India · Uttar Pradesh
Where to Stay in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Stone steps drop to the water at the ghats of Varanasi, an ancient riverside city in Uttar Pradesh, known for its ghats and the Sarnath Temple nearby.
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Where to stay in Varanasi
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Varanasi arranges its lodging along the riverfront and the old city behind it, so the main decision is how close to the ghats in Varanasi you want to be. Staying right above the ghats puts the stepped riverbank at your door, best for travellers who want the dawn river and the evening prayers within a few steps of the room. The old-city lanes behind the water press in tightly around shrines such as the Mahalaxmi temple, a maze best suited to those who do not mind narrow, crowded streets in exchange for being at the heart of things.
Nearer the Man Singh Observatory the riverbank opens onto broader terraces with a wider outlook over the water. Festival crowds fill every room. Reserve early.
For a calmer, greener base you can stay out toward Sarnath, where the Sarnath Temple and its quieter grounds sit a short drive from the old city. Wherever you settle in Varanasi, the ghats remain the reason to be here.
About Varanasi
What is Varanasi known for?
Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities in Uttar Pradesh, defined by the ghats that line its riverfront. Pilgrims come for the water. The stepped ghats descend to the river in a long ribbon, and just outside the city the Sarnath Temple marks a major Buddhist site, while the Man Singh Observatory and the Mahalaxmi shrine add to a skyline of towers and temples.
Faith runs through everything here.
What are the main landmarks in Varanasi?
Varanasi is best known for its ghats, the long stair of stone terraces that line the river. Above them rise the shrines and towers of the old city. The Man Singh Observatory keeps its astronomical instruments on the riverbank, the Mahalaxmi temple draws worshippers in the lanes, and the Sarnath Temple marks the Buddhist site just outside town at Sarnath.
St. Mary's Cathedral and the Victoria Memorial add a colonial layer.
What is the history of Varanasi?
Varanasi ranks among the oldest continuously lived-in cities of Uttar Pradesh, its riverfront settled for millennia around the ghats that step down to the water. The river made the city. Successive generations built the stone terraces, shrines, and towers that still crowd the bank, laying down the pilgrimage pattern that has drawn people to the river here across a very long stretch of recorded and remembered time.
Buddhism left its mark just beyond the old city. The Sarnath Temple stands at Sarnath, the site associated with the Buddha's early teaching, one of the deep historical layers around the town. Later eras added the astronomical instruments of the Man Singh Observatory on the riverbank and, under colonial rule, buildings such as St. Mary's Cathedral and the Victoria Memorial.
Temples like the Mahalaxmi shrine kept the older devotional life going. Each layer stacked on the last, leaving Varanasi a city where ancient, medieval, and colonial pasts all read at once along the ghats.
Where is Varanasi?
Varanasi sits on a curving riverbank in the plains of Uttar Pradesh. The river bends past the city. Its west bank rises in a long crescent of ghats, stepped stone terraces that give the waterfront its shape, while the flat alluvial plain spreads inland and the neighbouring site of Sarnath lies a short way out.
It is a low, riverine setting.
What is the climate of Varanasi?
Varanasi has the subtropical climate of the Uttar Pradesh river plains. Summers are long and searing. The monsoon then swells the river and greens the surrounding plain, and the cool, dry winter is the pleasantest season for walking the ghats at dawn or visiting Sarnath.
Heat and river rhythm set the year.
How do you get to Varanasi?
Varanasi is a major rail and road hub of eastern Uttar Pradesh, served by its own airport and a busy railway junction. Trains reach it from across the country. From the stations and the airport, roads run down to the riverfront and its ghats, and a short drive links the city to the Sarnath Temple on the outskirts.
Arriving is easy from any direction.
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Updated July 2026