Overview

  • Features: Boat trip along the Ganges watching activities unfold along the ghats
  • Opening Times: Dawn to dusk, daily
  • Best Time to Visit: At dawn
  • Duration: 1 hour
  • Travelled By: Boat
  • Cost: Rs 150 per person
  • Address: Riverfront, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Type: Activity

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What We Liked

A dawn boat trip allowed us to see unique activities along the ghats.

What We Disliked

Weather can be misty on winter mornings.

Summary

The hundred or more Varanasi ghats are the most popular attraction in Varanasi, and one of the best ways to see the action unfold along these ghats is to take a boat ride along the Ganges Varanasi. A dawn rowing boat ride along the Ganges is a quintessential Varanasi experience. Read this article to find out more.

Why You Should Take a Boat Ride along the Varanasi Ganges

 

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The hundred or more Varanasi ghats are the most popular attraction in Varanasi, and one of the best ways to see the action unfold along these ghats is to take a boat ride along the Ganges Varanasi. Read this article to find out more about taking a boat ride along the Varanasi Ganges.

Although there are over 700 temples in Varanasi, none are more sacred than the Ganges river itself. The Ganges is worshipped as a living goddess, with the power to cleanse all earthly sins. Daily baths in her waters are advised by Hindu scriptures to prepare for the soul’s final journey to liberation. Offerings of flowers and diyas floating down the river are a common and very pretty sight. The daily prayers (aarti) at dawn and dusk serve as salutations to the river. Oil lamps are offered and bells rung while sacred mantras are chanted.

 

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Taking a boat ride along the Ganges Varanasi, not only will you be admiring the densely textured backdrop of 18th- and 19th-century temples and palaces that line the 100-odd bathing ghats, you will also be confronted with one of the most spiritually uplifting or downright weird tableaus on the entire crazy subcontinent. Down below, waist-deep pilgrims raise their arms in supplication, priests meditate by staring directly into the rising sun or are frozen in complicated yoga positions, wrestlers limber up, and washermen beat their clothes against a large stone, among other assorted goings-on.

 

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A dawn rowing boat ride along the Ganges is a quintessential Varanasi experience. The early morning light is particularly inspiring, and all the colour and clamour of pilgrims bathing and performing puja unfolds before you. An hour-long trip south from Dasaswamedh Ghat to Harishchandra Ghat and back is popular, but be prepared to see a burning corpse at Harishchandra.

If you’re planning on taking a dawn boat ride, you’ll need to get to the ghats between 4:30 and 6am (check sunrise times with your hotel, as well as the time it takes to get to the ghats), so plan an early wake-up call. You should be able to hire a boat anywhere along the ghats, but most people either catch one from Assi Ghat, the southernmost ghat, or, if you’re staying in the Cantonment area, from Dasashwamedh Ghat.

 

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Another trip worth considering is a boat ride in the evening as the sun is setting when you can light a lotus flower candle and set it adrift on the water, before watching the nightly ganga aarti ceremony (7pm in summer, 6pm in winter) at Dasaswamedh Ghat directly from the boat.

Another trip worth considering is the one-hour motorboat trip to Ramnagar Fort, which should cost around Rs 150 per person from Dasaswamedh Ghat.

Boats are easily available at most ghats and cost about Rs 150 per person per hour, but be prepared for some hard bargaining. Prices are cheaper if you share with other people; they tend to be more expensive if you want a private ride. Prices are much cheaper if you go in the afternoon; expect to pay a fraction of the price quoted at dawn. Many guesthouses offer boat trips, although they’re more expensive than dealing with the boatmen directly.

 

 

Tell us what you think. Are you planning to take a boat ride along the Varanasi Ganges? If you’ve taken a boat ride here before, please share with us your experiences. 

We love to hear from you so please leave your comments below. 

 

 

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