Cheap flights from Goa to Varanasi (GOI - VNS). Cheapest flights from Goa to Varanasi (GOI - VNS) How to get to Varanasi from different cities in India

I traveled several times from the state of Goa to the mysterious city of Varanasi. I am happy to share this route.

To Varanasi by train

I left the city of Margao. Here the railway station is called Madgaon.

This is the flight I got to Varanasi (see the screenshot).

Went for about 1.5 days. The final stop is Deen Dayal Upadhyaya railway station. Its location is marked on the screenshot.

From this station to the center of Varanasi is about 22 kilometers. I went further by taxi, I spent another 30 minutes on the road.

Prices

The train ticket cost me $30 (2084 rupees or 1930 rubles). Taxi fare - 730 rupees (11 dollars or 680 rubles).

Buying a travel document

I bought a train ticket at the box office at the railway station. You can also purchase it on the official website of the railway operator, for this you will have to register on it first.

To Varanasi by plane

About 20 kilometers from the city of Margao there is Dabolim Airport. You can take a taxi to the airport in 20 minutes. The fare will cost about 690 rupees (10 dollars or 645 rubles). This air harbor is the ninth busiest airport in India. The airport serves approximately 3.5 million passengers annually.

This is what the airport looks like from the outside.

Inside air harbor There is:

• storage rooms;
• the shops;
• catering establishments.

There are no direct flights from Dabolim Airport to Varanasi. You need to fly with a transfer. It can be done, for example, in Mumbai.

Or in the city of Chennai.

Varanasi Airport is located 20 kilometers from the central part of the city. A taxi from the airport to the city will cost you about $10 (690 rupees or 640 rubles).

Prices

A plane ticket costs from 107 dollars (from 7435 rupees or 6860 rubles).

Buying a travel document

Purchase a ticket in advance on the official website of the company or on web resources.

Conclusion

When I came to Goa, I always stopped in Margao. From this locality direct buses to Varanasi do not go, if they did, then I would definitely not advise you this option. Almost 2000 kilometers on the bus, not everyone will survive. I also do not recommend traveling from the state of Goa to Varanasi by car, the roads in India cannot be called good, but locals drive very carelessly.

Article text updated: 05/29/2018

Little by little I continue to publish my story about independent rest in India in November 2015. In the previous chapters of the report, we learned how to make a travel plan, looked at the trip map, got advice on the features of buying Indian train tickets and how to apply for a visa online. We also saw photographs taken in the holy Hindu, Buddhist and Jain city of Varanasi, about which Mark Twain wrote that it is older than history itself. Today I’ll tell you which hotel to stay in Benares and how we got from it to the state of Sikkim, where we planned to go to the most high mountains on Earth, in the Himalayas.

Review of Singh Guest House in Varanasi

Before the trip to Varanasi, I was worried about the following questions:

1. What part of the city is the best to live in?
2. Where do they wash the bed linen that we have to sleep on? It can't be in a swamp called the Ganges!
3. And I really wanted to hope that the Indians also do not pump water from the sacred river for cooking.

There can be three answers to the question of where to live Varanasi: in expensive hotels in the area railway station- this part of the city is called the Cantonment; in guesthouses right on the banks of the Ganges with a breathtaking view of the river; also near the ghats, but a little deeper.

The first option definitely did not suit me: to come to Varanasi to observe life ancient city, walk by the Ganges, and settle with Aunt Clara in the middle of nowhere. Absurd! I really wanted to stay in a guesthouse with a rooftop restaurant to sip masala chai in the morning and watch the sunrise over this sacred land.

In the second part of the story, I already mentioned that I caught myself late and started booking accommodation right before my trip to India. All the places that I looked after for myself were already occupied (Palace on Ganges Hotel, Ganpati Guest House). I spent several hours reading hotel reviews, tips on where to stay in Varanasi and found recommendations from tourists from Russia on the Singh Guest House. According to travelers, this hotel is perfect place: located 5 minutes from Assi ghat - the southernmost embankment of the city, so there will be no fuss and hustle that is closer to Manikarnika ghat. A rickshaw can drive right up to the gates of the hotel - in other places the old streets are so narrow that you have to walk, stepping over cow cakes at night. The cost of living in this hotel is quite affordable.

The reservation was made and paid through the Agoda website. And now, having returned from vacation, I am writing my review about the advantages of this wonderful, cozy hotel Singh Guesthouse.

