North

Varanasi Travel Guide: Ghats & Dev Deepawali

Dev Deepawali · Ganga ghats · Evening aarti

A city built along a river bend, where the ghats are the main street. Come for the evening aarti, stay for the lamps of Dev Deepawali, and read the numbers behind the crowds before you book.

Wooden boats moored at the Varanasi ghats at sunrise, with the sun low over the Ganges and a boat of passengers on the water — Photo: Schwiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped

Plan your trip

Best time: October to March are the cooler months. Dev Deepawali falls on Kartik Purnima: Tuesday 24 November 2026 according to most sources. Mornings can be foggy and cold from mid-November.
How to reach: Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport is at Babatpur, roughly 26 km north-west of the centre. Trains reach Varanasi Junction and Banaras station. On festival evenings, plan to walk the last stretch to the ghats.
Getting around: The ghats are best on foot and by boat. Roads close to the ghats are restricted on big evenings, so ask your hotel which lane to enter by.

Dev Deepawali, in order

Dev Deepawali is the festival of lamps on the full-moon night of Kartik. In 2026 most sources put it on Tuesday 24 November. These pages take you through it, from the story and the date to the numbers and the practical plan:

Dev Deepawali in Varanasi: the night the ghats light up, the field guide.
Plan your Dev Deepawali trip, a countdown checklist.
Where to watch Dev Deepawali, boat, ghat steps or a terrace.
Dev Deepawali etiquette, how to be a good guest on the ghats.
The numbers behind Varanasi’s crowds, the data story.

If you only have two nights

Night one: arrive, walk the ghats at dusk and watch the evening aarti from the steps.
Dev Deepawali evening: keep the day light, get to your viewing spot early and stay until the crowd thins.