Varanasi sits on the west bank of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, at the point where the river briefly turns north, which is why the city was built here. Hindus know it as Kashi, the city of light, and it is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, with settlement going back roughly 3,000 years. Mark Twain wrote that it was older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Roman Trail earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.

It is the most sacred place in Hinduism. To die here, or to be cremated here and have your ashes enter the Ganges, is believed to release the soul from the cycle of rebirth. That belief is not abstract or historical: it is happening on the riverbank, continuously, all day and all night, a few meters from where tourists walk.

Which brings us to the one rule in this guide that matters more than every packing decision combined.

Do not photograph the cremation ghats. Not discreetly, not from a boat, not from a rooftop, not "just the fire". Manikarnika and Harishchandra are working crematoria where families are grieving. Photography is prohibited, it is enforced by the families and the doms who manage the pyres, cameras have been taken and thrown in the river, and people have been physically confronted. More importantly than any of that: it is somebody's mother on that pyre.

You can watch, respectfully, from a distance, standing quietly. That is welcome. The camera is not.

What Makes Varanasi Different to Pack For

The ghats are wet, steep and uneven

Around 84 ghats run along roughly six kilometres of riverfront, a continuous staircase of stone descending into the water. The steps are worn smooth by centuries of feet, wet at the bottom, silted after the monsoon, and slick in places with river mud, spilled oil and cow dung.

This is the most slippery walking surface in this guide and shoes with grip matter more here than anywhere.

Barefoot, constantly

Shoes come off at every temple and at many ghats. You will be carrying them, putting them down, and picking them up all day. Slip-ons are the only sensible choice, and socks make the barefoot stretches on cold stone and hot marble tolerable.

The old city lanes

Behind the ghats is a warren of galis, alleys often less than two meters wide, shared with motorbikes, cows, dogs, pilgrims and funeral processions. They are genuinely disorienting, they smell, and they are one of the great experiences in India. A small crossbody bag worn in front is the only workable luggage.

Cold mornings, warm days

December and January dawns on the river are 8 to 11 degrees with mist coming off the water, and you will be sitting still in an open boat for ninety minutes. The same afternoon reaches 22 to 25. People pack for the afternoon and shiver through the best part of the day.

Recommended Tours and Experiences

The Dawn Boat: Hire It Privately

This is the single best experience in Varanasi and the details of how you do it change it completely.

Why private

Shared boats take twenty or thirty people, run to a fixed schedule, and fill with conversation, phone cameras and a guide talking over everything. A private rowboat costs surprisingly little, goes where and when you want, and is silent.

The difference is the silence. The point of the dawn river is the sound: bells from a hundred temples, chanting, someone singing at a ghat, water against the hull. A shared boat removes all of it.

Insist on a rowboat rather than a motorboat. The engine ruins the same thing the crowd does, and rowboats are permitted closer to the bank.

How to arrange it

Book through your guesthouse the evening before, which is more reliable and better priced than negotiating on the steps at 5.30am. Expect roughly 500 to 1,500 rupees for a private rowboat for ninety minutes to two hours depending on season, your bargaining and the size of the boat. Agree the price, the duration and the route before you get in.

Leave about 45 minutes before sunrise. You want to be on the water while it is still dark, watching the light arrive behind the far bank and the ghats waking up: pilgrims bathing, wrestlers training, laundry beginning, the first funeral processions coming down.

What to wear: everything you brought. You are sitting still on cold water in the coldest hour of the day. Merino base layer, fleece, and a windproof layer, plus a scarf. A blanket is sometimes provided and often not.

Where you will pass: the boat will go by Manikarnika. Put the camera away before you get there, and keep it away.

The evening boat

A second, shorter trip at dusk to see the Ganga Aarti from the water is worth doing, and is a genuinely different view from the crowded steps. Many boatmen offer both as a package.

Ganga Aarti: Arrive 45 Minutes Early

Dashashwamedh Ghat hosts the main evening aarti, a fire ceremony performed daily at sunset by young priests on raised platforms, with brass lamps, conch shells, bells, incense and synchronised choreography. It has been performed here for centuries and it is the most theatrical religious event in India.

Arrive 45 minutes early, and an hour in peak season. The steps fill completely and the good positions go first. If you arrive on time you will see the backs of several hundred people.

Your options: sit on the steps, which is free and where you should be if you can; take a boat, which gives an unobstructed view for the boat fare; or pay for a seat on one of the raised platforms, which some operators arrange.

