Ideal for travelers who have only one day to spend in Varanasi, this tour quickly covers the best of the city with a private guide. Highlights include a walking tour of the old town Bengali neighborhood, sunrise and evening boat rides on the Ganges River, and visiting Sarnath—a pilgrimage site where Buddha is believed to have preached his first sermon. Travelers also have the chance to observe the cremations followed by the Ganga Aarti ceremony, a mantra recitation accompanied by bells, drums, and cymbals.
Itinerary
05:30 am-0800 am Morning boat ride: Visit the river at sunrise, when its banks are alive with the multitude of worshipers who come to immerse themselves honoring life’s milestones as they face the rising run.
08:00am-10:00am Return to your hotel for freshen up & breakfast .
10:00 am-01:00 pm. Visit the buried site of Sarnath where Lord Buddha preached his First Sermon. Sarnath remained an active center of Buddhism up to the end of the twelfth century. Centers of learning arose and many sects and sub-sects flourished here, until the Moslems plundered and raised it to the ground.
Visit the excavated ruins, the archaeological museum (Museum remains closed on Friday) and the main temple. See the fresco work inside the temple.
01:00-02:30 pm Lunch break.
02:30 pm - 03:30 pm Weaver’s District Tour: Walk through the weavers district of Varanasi and learn about the life of the weavers and the process of hand weaving of the famous silk brocades and Banarasi sari. Banaras’s handloom weaving traditions have found mention in Vedic and Buddhist literature.
03:30 pm - 05:00 pm Walking Tour: This is a rich cultural walk which takes you through the heart of the residential areas in the old city where the Bengali community lives. It gives you an opportunity to acclimatize with the culture and understand how people live here for thousands of years.
05:00 pm - 07:00 pm Evening boat ride: Take a boat on what is referred to as the `River of Heaven’ immersing in daily ritual, rich with the chanting of priests, sound of temple bells and fragrance of flowers and incense. Watch the cremations and Ganga Aarti ceremony from your private boat.
Tour ends.
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