Varanasi Private Guided Tour: Explore City's Best in One Day
5.0
21 Ratings
Varanasi
Experience the best of Varanasi in just one day with a private guided tour. Witness morning rituals, visit Sarnath, explore the old city, and attend the Ganga Aarti ceremony.
Duration:
14 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Experience Varanasi - Private Guided Tours - 05:30am-08:00am Morning boat ride. Visit the river at sunrise, when its banks are alive with the multitude of worshipers who come to immerse themselves honouring life’s milestones as they face the rising run.
08:00am-10:00am Breakfast.
10:00am-01:00pm. Drive to Sarnath where Lord Buddha preached his First Sermon. Visit the main temple & see the fresco work, excavated ruins & museum (The museum closed on Friday).
01:00-03:30pm Lunch.
03:30-05:00pm Walking Tour: This is a rich cultural walk which takes you through the heart of the residential areas in the old city where the Bengali community lives. It gives you an opportunity to acclimatize with the culture and understand how people live here for thousands of year.
05:00pm-07:00pm Evening boat ride: Take a boat on what is referred to as the `River of Heaven’ immersing in daily ritual, rich with the chanting of priests, sound of temple bells and fragrance of flowers and incense. Aarti. Watch the cremations and Ganga Aarti ceremony.
What's Included
- Knowledgeable guide with local insights on dining, museums, attractions, and festivals
- Convenient hotel pickup and drop-off service
- Exclusive private tour experience
- Complimentary bottled water provided
- Two exclusive private boat rides included
- Travel comfortably in a private vehicle
What's Not Included
- Food and drinks
- Gratuities
- Tips
- Airport transfers (pick up & drop from the airport to the hotel) on a separate day from the tour.
Additional Information
For guests with only a single day to explore Varanasi, this tour offers a comprehensive overview of the city’s highlights. The itinerary includes a convening at a predetermined place in Varanasi. The day begins with a rowboat ride in the morning, during which visitors can observe morning rituals, including bathing for absolution of sins and sunrise worship. A brief interlude for breakfast precedes a drive to Sarnath, a significant site for Buddhists located approximately 10 km away from Varanasi, where Buddha delivered his initial sermon. The tour takes in the primary temple, the unearthed ruins, and the Archaeological Museum (closed on Fridays). Post lunch break, a walking tour of the residential areas of the old city aims to familiarize guests with the locale’s lifestyle. The day concludes with an evening boat row, a visit to the crematorium, and participation in the Ganga Aarti ceremony.
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
Location
Varanasi
We meet our Guest at their hotel at the beginning of the tour and drop them back to the hotel after the tour.
However for the captioned hotels (1)Tree of Life (2) Ramada at Katesar, Ramnagar we do not have the pick up facility from the hotel. Your guide will meet you at a decided point in the city.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(21 Ratings)
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Faraway34107900982
Jan 29, 2024
Enchanting Varanasi Trip - It was an enjoyable experience and our tour guide Mr Kunal was giving us all the details on the journey. Memorable trip and would love to visit again
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Odyssey31767768254
Dec 30, 2023
Great tour for a large group - I had an exceptional Varanasi day tour experience with a guide who displayed impressive local knowledge. Their flexibility enhanced the tour, ensuring a personalised and enriching exploration of this culturally rich city. Highly recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Annickaaa
Oct 25, 2023
EXTRAORDINARY experience With Kunal, stellar service - EXTRAORDINARY experience with Kunal, and this tour was the highlight of my 2-week Indian trip. Kunal is local to Vanarans; it is safe to say he knows every corner of the region. He is highly knowledgeable, and his storytelling skills make everything magical. He is flexible, pays attention to details and has excellent eyes for pictures. He went above and beyond and assisted me with the booking of taxi to airport for a early flight. He woke up at 4AM to ensure my driver picked me ( Stella service!) and this was after my booking. Kunal is authentic and kind. I highly recommend Kunal, I will book him again for a bigger tour in India.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jemimahhhh
Oct 4, 2023
Don’t hesitate - book this tour!!! - What an incredible way to learn about and experience Varanasi, in the safe, kind and funny hands of Kunal. The absolute highlight of our trip to India thus far, I couldn’t recommend booking a tour with him more!!! Such an amazing set of authentic and thoughtfully curated experiences. Memories we’ll keep for a lifetime. Thank you Kunal 🙏🏼
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Derekrph
Aug 15, 2023
Very Happy Repeat Customer! - This is my 4th time going on a tour with Kunal and he was excellent as always. He is very knowledgeable and caters the experience specifically to your interests and requests. I learn new things each time and love being shown the city by a someone that knows and loves his city so much! Highly recommend to anyone visiting!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Justincv6629rf
Dec 4, 2022
The Best of Varanasi - My son and I travelled to Varanasi with high hopes for the Holy City. From the moment we met Kunal we began to understand why this city is so special. As well as being one of the most informative and well researched guides I have met, his in-depth knowledge as a local who has lived in Varanasi all his life, added to the day and a half we spent with him.
