Transport, Tours and Travel agents of Varanasi

From Allahabad to Varanasi via Vindhyachal. Chunar and Ramgarh—it is an ideal tour program. Buses are quite frequent. The distance from Chunar is only 38.6 km. The connecting Railway stations are Varanasi City, Varanasi Junction and Kashi. But Varanasi Junction is the biggest link of the three.

Trains from Howrah : Howrah-Varanasi Express; 2381 Purva Express (Day 3 4 7); Himgiri Express (Day 2 5 6); Amritsar Mail; Amritsar Express; Sealdah-Varanasi Express; Sealdah-Amritsar Akal Takht Express(Day 3); Upasana Express (Day 2); Asansol-Amritsar Express (Day 7); Doon Express; Sealdah- Jammu Tawai Express. Varanasi is 678 km from Kolkata. It takes between 13 and 25 hours. The best trains are Purba Express (10 hrs), Amritsar Mail (l0 hrs) and Howrah-Varanasi Express (15 hrs). Most of the trains go via Mughalsarai. Mughalsarai is 15 km south of Varanasi and is connected by buses, autos, share taxis and DMU local trains.


Trains via Mughalsarai: Howrah-New Delhi
Rajdhani Express; Sealdah-Rajdhani Express; Purva Express; Kalka Mail; Udyan Ava Toofan; Howrah-Delhi Janata Express; Sealdah-Delhi Lai Quilla Express. Other trains to Varanasi Howrah-Jodhpur Express; Howrah-Gorakhpur Express; 3133 .

There are many trains to Delhi (767 km) takes 13 and 16 hrs.
The important ones: 4257 Kashi Vishwanath Express 14-10; 2559 Varanasi-New Delhi Shiva Ganga Express at 18-45. Besides, bi-weekly Bhubaneswar-Rajdhani Exp; bi-weekly Dibrugarh-Guwahati Rajdhani Express; Satbhavna Express 11 -45; 8475 Puri-New Delhi Nilachal Express (Day 136) at7-37; Patna-New Delhi Sramajibi Express 15-15; Muzaffarpur-New Delhi 5205 Lichhabi Express at 15-00.
Other trains for Varanasi
2053 Varanasi - Lucknow Jan Satabdi Express (except Sunday) leaves for Luc know (302 km) at 16-20.4227 Varanasai-Lucknow Varuna Express leaves at 4-55.4265 Varanasi-Dehra Dun Express leaves from Varanasi at 8-30, reaches Luc know at 19-30 and reaches Dehra Dun via Mardwar. There are also Kashi Vtswanath Express and Varanasi-New Delhi Express. There are also: New Delhi-Puri Express from Mughalsarai, Purushottam Express and Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (Day 2,4,6,7).
There are many other trains to and from Varanasi. Visit http://www.indianrail.gov.in/ fro more details.

Bus services from Varanasi:
Buses for various parts of the states and country is available from the state bus stand at cantonment.

Even the Nepal-bound passengers may take a bus straight to Bhainroa or, to Gorakhpur (67hrs) and change the bus. Sonauli from here takes about 1 hr. Cross the border on foot or by rickshaw. Take another bus from Bhainroa to Kathmandu or Pokhra. There are many buses. Most of them start at late afternoon and reaches Kathmandu the next day early in the morning. Private deluxe buses from Varanasi make trips to Kathmandu. But these buses are costlier and the journey is tedious. A change of bus at Sonauli is more preferable. Meter gauge trains on this route should be avoided.

Conducted Tour from Varanasi:

It is arranged by UPSRTC. The bus starts from UPTDC Tounst Bungalow, Parade Kothi. The places covered are: from 6 to 12 hrs. Ganga during winter, Viswanath Temple. Benaras Hindu University and the city. Sarnath and Ramnagar are shown from 14-00 to 18-00 hrs. UPSRTC bus makes a trip to Khajuraho at 7-00 hrs and comes back by 21-00 hrs. during tourist season. Cars may be hired at different rates from UPSTDC and ITDC. There are UP Government Tourist Offices at Tourist Bungalow and the Railway station. The Government of India Tourist Office is at 15B,The Mall,Cantonment, Varanasi. The ITDC Office is at Hotel Varanasi Ashok,The Mall.

Other Travel agents of Varanasi
Baba Loknath travels, Rampura at the entrance of Pandey Dharamshala, Ph: 2390541;
Opposite Ganga Travels, Ph: 2400488; a little ahead on your to Girzaghar, Adarsha Travels at D 48/126 Girzaghar, Ph:2351791;
Adjacent Varuna Travels, Ph:23907167 2454519 (R)

Packaged / Conducted tours available from Varanasi:
Varanasi-Sarnath-Ramnagar. Time :6-30—12-30and 12-30—19-00;
Vindhyachal-Chunar Time: 7-30—19-00;
Allahabad— Time: 7-00—20-00;
Sitamani— Time: 7-00—20-00;
Ganga Cruise — Time: 16-00—18-00.
3 day tours to Allahabad-Chitrakut and Gaya-Bodhgaya .
3 day package tours to Allahabad-Ayodhya,
4 day package tours to Khajuraho-Maihar-Chitrakut and
4 day package tours to Kathmandu.

They also conduct tours to visit the temple by tonga.

Cars may be hired from the travelling agents who also arrange Railway or Air tickets. Varuna Travels have their agencies in many Airlines. Their main office is at Varuna Travels, Pandey Haveli, Ph: 2393371 (O) 2454529 (R).

Other articles on Varanasi
Varanasi – A must visit place in India
Transport, Tours and Travel agents of Varanasi
Hotels and other accommodation at Varanasi
Choice of Food in Varanasi
Places to visit at Varanasi - Temples
Places to visit at Varanasi - Ghats
Shopping and other attractions of Varanasi




This article is originally published in Travel India and India Study Channel