01 Food tours
Original food tours, curated with our local tastemakers to showcase the neighbourhood kitchens, markets and family-run eateries that define Varanasi.
No tours listed for Varanasi yet — check back soon.
Kachori aloo at dawn, chena based sweets, malaiyo whipped over saffron milk, thandai spiked with pistachio. Banaras eats like the old temple town it has always been.
04 The pantry
- Chena, fresh cheese pressed from milk for the city's sweets
- Ghee, clarified butter poured over kachori and puri
- Thandai spices, almond, fennel and cardamom for the festival drink
- Malaiyo milk foam, whipped over saffron for the winter treat
- Bhang, cannabis leaf paste blended into ceremonial drinks
05 In the kitchen
- Frying kachori puris to a puffed bronze for the morning plate
- Whipping malaiyo milk foam by hand in the cold hours before dawn
- Blending thandai from almonds, poppy seeds and cardamom
- Slow-cooking Banaras chaat toppings for the ghat-side stalls
- Making paan parcels with betel leaf and sweet fillings
06 Eat this first
- Kachori sabzi, spiced fried puri with a tangy potato curry
- Malaiyo, saffron-and-cardamom flavoured milk foam served in earthen cups
- Baati chokha, wheat balls with roasted aubergine mash
- Thandai, chilled almond and cardamom milk drink
- Banarasi paan, betel leaf parcel with sweet fennel and rose
What happens inside a hammam kitchen
A morning with the cooks who feed the neighbourhood before dawn. Charcoal, dough, the smell of a bakery working its second oven.
10 Field Notes
Quick field notes to help you get accustomed to Varanasi.
Weather
Continental — brutally hot summers (45°C-plus in May), cool foggy winters (10°C nights), and short pleasant spring and autumn windows.
Currency
The Indian rupee (INR); cash almost everywhere in the old lanes; cards at mid-range hotels only. UPI works widely.
Language
Hindi and Bhojpuri; English coverage is limited outside guesthouses and tour guides.
Etiquette
The ghats are sacred — dress modestly, don't photograph funeral pyres at Manikarnika, and be respectful of the many rituals playing out at any time. Remove shoes when entering temples.
Getting around
The old lanes are walking-only — they're too narrow for anything else. Cycle-rickshaws and auto-rickshaws cover the wider city; Uber works but pickups near the ghats are impossible.
Prayer
Hinduism's holiest city — Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat every evening is the most public expression. Muslim, Buddhist, and Jain communities also have long roots here (Sarnath is nearby).