Firstly, from the previous parts of the report, you already know how much his hosts helped me in my trouble: the border guard put an erroneous date on the validity of the visa, which threatened to financial losses and the need to interrupt the holiday, to return to Delhi. The guys from Singh Guesthouse themselves called the technical support of the Indian visa service via the Internet, found the phone and consulted with the inspector of the Varanasi migration service, provided me with moral support and helped with transport.

Second, the location of the hotel. We arrived in the evening, it was dark outside, even gouge out your eye. Imagine, they drive you along the main street somewhere and say: “That's it, we've arrived! Go woo down that dirty alley, your hotel is over there." Such a story can be found in every second review of tourists.

Actually, it was the same with us: the car cannot drive straight to the gates of the guesthouse, but it takes two turns of 50 meters to go there. If you go by rickshaw, then there is no problem - it will deliver you right to the doorstep. What to do – the lanes in ancient Varanasi were built mainly in the 17th century.

Photo 1. Alley towards Singh Guest House in Varanasi. Where to live in this city. India travel report. Nikon D610 camera, Nikkor 24-70 / 2.8 lens. Shooting settings: shutter speed 1/250 second, aperture f/2.8, ISO 250, focal length 42mm.

The Singh Guest House is a real blooming oasis in the desert of poverty and filth of Varanasi. In the photo you saw how the street looks on the way to it. And here, behind the girls - the entrance gate of the hotel.

Photo 2. On the left is the gate of the Singh Guesthouse Hotel in Varanasi. Reviews of tourists about the rest in India. 1/500, 2.8, 250, 70.

Photo 2. Do not look at the uncle, at the gate on the left and the sign "Singh Guest House". Where to stay while traveling to Varanasi. Tours to India on your own. 1/1250, 2.8, 200, 27.

If you arrive in the evening, dazed from fatigue (we traveled to Varanasi from Yekaterinburg for a day), keep in mind that you need to open the left wing, and not unsuccessfully pull the right half of the gate. We already despaired that they would not hear us, and only the help of a boy from a neighboring house helped two Russian tourists not to die three steps away from the goal.

We go into the yard. Here - paradise, when compared with what is happening behind the fence.

Photo 4. Guesthouse "Singh Guest House". Reviews of tourists about hotels in Varanasi. India trip report. Nikon D610 camera, Samyang 14 / 2.8 lens. Shooting options: 1/100, 8.0, 400, 14.

Photo 5. Katya and Dani Babu, the manager of the Singh Guest House, who helped us with the visa issue. His phone number is +919 838 542404. Now you know where to stay in Varanasi while traveling in India. 1/60, 2.8, 4000, 24.

We booked a room for 600 rupees - the simplest. In it: a toilet, a shower, a large bed and a fan. What else does an ordinary tourist need?

6. What a room looks like at the Singh Guesthouse in Varanasi. Reviews of tourists about a trip to India as savages. Nikon D610 camera, Samyang 14 / 2.8 ultra wide-angle lens. The following settings were used: shutter speed 5.0 seconds, exposure compensation +0.67 EV, f/9.0, 100, 14.

In general, ideal housing for your money: relatively clean, quiet (no one behind the wall beeps or revs early in the morning), there is WiFi. The owners said that a yoga school was organized on the basis of the hotel and they have many guests from Russia - they come to Varanasi for a week to soothe the soul, and then to Goa for a beach holiday.

For me personally, the main argument why you should live in this guesthouse in Varanasi is because they have potatoes on the menu!!! Yes, and rice is cooked normally, you can eat. True, they ran somewhere outside for beer and brought a very strong beer (Fisher, 9%) - immediately warn that you would like a light one.

There is a sign at the reception desk stating that linen is out of stock. this hotel machine wash without using water from the Ganges river. Apparently, when choosing housing, I was not the only one who wondered about sanitation in Varanasi.

By the way, the quality of tap water is not only in Kashi, but in all the places that we visited during independent travel in India, it has always been noticeably better than in Yekaterinburg and many Russian cities: no color, no smell, no excessive hardness. The boatman who took us on a morning tour of the Ganges said that they take water from wells for drinking.

In order to go down to the river from the Singh Guest House, you need to walk five minutes along a picturesque lane, on the walls of which religious graffiti flaunt.

