Plan your trip · Varanasi
How much does a trip to Varanasi cost?
Rough daily budgets for Varanasi and how to handle money on the ground. Pair it with getting around.
By Touristoo · Updated
What Varanasi costs
Varanasi is one of the cheapest major destinations in India, because most of what you came for is free: the ghats, the river, the lanes, and general darshan at Kashi Vishwanath. The costs cluster around boats and paid temple access.
🕉️ Kashi Vishwanath
- General darshan — free. But the queue runs 1 to 8 hours depending on the day, and is longest on Mondays, during Sawan (July–August) and around Mahashivratri.
- Paid darshan options cut the wait to 15–30 minutes. Book only at the official site, shrikashivishwanath.org, and check current fees there. Anyone offering to 'arrange' a pass at the gate is taking a margin.
- Mangala Aarti (around 3:00 AM) must be pre-booked online; there are no walk-up tickets, and fees vary by day and season.
- Other aartis (Bhog, Sandhya, Shringar) — same booking route, fees on the official site
- Children under 12 — free
No phones, cameras, leather belts or bags inside the sanctum. There is a deposit; use it.
🌚 Other sights
- Sarnath — ₹20 Indian / ₹250 foreign for the archaeological site; the stupas, the monastery and the Tibetan temple are free or nominal
- Ramnagar Fort — ₹20 / ₹200
- Dashashwamedh, Assi and every other ghat — free, 24 hours
- The Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh — free from the ghats, roughly 6:45 PM in summer and 6:00 PM in winter. Arrive by 5:30 PM for a seat, or take a boat.
- Assi Ghat morning aarti — 5:00 AM summer, 5:30 AM winter, free
🚤 Boats — the real variable cost
| Class | Seats | Typical fare |
|---|---|---|
| Shared rowboat | 6–10 | ₹250–500 per person |
| Private rowboat | 1–6 | ₹1,500–3,000 |
| Motorboat | 10–15 | ₹4,000–6,000 |
| Luxury bajra | 15–30 | ₹10,000+ |
A sunrise boat is the one to spend money on. For the evening aarti, board 40–50 minutes before the start to get a central position — boats fill and leave early, and seats disappear about 40 minutes out. Festival surcharges run 2–4×.
🛏️ Where you sleep
- Ghat-side guesthouse, basic — ₹500–1,500. You are inside the old city, which means no vehicle access, carrying your own bag up lanes, and noise from 4:30 AM.
- Guesthouse with river view — ₹1,500–4,000. The best value in Indian travel.
- Boutique hotel in the Cantonment or Sigra — ₹2,500–6,000. Vehicle access, quieter, but a 15–25 minute walk or ride to the ghats.
- Heritage and luxury (Taj Ganges, BrijRama Palace on Darbhanga Ghat) — ₹15,000–60,000+
Decide before booking whether you want to be inside the old city or outside it. Inside is the experience and is genuinely inconvenient; outside is comfortable and misses the point. Most people regret the outside choice.
🍛 Food
- Chai at a ghat stall — ₹10–20, in a clay kulhad
- Kachori sabzi breakfast — ₹30–60
- Chaat — ₹20–60 a plate
- Babu Thakur lassi and the famous malaiyo (a winter-only frothed milk dessert, available roughly November to February) — ₹40–100
- Thali at a local bhojanalaya — ₹80–200. Varanasi is a strongly vegetarian city; many restaurants near the temple are pure-veg and several do not serve onion or garlic.
- Langar at the Golden Temple is not here — but the free community meals attached to several ashrams and maths are, if you ask.
- Mid-range restaurant dinner for two — ₹500–1,200
💰 Three daily budgets
Shoestring — ₹800–1,500. Ghat-side guesthouse ₹500–900, street food all day ₹150–300, shared boat ₹250, e-rickshaws ₹60–120, free darshan and free ghats.
Mid-range — ₹3,000–5,000. River-view room ₹2,000–3,000, paid darshan, private sunrise boat ₹1,500–3,000, restaurant meals ₹400–800, a car for Sarnath.
Comfort — ₹12,000+. Heritage hotel, Mangala Aarti booking, private boat, a guide, and dinner at Taj Ganges.
📅 When it costs more
Dev Deepawali (fifteen days after Diwali, in November) lights all 84 ghats with a million lamps and is the most spectacular night of the year — hotel prices triple and book out months ahead. Mahashivratri, Sawan Mondays and the Magh Mela are the other peaks, when darshan queues reach their longest and every boat and room is taken.
💳 Money
UPI works in the old city, including at chai stalls, but boatmen at the ghats are largely cash-only and will not wait while you find a signal. Carry ₹2,000–3,000 in small notes. ATMs are in the Cantonment and at Sigra, not in the galis.
For getting between all of these, see the Varanasi transport guide.
Next on the circuit: Agra.