Practicalities: shoes off in places, so slip-ons and socks. Shoulders and knees covered. Sit where you are directed. Small donations are normal and never demanded. Pickpocketing is a real risk in that density of crowd, so keep your bag closed and in front.

A smaller, quieter aarti happens at Assi Ghat at dawn, the Subah-e-Banaras, with yoga and classical music, and many people prefer it.

Take a Guide for Your First Ghat Walk

This is a recommendation rather than a rule and it is a strong one.

Varanasi is not a city you read correctly on your own on day one. The ghats have specific functions, the lanes are unmappable, the temples have rules that are not posted, and the difference between somewhere you may stand and somewhere you may not is invisible to a newcomer.

A good guide for two or three hours on your first afternoon does four things: shows you which ghats are which, explains what is happening at the cremation ground so you understand what you are looking at rather than gawping, keeps the touts away, and makes the lanes navigable afterwards.

Book through your guesthouse or through the UP Tourism-approved guide list, rather than accepting someone on the steps. Expect 800 to 2,000 rupees for a half day. Be explicit that you do not want shopping stops, particularly silk shops, which is where the commission economy here operates.

The specific scam to know: at Manikarnika, men will approach claiming to collect donations for wood for the cremation of the poor, sometimes leading you up to a viewing balcony first. It is a long-running and well-documented scam. Donations to the actual hospice, Mukti Bhawan, are made at the hospice.

The Varanasi Packing List

Base layers

Two Roman Trail Women's Merino Wool Base Layers ($49-59) in long sleeve. The dawn boat is the reason: ninety minutes sitting still on the water at 9 degrees, followed by a 24-degree afternoon in the lanes. Merino at 17.5 micron handles that range, and it keeps insulating in river mist where cotton simply gets damp and cold. The long sleeve also satisfies the temple dress code and reduces the attention you attract in a city where a woman alone is unusual.

Mid and outer layers

A Columbia Women's Fast Trek II Jacket ($65), essential from November to February and useful in the evening year round on the water.

A Marmot Women's PreCip Eco Rain Jacket ($110) for the monsoon and as the windproof layer on the boat, which matters more than the waterproofing.

Loose, covered clothing

Loose cotton or linen trousers, two or three pairs. Long tunics or sleeved shirts. A large light scarf, which covers your head in temples, your shoulders everywhere, and your face against smoke and dust. Buy a kurta locally; Varanasi is a good place to do it.

Footwear, which matters here

Slip-on shoes or sandals with real grip, which you can remove in seconds. The ghat steps are worn smooth and wet, and this is the most slippery surface in this guide. Flip flops are a bad idea and so are smooth-soled sandals.

ELETON Barefoot Hiking and Water Shoes ($23.99) work well here: grippy, quick to remove, washable, and they dry, which matters because the lower steps are wet and what is on them is not only water.

The Darn Tough Women's Hiker Micro Crew Merino Socks ($28), two pairs, for cold temple floors and the barefoot stretches.

Health and hygiene, which matters more than gear

Varanasi is a hard city on a Western digestive system and the Ganges here is heavily polluted.

Do not swim in or drink the river. Ritual bathing is done by people with a lifetime of local immunity. Faecal coliform levels at the ghats are many multiples of safe limits.

Drink sealed or filtered water only, no ice, and be careful with salads and cut fruit. Rehydration salts and a proper stomach kit, because most visitors have a bad day here.

DEET Insect Repellent Spray ($12) for mosquitoes along the river at dusk; dengue and Japanese encephalitis both occur in Uttar Pradesh, and the latter is worth discussing with a travel clinic.

Hand sanitiser, used constantly. A mask or the scarf for smoke and winter air quality. Prescriptions in original packaging.

Organisation

The Eagle Creek Pack-It Cube Set ($59). A small zipped crossbody for the lanes and the aarti crowd, worn in front.

Sarnath and the Dhamek Stupa

Ten kilometres northeast, and the counterweight to Varanasi's intensity.

Sarnath is where the Buddha gave his first sermon after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, setting out the Four Noble Truths to five disciples in the deer park around 528 BCE. It is one of the four principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites.

The Dhamek Stupa, a solid cylinder of brick and stone 43 meters high and 28 meters across, marks the spot. The current structure dates from around 500 CE, built over an earlier one commissioned by Ashoka in the third century BCE, and its lower courses carry carved floral and geometric bands. Monks and pilgrims circumambulate it, and the atmosphere is completely unlike the city: quiet, green, ordered.