You see, you can study folk epics while walking along the streets of an ancient city?

11. Lane on the way to the Singh Guesthouse. Travel tips on where to stay in Varanasi while traveling in India. 1/250, 8.0, 2000, 14.

What else to see in Varanasi

We spent two full days and two nights in this amazing city. If the trip plan allowed, it would be possible to stay for one more day. Then we would definitely go to Dasashvamedh Ghat to watch the fire puja ceremony of Ganga Maha Aarti from the shore.

And during daylight hours, you could go on an excursion to the following attractions:

• Kashi Vishwanath Temple (Gold Temple, Golden Temple), which is one of the most important shrines for followers of Hinduism. Over the millennia of history, it has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. The building that can be seen today was built in 1785. 800 kilograms of gold were spent on the golden domes.
• Aurangzeb's Mosque (Alamgir Mosque, Beni Madhav ka Darera or Aurangzeb's Mosque) is an impressive medieval building overlooking the Ganges. We saw him in photo #19 in the second part of the review. You can climb observation deck and enjoy the view of ancient Varanasi.
• Ramnagar Fort is located near Assi Ghat. For 400 years, the rulers of Benares lived in it. It was built in the 17th century.

How to get to Varanasi from different cities in India

I think it's best to buy a plane ticket. The city is well connected with major cities India. Lal Bahadur Shastri airport International Airport located 25 kilometers from the center - half an hour trip. As I pointed out earlier, it is better to book a transfer at a hotel or pay for a car ride at the Pre-paid taxi ticket office in order to insure against divorces from the driver. You can fly to Varanasi from Delhi and Mumbai, as well as from Bangalore, Hyderabad and Khajuraho.

By train, I didn’t really enjoy traveling around India, because being late at 9 o’clock is not the most pleasant event on vacation. The station is called Varanasi Junction (or Varanasi Cantonment). They say that luggage is often stolen here, so keep an eye on things carefully. There are direct trains to Varanasi from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Jaipur and Jodhpur.

The bus station is located next to the railway station, but there are not so many flights and, basically, you can take the bus from Varanasi to the district towns.

How to get from Varanasi to Darjeeling

In the first part of the review you can see the map and plan of our trip. According to him, the next attraction on the route should be the Yumthang Valley (Yumthang) in the Himalayas. To get there, you need to come to the city of Gangtok, which is the capital of the state of Sikkim. But Sikkim is the Indian “Crimea of ​​ours”: until 1975 it was an independent kingdom, until “polite people” aka little green men came and explained to the locals “in which country Tibetans live well.”

Once upon a time there was a small kingdom in the Himalayas... Until "polite people" came to Sikkim and offered to "reunite"...

Therefore, foreigners are allowed here only with special permission, and even then, it makes it possible to visit Gangtok and some nearby surroundings. To get to remote areas, like the Yumthang Valley or Tsomgo Lake, you need to get another permit (but this is already a task travel agency since you can't get there on your own, without a guide).

Permit (aka Inner Line Permit) foreigners can get in New Delhi (12-14 Panchsheel Marg, Chankyapuri), Calcutta (Sikkim House, 4/1 Middleton St; working hours from Monday to Friday from 10:30 to 16:00, and on Saturday from 10:30 to 14:00), in Siliguri (Office of Sikkim Nationalized Transport, SNT Terminal, Hill Cart Rd, from Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00) and at the Bagdogra Airport (Sikkim Tourism Counter) adjacent to this city, as well as at the Rangpo checkpost.

Regarding the permit in Rangpo, information on the Internet was contradictory. I concluded that here you can get permission to enter Sikkim for 2 days, if for some reason you arrived in the state without a document, and then you need to urgently register with the police.

All the reports I read before traveling to India stated that the easiest way to obtain a permit to enter Sikkim was from the Darjeeling city office. Here is the procedure:

The Foreigners' Regional Registration Office (FRRO) is located uptown opposite the clock tower at Laden La Rd. Here you need to take an application for a permit, fill it out and take it to the Office of the District Magistrate, which is located at Hill Cart Rd, down from bus station Chowk Bazaar. The magistrate is open from 11:00 to 16:00, with a lunch break between 13:00 and 14:00, daily from Monday to Friday.