Kunal went way above and beyond the tour itinerary. He would make little detours along the way to show us points of interest or in response to questions we had.
Our experience with Kunal didn't end at the completion of our Varanasi Experience, he kept in contact with us for the next week and assisted us navigating the train system from Delhi to Agra and organised guides and contacts at the Taj to make our experience a memorable one. For these additional services he requested NO Payment just wanted to ensure we had positive experiences right across India.
I highly recommend Kunal and the services of "Experience Varanasi" for ALL travellers. Kunal knows all the best places to eat and see...I felt confident that he had our best interests at heart and will go above and beyond to make your Varanasi visit memorable. THANK YOU KUNAL!
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Ramya_rswamy
Sep 12, 2022
Experience the best!! - I availed one day tour and Sarnath. Highly impressed with the hospitality by my guide Mr. Kunal. Even before our tour started, he made sure that I had reached safely.
The tour was an amazing experience. The temple visits, yummy local cuisine and the mesmerising Ganga Aarti - everything was so well planned.
Worth every penny..
Highly recommended 😊
Do not miss the weaver’s district tour, help in spreading awareness about the dying art of Benarasi handloom 🙏🏼
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Kavitag6
Apr 2, 2022
Experience Varanasi will really have you explore the city in its truest colors. - An exceptionally well curated experience indeed ! It was amazing how Kunal Rakshit knew exactly what to include in the tour. Varanasi is an overwhelming place to start with, but he made it so simple & effortless. Even our discussions with Kunal about the city highlighted so many perspectives on how to best understand this mixed bag of experiences. From the morning boatride, temples, the ghats, the weavers, the sarees and the food trail...we came back wealthy with experiences !
Experience Varanasi is highly recommended for first time travellers & even multiple visits to Varanasi to explore nuances about the city.
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Aarti
Mar 28, 2022
A magical trip with the best possible guide - I had come without any expectations to Banaras, having been told by multiple sources that it was crowded and filthy. But from the time Kunal met us and took out his city map, things changed for the better. He showed us a very vibrant Banaras, a clean city and river, and his own passion and knowledge of the history made a lasting impression! He understands the pulse of the customer and tailors the tours accordingly. So we got a variety of experiences - a drive through the city and its temples and forts, a visit to Sarnath and the rich stories of Buddha's first Sermon and the beautiful relics in the museum, we got to see the weavers in their homes and view their wares in the collective store, we got a food trail through the busiest alleyways with the most delicious food in the smallest of eateries tucked away into walls, we got a wonderous sunrise on the river and a superfast darshan at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Everything seemed simple with Kunal guiding us. His rapport with the town people, having lived there from childhood made us feel special, be it at the kachori jalebis stall or eating at the underground toast and chai place. He went beyond the call of duty and his contract with us and accomodated all our requests. Thanks to him, we can definitely say we will be back again!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kirtianand
Mar 27, 2022
History-Geography-Legends-Art and Food - Every stop curated by Kunal was brilliant, starting from BHU, temples along the way, onto Ramnagar Fort (which although had its moments is in a sad state of neglect and avoidable if short on time, this was added on our insistence), Sarnath, weaver's walk and then ending in a diverse food trail...a long 12 hour day that left us exhausted and elated
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