India, Varanasi... Please advise :)

[BananaDiver]

Hi all brothers and sisters...

i am planning to make a 3 weeks trip to Varanasi in June this year... right now i am looking at the possible plans to make it a more fruitful trip... hope to get some advice from those who went there before... listed below are some questions that i need to understand more...

1. How to get there? right now i know that i can get a flight to New Delhi and then take a domestic flight.
2. Recommended places to stay? looking at a budget to mid-range hotel as i will be most likely staying there for the whole 3 weeks. somewhere nearer to the river will be fantastic...
3. Possible itineraries? Places of interest and possible areas i can go... hope to be able to see and experience as much as possible

right now that all i can think of... hope i can get some advice from you all...

Cheers
Banana

 

[galacticnick]

any reason for staying at varanasi for three weeks?

i was there in december 09 for only two nights. flew in from khajuraho. stayed at ganpati guesthouse (http://www.ganpatiguesthouse.com/) by the river - cheap and clean (well, by indian standards). besides the boat trip and people watching at dawn and the enchanting evening puja, i can't remember what else i did. also did a half-day trip to sarnath, which i find boring. overall impression of varanasi - dirty and smelly, not to mention the rudest people i encountered in the entire month i spent in india, but the sights and sounds by the river dusk and dawn makes it all worthwhile.

 

[yamcake]

domestic flight can book Spicejet. its pretty decent la.
One thing about indian airport. Its quite stupid one, u can anyhow go in and out of the terminal. The security will check at the door, they are very strict about it. Once u enter the terminal, u cannot exit until u fly. Very very =_=...

Whole of india: very very dirty. Smelly still alright. I cant find a spot in india which is really clean. cows walking about, dung everywhere.

Food wise: eat only at restaurants, but sometimes restaurants also dangerous, i fell seriously ill after a meal, and really was damn weak for 3 days. And everyday is masala chicken or lamb.. u cant really find pork or beef in india, or any other type of cuisine, which is irritating after a week, u start to miss singapore food...

havent been to varanasi though, so i cant comment on that place.. been to rajasthan and agra.
Taj is a must visit. Just beware of conman lurking around the compound. i got cheated there. LOL... yea. ALWAYS bargain when u buy things there.

 

[BananaDiver]

any reason for staying at varanasi for three weeks?

i was there in december 09 for only two nights. flew in from khajuraho. stayed at ganpati guesthouse (http://www.ganpatiguesthouse.com/) by the river - cheap and clean (well, by indian standards). besides the boat trip and people watching at dawn and the enchanting evening puja, i can't remember what else i did. also did a half-day trip to sarnath, which i find boring. overall impression of varanasi - dirty and smelly, not to mention the rudest people i encountered in the entire month i spent in india, but the sights and sounds by the river dusk and dawn makes it all worthwhile.

thanks for the recommendation for the guesthouse... i will look into it...

domestic flight can book Spicejet. its pretty decent la.
One thing about indian airport. Its quite stupid one, u can anyhow go in and out of the terminal. The security will check at the door, they are very strict about it. Once u enter the terminal, u cannot exit until u fly. Very very =_=...

Whole of india: very very dirty. Smelly still alright. I cant find a spot in india which is really clean. cows walking about, dung everywhere.

Food wise: eat only at restaurants, but sometimes restaurants also dangerous, i fell seriously ill after a meal, and really was damn weak for 3 days. And everyday is masala chicken or lamb.. u cant really find pork or beef in india, or any other type of cuisine, which is irritating after a week, u start to miss singapore food...

havent been to varanasi though, so i cant comment on that place.. been to rajasthan and agra.
Taj is a must visit. Just beware of conman lurking around the compound. i got cheated there. LOL... yea. ALWAYS bargain when u buy things there.

thanks for the advise on conman i will take that into consideration... will look at Spicejet too...