Although, in another report I read that you should immediately take a taxi and go to the magistrate (DM office): cars are not allowed into the District Magistrate office, so the taxi will stop up the street, you go down and turn left. You don't need the first building (new, freshly painted red-brown) with a crowd of workers. You turn the corner to the left and see an old yellow house (it looks like it has a colonial style of architecture). You need to go up to the 2nd floor and follow the Sikkim permit sign to find the required room. You must have photocopies of your passport with you. Indian visa and 2 photos 35*45 mm.

In general, we planned to spend one day in Darjeeling: we will get up at 4:30 in the morning and go to the Tiger Hill observation deck (from it you can watch the stunning sunrise over the 3rd highest mountain on Earth, Kangchenjunga. We will issue a permit before lunch and in the evening we will be in Gangtok.

Since it is not possible to fly from Varanasi to Darjeeling (only if you return to Delhi and then go to Bagdogra Airport (94 kilometers from the destination and 3 hours by taxi), we chose an overland journey. We need to get to the city of Siliguri (Siliguri). It is quite Big city(700 thousand inhabitants), standing in the way of those tourists who travel to Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, and, of course, to the state of Sikkim.

Jeep minibuses (shared jeep) depart from the bus station very often. Travel time is 3.5 hours, the road is paved, not very high-mountainous, although there are many serpentines.

In the first part of the trip review, I gave advice: if there are no train tickets to a certain station, check the neighboring ones. So, 18 kilometers from Varanasi, there is one of the largest railway hubs in India - Mughal Sarai Junction, where there are many more options to leave. And 8 kilometers from the Siliguri station there is also a large NJP station (New Jalpaiguri Junction), to which, unlike Siliguri, tickets were on sale. We bought railway ticket Mughal Saray - NJP for 3000 rupees for two on the train No. 15484 Mahananda Express, which was supposed to take us with a breeze in 16 hours (702 kilometers): from 21:15 to 13:30.

We had dinner at our guesthouse in Varanasi and took a motor rickshaw for 650 rupees to Mughalsarai. The problem here is that at a huge station with dozens of platforms available, there is only one information board, and it hangs in the central waiting room.

The train was due to arrive at platform 12, the announcements from the loudspeaker echoing off the concrete platform, so it was impossible to make out anything other than that it was delayed. I had to leave my wife alone, at night, at the Indian station, and run 200 meters to the central waiting room along the flyover over the tracks to find out up-to-date information about our bullet train.

I want to give one more advice to those who are going to travel around India by train. We have one of the tickets was not confirmed - in the waiting list (WL, Wait List). In all reports, tourists write that if you are lucky and the status has changed to “Confirmed”, then you can find out what seat number you can on a piece of A4 paper that is hung near the door at the entrance to the train car. I checked: on that day, not a single carriage arriving at the Mughal Sarai station had such a list, or the data was indicated two days ago. An uncle in uniform with a long "footcloth" came out of the station, his crowd was surrounded by the sons of Shiva and together they were looking for their last name.

In general, the seat number was indicated in the confirmation letter that came by e-mail in the morning, but I did not think to save it to my computer, and there was no Internet on the phone, because by that time I had not yet guessed to buy an Indian SIM card.

To cut a long story short, I went into the Ticket Office Collector's office and there, on the third try, overcoming a crowd of the same unfortunate people waiting for information, I found out the seat number for Katya: the car is the same, but you will have to sleep in a different part of it.

The train was late to Mughal Sarai by 6 hours, and we got to New Jalpaiguri, in general, with a delay of 9 hours. By the way, after talking with the passengers, we found out that he would stop in Siliguri, to which we drove one stop "hares".

What can I say about the Indian train? The usual placard. There are sellers of all sorts of things, beggars and transvestites. You need to take care of your things. I really liked to stand on the step of the vestibule (the door does not close) and admire the rural landscapes, jungles and mountains passing by. How I would like to go out at the half-station and take a walk through these rice fields, go fishing with the peasants in their "swamp"! ..

At night, the wife had to go to bed in the aisle on the top shelf, according to the ticket. But in the morning the car was half empty, and she moved to me. We have one fellow traveler with us: an aunt in her 50s who works as a teacher and also gets to Siliguri. I bought a ticket to Sikkim from a travel agency.

We talked to her. She helped me find inexpensive hotels in Siliguri on my smartphone (we didn’t plan to spend the night here if the train was not late) near the railway station: Hotel Golden Moments, Phoenix Lodge, Vinayak Inn.

