I am one of the most fortunate and blessed to have landed in Varanasi today – a land of Adi Sankara who founded Shiva worship as official sect in Varanasi, land of Saint Kabir, Ravi Das, Tulasi Das who wrote Ram Charit Manas at Assi Ghat, and so on.
We got down at Cantonment railway station at 11 AM and were amused to see so clean railway station. Our hotel of UPSTDC Rahi Tourist Bungalow was close by. It was nice to stay in hotel with big manicured green lawns.
I am giving here my complete plan of visiting.
In this article I am covering only Varanasi.
Where to stay
I personally always prefer to stay in state Govt. Tourism guest houses throughout India as these are very good, neat, reliable, big campuses, neat surroundings and have very good service. Also they own some responsibility of your safety. Their restaurants are also big and neat with varied cuisine.
They accept only ONLINE Bookings. In case you are not able to book only just reach them personally.
Hotel booking link
You can book Rahi Tourist Bungalow- near cantonment area. Though this is about 6 KM from Main temple yet it is better to stay in neat and spacious surroundings.
https://www.upstdc.co.in/Booking/HotelBooking
from Rupees 750 to 3500 per day.
You can also stay in Sarnath which is about 12 KM from main temple. But better stay in Rahi Tourist Bungalow near cantonment area.
Sarnath Rahi Tourist Bungalow Sarnath
Season
All seasons except May to July and December to January.
Distance to be walked on foot
Since the government has issued ban of three four wheelers in places around temple to facilitate walking by crowd, we are to walk some distance. We have to get down from our vehicle and walk. In Varanasi this place is only around Kashi Vishwanath corridor, Kaal Bhairav and Aarti venues.
You can cover the Ghats by boat or by walk (3 KM) and if you want to see them from road side you can go by auto and get down at entry gate from road side. Total distance to walk on each day was about 8 KMs.
Travel tips
Keep light luggage. Ola autos are best inside the city sightseeing including Sarnath. Keep some cash as some autos reject paytm and google pay.
Enter only in hygienic restaurants, enjoy local foods for which Banaras is famous. If you are very stringent religious rites pilgrim know that some hotels and restaurants are run by other community people with Hindu Gods idols on reception. So check carefully IF you are particular about that.
Expenses
For two persons total average expense lodging and boarding and local sightseeing may be not more than
Rs.12000 in 2 Night stay on average living.
How to reach
Varanasi has international airport and connected to middle east, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia.
In India it has connection with all major cities by air, rail and road.
Mode of Transport
Inside Varanasi you can go round all temples, Ghat, Ramnagar fort and Sarnath by auto (Ola and Uber or private).
Sight seeing
Day 1 -We took some rest and called Ola auto at 430 PM to reach “Kaal Bhairav temple” which is just 3.5 KM from hotel.
Had darshan at this temple and walked a distance of about 3 KM through clean though congested streets to reach the aarti place. We passed through the Kashi Vishwanath temple in between had darshan inside amid crowd and queue. The temple is very new and there was the disputed “Gyanvapi Masjid”. The electronic gadgets are strictly not allowed.
So our Day 1 from 4.30 PM till 8.30 PM was only Kaal Bhairav temple and aarti. We headed back to our hotel and took dinner to end the memorable day.
Day 2 – Next day was plan to see notable temples in Varanasi and Sarnath . Among the notable temples in Varanasi are Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Shiva, the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, the Durga temple and Ramnagar Fort.
At 9.30 I called private auto guy to see few temples and Sarnath. He agreed for Rs.800 for full day and drop us back at hotel.
He suggested me to see Mani mandir, Durga Kund, Tulasi Manas temple, Tridev (Durga-Balaji- Shyam Khatu), Sankat Mochan and Birla temple in BHU.
The day was fantastic and auto guy was very friendly.
9.30 AM – 1 PM – Visited all above 5 temples
2 PM to 7 PM – Visited Sarnath.
Sarnath is a must see place if you land in Varanasi. This is the place for which Varanasi is gifted with International airport and pilgrims visit from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and China.
He dropped us finally at our hotel to say good buy. He was a very nice guy.
Epilogue
This was our first halt in the long journey. The 2 days spent were hectic and full of life and injecting spiritualism into life.
There is clear change in Varanasi of 80s and today. The roads, ghats, streets and temple campuses have transformed to unbelievable cleanliness and discipline. The autos demanded the reasonable fare and almost fixed fares. I did not see “pandas” as well much to trouble us.
Kashi Vishwanath temple was roaring in pride in its past glory.
As I experience that two days are enough to see Varanasi but we need a bit longer time to understand the soul of Varanasi which needs longer tours of its Ghats.
We move on to our next camp to Ayodhya by train.
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