Activities in Varanasi

Varanasi has been India's silk-weaving capital for millennia, and a visit to a family-run handloom workshop reveals the extraordinary skill behind Banarasi brocade. Weavers sit at wooden looms, threading gold and silver zari wire through silk warp to create intricate patterns that may take weeks to complete.

A mesmerizing nightly fire ceremony performed by priests on the banks of the Ganges..

Learn or listen to Indian classical music, sitar, and tabla at this ashram near Assi Ghat..

A sunrise boat ride along the ghats offering the most iconic experience of Varanasi..

The Subah-e-Banaras (Morning of Banaras) guided walk begins in pre-dawn darkness and follows the ghat promenade as the city wakes. Priests perform puja at the river's edge, wrestlers train in akharas, chai-wallahs kindle fires and flower sellers thread marigold garlands — a cinematic procession of daily rituals.