We arrived in Siliguri at 10 pm. The train has already started celebrating Diwali (as popular as ours). New Year): many got a little tipsy, sang songs, leaned out the window and shouted to everyone they met: “Happy Diwali! Happy Diwali! On the streets - the same thing: wild fun, fireworks and from all sides - "Happy Diwali!"

On the train, we bought food only once, since only curry rice was available. In view of the fact that we were late for 9 hours, we were terribly hungry, like two Indian wolves. But finding a working cafe at 22 o'clock in India on the day of the celebration of the most important holiday in the country is not so easy. Nevertheless, luck turned up and we got our portion of rice ...

Then, for 40 rupees, we went on a cycle rickshaw to a hotel chosen at random from a list that was compiled with the help of our fellow traveler - the Hotel Golden Moments. But, as soon as they crossed the bridge over the river, a street with many hotels began. I saw Vinayak Inn, which we also booked - we decided to stay here.

For the life of me, I don’t remember if we spent the night in it, or it was expensive there and settled in the next one. In the papers I have a business card of the Hotel North Point & Restaurant Raga. In any case, the price in such an establishment is always higher than in a guesthouse: 1200 rupees. But the linen is cleaner, the room is more decent and there is WiFi.

In the morning we returned to the station. At 500 meters from it is the final stop of jeep minibuses (shared jeep stand). The ticket price from Siliguri to Darjeeling is 130 rupees per person. We read before traveling to India that it is better to buy another seat as Bengalis ride in a car with 4 passengers abreast.

We were given a seat by a third person, and I joked that he owed us 25% of the cost of the Siliguri - Darjeeling ticket: he enjoys a comfortable ride for free.

The road to Darjeeling is of good quality. At first it goes along the plain, but gradually climbs up like a snake. Here are the foothills of the Himalayas. Around - tea plantations and military bases.

We reached our destination in 3.5 hours. We walked forward 400 meters and saw the final station of cars that go to Gangtok (Gangtok stand).

Oh yes! I did not say that 3 days before we flew to India, on one of the foreign sites I found a message that from January 2015, you can apply for a permit to enter Sikkim through the official website: sikkimpts.azurewebsites.net/Ilp/Register. Registration was successful, so the travel plan was adjusted: we decided not to spend a day on Darjeeling, go straight to Gangtok and spend this saved time in the Himalayas.

We rested. We ate at a restaurant with incredibly delicious Tibetan cuisine (the one and only during the entire trip to India): mushroom soup, large pieces of pork and beef, dumplings with meat (momo), scrambled eggs and masala chai.

A ticket from Gangtok to Darjeeling costs 200 rupees, we bought 3 seats again. While waiting for the jeep, we walked around the market, bought me autumn sneakers (it turned out to be warmer in the mountains than I thought, and winter shoes were not useful). I walked around and took pictures of local residents.

In general, both Darjeeling and Gangtok are very similar to China - here is another India. People are slanting, there is much less dirt and there are no rickshaws.

All the people with whom I had a chance to talk, always emphasized that they are not Hindus, but Tibetans.

Yes, "cleanliness" in Darjeeling, almost like in Europe. Repeatedly I happened to hear, they say: “Here, these poor people have come in large numbers from the plains. They brought mud. The labor market is being destroyed - they work for a penny ... ”Everything, in general, is the same as we have in Russia.

The Gangtok Stand departure station is located on the roof of a three-story building. In general, the whole Darjeeling is swallow nests stuck to the side of the mountain. Walking here, without training, is difficult: constant descents and ascents, and the height above sea level is already decent - you are suffocating.

We waited for a full cabin of passengers, probably about half an hour. At this time, they were bored, watched the local life and filmed a video.

Severe guys live in the Himalayas, if there is no yak at their disposal, they carry incredible loads on their hump. Just like ants that can lift a load heavier than their own weight.

We got to Gangtok for about 6.5 hours (normal time, according to locals - 5.5 hours). An accident happened on one of the sharp turns: a head-on collision between a taxi and a passenger jeep. Soft-boiled machines. A crowd of onlookers. Two foreigners: wife and husband. The white guy has a bloody face, apparently a concussion, they bandage his head. One of the taxi passengers was also badly injured - he hit his chest and head ... In general, the roads in the Himalayas are not as simple as they seem ...

