How to find us … plus general travel

Ring us and we will meet you, we are so central that it is not a straightforward thing to find us! We are in a quiet laneway between two main shopping streets, beside the Kashi Golden Temple. The one street leading direct to the centre of Varanasi, the other past Manikarnika, the holy burning ghat for Hindus. Both five minutes walk. Yes, this really is the centre of old Varanasi.

This map below,  ''Old Centre Varanasi'' shows the centre of Varanasi. The lines lead roughly to Monu Guest House. Other points of interest - tea shop meeting place, public toilets, police station etc. Walks, boat trips, prayer times, the ice cream shop. It is an absolute mine of info about Varanasi. Left-click a few times to get up close and explore. Hit on the icons to harvest a wealth of information.

Map of Old Centre Varanasi

 

If you would like us to meet you at the train station, contact us to make the arrangement. 0091-0542-2400908.

Always note in Indianame of train, train number and time of arrival. You should note that you generally need to book your seat/sleeping berth at least four days before you travel. Often, closer than that, the train is fully booked.

You can, of course, just buy the necessary ticket, if you are robust and adventurous . This entitles you to travel, but you have to fight push and squash your way on to the unbooked section of the train. This can be a very rewarding way to travel, especially during the day. It is often a fine entertainment.It can be crowded and uncomfortable at night. If you bravely decide to travel alone in this mode at night, drink very little water, then you do not have to carry all your stuff with you for nature call, or wander off leaving it and wonder as to it’s fate.

If you like the whole adventure of the thing and you wish to make your own way in to the centre of Varanasi, ignore all the **** touts at the station. Totally ignore them all, you do not even owe them politeness, they are the ones intruding and probably hope to rip you off. (You may, of course, be happy to go with them in the hopes of getting interesting material for your blog or book. You are unlikely to be disappointed.)

Advice, just walk out to the front of the station and look around for the oldest cycle-rickshaw-wallah that you can see, leaning against his cycle rickshaw doing nothing, and ask him to take you into Godowlia Crossing or Girza Ghar Crossing which is situated near the St.Thomas Church or you can even ask him to take you into Chowk where there is a famous Police Station, for Rs 50, and give us a ring.

    Avoid or ignore all the commission agents and brokers who may try to bring you at some other expensive places for their commissions. If someone brings you to a place, they get commission, and you are the one who pays it.

 

Good site, thorntree useful for questions and advice.

Lonelyplanet

 

Hilarious. Much good advice and unwitting entertainment.

Indiamike.com  scams-and-annoyances-in-india

 

For planning your trip, you can check the timing of trains, so that you can travel long distance while you sleep.

 

Indian Rail

 

The best way to find trains between two cities is to use this link:

Train Enquiry - Trains Between Station

 

Check makemytrip.com or yatra.com, they list all available flights.

Air India

Indian Airlines

Jetairways

AA Ireland