Also here: the ruins of the monastery complex, the remains of the Ashoka Pillar, whose four-lion capital was adopted as India's national emblem and now sits in the site museum, and the modern Mulagandhakuti Vihara temple with murals by a Japanese artist. The Sarnath Archaeological Museum holds the lion capital itself and is worth the small entry fee.

Practical notes: a half day, best in the morning. Shoes off at the stupa enclosure and the temples, shoulders and knees covered. Go by Uber or a pre-arranged car, about 30 to 40 minutes each way. It is peaceful in a way that makes it a good second-day antidote to the ghats.

What Not to Bring, and What Not to Do

A camera anywhere near the cremation ghats. The one absolute rule.

Shorts, strappy tops, anything tight. This is the most conservative major city in this guide.

Smooth-soled shoes. The ghats are slick.

An expectation of swimming in the Ganges. Do not.

A large backpack for the lanes. It will not fit and it invites attention.

Alcohol expectations. Varanasi is not formally dry like Rishikesh, and it is a deeply religious city where drinking is uncommon and conspicuous.

Leather into some temples, and note that the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the most important in the city, has airport-level security, prohibits phones, cameras, bags and leather entirely, and non-Hindus have at times had restricted access. Check current rules locally.

Donations to strangers claiming to collect for cremation wood. It is a scam.

Essential Resources for Women in Varanasi

Emergency numbers in India: 112 is the single national emergency number. 100 police, 102 ambulance, 101 fire. 1091 is the national women's helpline and 181 the women's distress helpline.

Tourist police: Uttar Pradesh operates a tourist police presence in Varanasi, concentrated around Dashashwamedh and Assi ghats and the main temple approaches, in identifiable uniform. The national tourist helpline is 1363, 24 hours, in English. There is also a river police and NDRF presence on the Ganges, which handles drownings and boat incidents.

US consular services: the US Embassy in New Delhi covers Uttar Pradesh. There is no consulate in Varanasi. Contact details and the after-hours emergency number are at in.usembassy.gov.

Hospitals: Sir Sunderlal Hospital at Banaras Hindu University is the main referral facility with a 24-hour emergency department and the best equipped in the region, and Heritage Hospital and Apex Hospital are the private options most used by visitors. For anything serious, Delhi or Lucknow is the referral point. Private care requires payment or an insurance guarantee up front, so carry your insurer's emergency number written down separately from your phone.

Official health authority: the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at mohfw.gov.in. Discuss Japanese encephalitis and typhoid with a travel clinic before coming.

Official tourism authority: incredibleindia.gov.in nationally and uptourism.gov.in for the state, which also maintains the approved guide list.

US State Department travel advisory for India: current advisory level and the state-by-state detail.

UK FCDO travel advice for India: entry requirements, safety and health guidance. Most nationalities need a visa in advance, available as an e-visa.

Solo women safety assessment: Varanasi is intense rather than dangerous, and most women who travel here alone are glad they did. Violent crime against visitors is rare, the ghats are busy from before dawn until late, and the city's religious character means public drunkenness and overt harassment are less common than in many Indian cities. The real risks are practical. The ghat steps are slippery and cause most visitor injuries. The lanes are genuinely disorienting and worth learning with a guide first. The aarti crowd is dense enough for pickpocketing, so wear a zipped bag in front. Do not enter the river, which is severely polluted. Take extra care with food and water here, because this is where many travellers get ill. On the human side, expect persistent boat and silk touts and the well-known cremation-wood donation scam, and be unembarrassed about saying no. Do not walk the unlit lanes alone late at night; take a rickshaw or Uber to your guesthouse and ask them to walk you the last stretch if it is deep in the galis. Save 112, 1091 and 1363, and keep your guesthouse's name and location written down, because addresses in the old city are close to meaningless.

Reading On

Varanasi is the oldest and most concentrated religious city in India, and the dawn boat is the best hour anyone spends there. The India travel guide for women covers the country, with Delhi the usual arrival point and Agra the Mughal counterpart on the way. Rishikesh sits on the same river far upstream where it leaves the Himalaya, and the contrast between the two is worth experiencing in one trip. The Rajasthan travel guide for women covers the desert states and Kerala the far south. The Varanasi travel guide for women goes deeper on the city. For why merino is the right fibre for a dawn boat in river mist and a warm afternoon after it, the merino wool base layer guide explains the fibre, and the full collection is at Roman Trail women's merino base layers.

If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.