Approximately in the middle of the way there was a long stop in the mountains: for a toilet, a snack, a car wash and admiring the majestic Kanchenjunga. The mountain was barely visible, hidden by clouds. But this is also luck: once again we saw her only on the first day of the tour of Sikkim, then all the days she was hidden by haze.

Rangpo Checkpost, where you need to stamp your entry permit to Sikkim, is located 1 hour from Gangtok. You need to warn the driver in advance so that he stops and waits. According to our fellow traveler, Rangpo is open from 5:00 to 20:00 and, if you don’t have time, you will spend the night on the street or you will be taken to the hotel of the border guard’s son-in-law, where you will be skinned three times.

Our jeep stopped 300 meters from the office, the driver waved his hand: "Go there." Katya remained waiting in the car.

The lady at Rangpo Checkpost said, “Sir, you did the right thing by applying for a permit to Sikkim via the Internet, only we have no connection. We'll have to write it out again." I took out a barn book, rewrote the passport data for a long time (it’s good that I had about 20 photographs with me to India), pasted the pictures, stamped the passports (i.e. it turns out that you, as it were, left the country).

In Gangtok, jeeps arrive at the end station, which is called Siliguri Stand or Main Line Taxi Stand in the Deorali microdistrict. Arrived after dark. Diwali celebrations are in full swing everywhere. Here we planned to stay at the Hotel Siddhi Vinayak, which was advised to us by a traveler from Russia Evgeny: “Grandpa Nima Lama did not deceive us, he helped us buy a cheap excursion to Yumthang Valley. Here are his coordinates: Mr. Nima Lama – phone number 7872984334.”

It turned out that Hotel Hotel Siddhi Vinayak is located in a house directly opposite the station. Pleasant grandfather Nima Lama was terribly glad that tourists from Russia came to him. Moreover, Eugene sent him photographs printed on paper and warned that we would come.

Discussed with him further actions:

- Today I can’t say anything - it’s a holiday in India. We'll talk tomorrow. Previously, 1 day is needed to obtain a permit.

– And how long is the drive to the village of Pelling, from where is the closest to Mount Kanchenjunga?

— Well, about 5.5 hours one way.

- OK. Let's do this: on November 13, we pay for the tour in the morning, you get a permit to visit Yumthang Valley, and at that time we will go to Pelling. We will return to Gangtok on November 14th and leave early on the 15th for a sightseeing tour.

- Fine. Deal!

Looking ahead, I’ll say that we changed our minds about getting to Pelling: from 2 days to shake along mountain roads(and they are in the Himalayas, often unpaved and broken) 10 hours, to walk half a day along the paths did not want to. You have to go there for a week...

But that will be another story, which I will tell about in the following parts of the report. Subscribe to blog updates by e-mail if you don't want to miss new chapters. See you, my friends!

Goa is the most popular resort in India. I have been here many times. Sometimes my journey started from Varanasi.

Goa by train

This option is not very convenient, because direct flight from Varanasi to Goa state no. By train, you can only get there with a change, for example, in Mumbai. See the screenshot for the location of the Varanasi City railway station.

There are 2 trains to Mumbai departing daily from here. You will spend a little more than a day on the road.

You will arrive at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus railway station in Mumbai. This is one of the five railway stations, which is located within this metropolis. From here you can drive further to Goa. For example, there is such a daily flight.

You will spend 11 hours on the road. There are other flights, there is more than one railway station in the city of Mumbai. You can check the schedule yourself on the official website of the railway operator. There are a lot of flights to Goa, 10 per day will definitely be typed. railway station in Goa called Madgaon, it is located in a town called Margao.

Prices

A train ticket to the city of Mumbai costs from 590 rupees (from 8.5 dollars or 545 rubles).

A ticket to Margao - from 385 rupees (from 5.5 dollars or 360 rubles).

Buying tickets

Buy tickets at the box office at the railway station or on the carrier's website. The link to it is above.

Goa by plane

First, I'll talk about air gate Goa. About 20 kilometers from the city of Margao is Dabolim Airport - this is the only airport terminal in Goa. The airport was opened at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, namely in 1955. Also 4 kilometers from this airport there is the city of Vasco da Gama. The airport looks like this from the outside.

