Old City Secrets: Ghats & Manikarnika Cremation Tour
Description
Taking a walking tour through the old city and along the ghats of Varanasi is a great way to experience the city's vibrant culture. You can explore narrow winding streets, visit temples, crematorium and witness daily life and death along the ghats. It's a unique and immersive way to discover the heart of Varanasi. I assure you will have a safe and hassle-free experience. The whole idea of this is to give you more in less time so that you can understand Varanasi. This guided walking tour can be beneficial as it allows you to learn about the history, culture, and significance of the places you visit from a knowledgeable guide. It's an immersive way to experience the traditions and spirituality that make Varanasi a unique and profound destination.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Varanasi is known as the oldest living city of the world, while walking in the old city you will feel and understand how people are living in the old city by generation to generation in the same place. First of all, you will see a big and colourful crowded market where local people come to buy daily needs. Then you will have a long walk in the narrow lane to see old houses, shrines and The Golden Temple of Shiva(outside only). Varanasi is the holy city of Hindus and it's a great pilgrimage centre, around 15000 pilgrims come every day to take bath in The Ganges river and to visit this Golden temple. While walking in the old city you will feel this is the most important place in Varanasi.
Here you will see the wooden temple of Shiva with some erotic sculpture.
In Manikarnika Ghat you will see The Hindu way of cremation. This is a cremation ground where every day around 150 bodies are cremated in public.
Most of the Hindu pilgrims come here to take a bath and do prayer with priests, some pilgrims offer floating candles and some take off their hair to do rituals for ancestors. This is the most happening place in Varanasi, every evening around 12000 people gather here to take part in Aarti prayer.
This is less crowded crematorium so you can see the whole cremation process peacefully e.g. * How family members are buying wood, which types of wood it is. * Process of making funeral pyre and lighting fire.
Market situated in the narrow lane with several small colourful shops were always crowded with locals.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Whatsapp or by calling
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(18)
I completely enjoyed my custom private tour of Varanasi with Mr. Sahu. His prompt, professional, courteous, and informative service was exceptional, showing me an immersive bespoke experience into Varanasi. From pre-dawn pick up, walk and Ghat boat tour, to walking the old narrow winding alleyways of the city, visiting the key Temple sites, the Fort, and the Masjid, I got to see Varanasi in a way that organized group tours did not offer. His service is worth every penny !!
Thank you very much sir for such a great review. Have a nice day.
Thanks to Ashok, we were able to understand not only what we were seeing, but also the spiritual and cultural meaning behind it. I definitely recommend anyone who wants to know Varanasi in a genuine and enriching way
Muchas gracias
Benares' explanations have been very cultural. Explains in detail each place you walk It's worth it without hesitation
Muchas gracias
The guided tour of Sarnath with Asok has been very pleasant. Super punctual, very friendly and attentive. He has made a tour taking us to the different places of interest of Sarnath and explaining the most important in a pleasant way.
Muchas gracias por sus valiosos comentarios
Ashok is a great guide, he taught us the city by taking a nice walk, telling us the history and customs to enjoy the wonderful city. Her Spanish is perfect and attentive to your needs. I would definitely recommend it. The best guide in Spanish in India
Muchas gracias por sus valiosos comentarios.
Would really recommend Ashok if you are planning to take your family to Varanasi. It is not an easy place to navigate and having Ashok to guide us and arrange transportation, including the boat trip, seats at the Aaarti, fabulous places for lunch, drinks and lassi, made us feel very well looked after indeed.
Thank you very much for your valuable feedback.
We spent 4 days with Ashok who made us discover Varanasi with great passion. He is a guide of extreme kindness, of great human quality, discreet, attentive speaking very well French and who has met all our expectations. We were able to discover Varanasi at our own pace accompanied by enriching cultural, historical, religious exchanges ... and some culinary curiosities. In conclusion, we highly recommend Ashok if you want to fully enjoy the magic of Varanasi. Thank you again for this beautiful meeting. Mary and Luke
Merci beaucoup pour vos aimables paroles, Marie et Luc. Nous apprécions vraiment que vous ayez pris le temps de partager votre expérience avec nous.
Attentive, kind and knowledgeable... made my visit to Benares wonderful, from temple visits, to rituals, perfect explanations about life on the banks of the gangs, but also masters knowledge about other religions.
Muchas gracias por tus comentarios.
Ashok was very calm and gentle. He showed me every important Place in Varanasi. We visited Kashi-Vishwanath-Tempel, Manikarnika Ghat. We did a Boat Tour and he guided me through the old town. In the evening he showed me the Ganga Aarti. He organised the best seats with a good view. I had an awesome experience seeing all the things in Varanasi while he was explaining the details to me. I Can absolutely recommend him. Thank you.
Thank you very much
Ashok was a very professional, courteous and professionals guide. Our Interbinary and places were different from the usual one but he was flexible enough to modify and plan with requirement. He was very knowledgeable and knew very interesting stories of all the places we visit. Also he was well aware of all the shops which had the best food in Varanasi. Over all a very good experience with him. Highly recommended tour guide especially for out of state and international tourist.
Thank you very much 🙏
