Duration: 3 days/2 nights
Tour dates: upon request
Day 1
We will meet you at Varanasi airport in the morning and will start to explore an amazing and very ancient city of Varanasi, it has two more names — Benares and Kashi. It is more than 5000 years old, according to legend, it was founded by the god Shiva himself.
Upon arrival in Varanasi we check into a hotel in the historical part of the city near the famous Assi Ghat.
In the afternoon — a walk along the stepped embankments — ghats, in the evening we will visit the colorful and memorable Arati service dedicated to the goddess Ganga Devi. Night at the hotel.
Day 2
We will watch the sunrise during a romantic morning rowboat ride on the sacred river Ganga.
After breakfast, we will go on a rickshaw tour of the historical center of Varanasi, narrow streets where only such funny vehicles can pass.
During a sightseeing tour of the city’s attractions, we will visit 5 main temples and a manufactory producing the world-famous Benares silk. In the evening, we will go for a walk along the ghats-embankments to feel the unique atmosphere of this great, sacred city, where it seems as if time stopped centuries ago.
We will see magnificent religious ceremonies, and nearby — open crematoriums of the ghats of Harishchandra and Manikarnika, where for thousands of years the funeral rite of burning the dead by fire, brought from the especially revered temple of Shiva, has been going on continuously.
Tall piles of firewood, scales for weighing, stretchers with the bodies of the dead, which are carried and carried to the place of mass cremation, bright flames of fires, right there — cows, goats, dogs, resting townspeople … And songs, mantras, dances. Night at the hotel.
Day 3
After breakfast we will head to the small town of Sarnath, sacred to Buddhists all over the world. In the 3rd century BC this place became especially revered thanks to King Ashoka, who was deeply interested in the teachings of Gautama Buddha.
He ordered it to be built in a place where, a couple of centuries before, there had been a dense forest in which Buddha lived and where he gave the first lesson to his five disciples, outlining the principles of the new teaching.
By the 5th century CE, Sarnath had reached its peak as a centre of Buddhism. But most of the buildings were destroyed by Muslim conquerors in the 12th century.
A century and a half ago, English archaeologists carried out grandiose studies of Sarnath; they managed to excavate the foundations of many buildings and make sensational discoveries.
We will visit this sacred historical place, the guide will tell you about the principles of Buddhism and fascinating facts from the life of Buddha himself. After lunch, we will head to the airport.
The price includes:
- Meeting at the airport, transfer to the hotel,
- Accommodation in 3* hotel (double), single occupancy is possible with an additional charge (calculated individually),
- Guide along the entire route,
- Excursion services,
- Entrance fees to museums, historical sites,
- Transfers: comfortable car with air conditioning.
Тhe price does not include:
- Meals — approx. $10 — 15 per day,
- Medical insurance and accident insurance,
- Other personal expenses,
- Charitable contributions to temples.