, which is why medical tourism is a major industry. Standards drop sharply outside them, and Agra in particular is thin — serious cases go to Delhi, two hours away. Payment up front is expected.
Never drink tap water or take ice outside good hotels. Traveller’s diarrhoea affects a large share of visitors — give street food a few days. Any animal bite or scratch, including from monkeys at the monuments, means a clinic the same day.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodStreet food with an old reputation: kachori sabzi for breakfast, tamatar chaat, malaiyo in winter — a saffron foam whipped in the night dew and gone by ten in the morning. Blue Lassi in the old lanes is famous and deserves it. Avoid anything uncooked and unpeeled.
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- OlaWorks here
- RapidoWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
- GrabNot here
Rapido motorbikes and autos, and the cheapest of the three
- From the airport
- Delhi airport to Connaught Place ₹400–700, against ₹60 on the Airport Express
- Against a taxi
- Much cheaper than a pre-paid taxi booth and vastly cheaper than a hotel car.
Cancellations are common at peak. An auto-rickshaw booked through the same app usually arrives when a car will not.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Kolkata — 9½ hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 23:30 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 23:30–07:30 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of India
Why these are India's numbers and not Varanasi's
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 49% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at 1.2× the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Varanasi, so these are medians for all of India. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for India, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Hindi
- HelloNamastena-mas-TAY
- PleaseKripyaKRIP-ya
- Thank youDhanyavaaddhan-ya-VAAD
- Yes / NoHaan / Nahinhaan / na-HEEN
4 more phrases
- How much is it?Kitne ka hai?KIT-neh ka hai
- Too expensiveBahut mehengaba-HUT me-HEN-ga
- No thank youNahin, dhanyavaadna-HEEN dhan-ya-VAAD
- Water, pleasePaani dijiyePAA-nee DEE-ji-yeh
Namaste with palms together works everywhere in the north and is never wrong. In Goa, Konkani is the local language but Hindi and English are both understood.
Religion
Hindu majority, with large Muslim and other communities
Around 80% Hindu and 14% Muslim, plus Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and Jain communities. Remove shoes at every temple, and at many shops. The Taj Mahal is a working mosque on Fridays, when it closes to tourists.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Eat and give with the right hand — the left is considered unclean
- Remove shoes before entering temples, and often before entering a home or a shop
- Dress modestly outside beach areas: shoulders and knees covered, and more conservative for women
- Accept that the head wobble means yes, agreement, or acknowledgement, depending entirely on context
Don't
- Do not show public affection beyond hand-holding; it draws stares and in places open disapproval
- Do not photograph people, religious ceremonies or cremation grounds without permission
- Do not touch anyone with your feet, and apologise if you do it by accident
- Do not assume "yes" means yes — a reluctance to disappoint often replaces a direct no
Where to stay in Varanasi
No Holistay rentals in Varanasi yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Varanasi on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Lal Bahadur Shastri VNS
45 minfrom the airport· 21 km as the crow flies
45 min through traffic to the ghats.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