Varanasi Airport is 26 kilometers away from the central part of the city. See the photo below for an outside view. Inside the airport there are:

• the shops;
• cafe;
• currency exchange offices, etc.

Unfortunately, direct air traffic between these airports is missing, you need to fly with a transfer. It can be done, for example, in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad.

On the road you will spend from 6 hours.

Prices

A plane ticket costs from 103 dollars (from 7160 rupees or 6600 rubles). A ticket for a SpiceJet flight will cost less.

Buying tickets

Purchase a ticket in advance on the official website of the company on web resources.

Conclusion

Buses from Varanasi to Goa do not go, I do not recommend driving by car. From Varanasi to Goa, about 2000 kilometers, roads in India are not always in good condition, and local drivers almost do not follow traffic rules. Fly on an airplane - this is the most fast option get to Goa.

Varanasi is a must see city in India. And experienced travelers, and newcomers tend to get here to look at one of ancient cities world and see with your own eyes most of the wonders of India in one place. In my opinion, starting an acquaintance with India from Varanasi is quite tough. In the first days, it is better to acclimatize in the capital, Agra or Jaipur. But if you want to immerse yourself in Indian life as much as possible, the choice is obvious.

Varanasi is big tourist town. Not only foreigners, but also Indian tourists love to come here. Be prepared for the fact that during the period of major religious holidays (Diwali, Holi, Maha Shivaratri and many others) there will be a crowd in the city, you can hardly find a hotel room for a normal price. Of course, there will be rooms in hotels, but their cost will skyrocket. And for a small, not too clean room, you will have to pay not 7 bucks (500 rupees), but from 25 to infinity. I can advise you to book a room online in advance. The same goes for trains. If Varanasi is not your first city in India, and you want to travel by train, take tickets well in advance for the holidays. Sales open approximately 2 months in advance - do not delay planning your trip. Another important point: at the end of December and in January, there is a high probability of heavy fogs. Because of this, flights and trains are often canceled. This happens especially often on the Delhi-Varanasi route. So, let's figure out how best to get to Varanasi from Russia or from another city in India. Consider all possible options: by plane, train and bus.

By plane

Varanasi on the map of India is located in the state of Uttar Pradesh between two largest metropolitan areas: Delhi and Kolkata. Therefore the problem transport accessibility not worth it. The city has an international airport and a railway line. I am already silent about buses - they go to any Indian wilderness. If you start from Russia directly to Varanasi, you have only one option - by plane. There are no direct flights, of course. You will have to make at least one change in or Delhi. Flights – Varanasi are available all year round for around $50 one way. They can be taken a couple of weeks before departure or even later. The price of domestic flights in India depends only on the day of the week (more expensive on weekends) and major holidays. But you will have to look for tickets from Russia to India.

Airlines flying to Delhi:

• Aeroflot.
• Air India.
• Etihad.
• Gulf Air.
• Fly Gubai.
• Qatar.
• Turkish airlines.
• Airarabia.
• Emirates.
• Air Astana.

Good tickets can be found during the sales period or a few months before departure. The cost of a direct flight to Delhi from Aeroflot starts from $300. If you fly with a transfer in Alma-Ata, you can save a little and buy a ticket for $280. A huge number of flights, every day different airlines offer direct and transfer flights to, you can fly from Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports. Travel time is about 6 hours. From the capital to get about 1 hour 20 minutes. A ticket can be found for 100-120 dollars. If you are flying with one transfer to Delhi or have enough time to travel, I would recommend staying in an intermediate city for at least a day. Not only because they both deserve special attention, but also in order to relax and more smoothly merge into the rhythm of Indian life.

international Airport Varanasi (Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport) is quite new and clean, located 18 km from the city. Although it has international status, it does not receive many flights from other countries. You can fly to Varanasi from Bangkok, Colombo, Sharjah and. The domestic flight map is much wider: Delhi, Lucknow, Khajuraho, Satna and other cities. By the way, keep in mind that there is no direct flight before. You will still have to fly through Delhi. Ask about the status of your flight and the possibility of a delay by calling +91 542 262 2155. A taxi from the airport to the city will cost about 10 dollars (650 rupees), a rickshaw will take you cheaper - for 5 dollars (300 rupees).

By train

Train is the most common way to travel in India. Railway stations there are in almost all cities, cars have different levels of comfort, and the cost of tickets cannot but rejoice. To move between major tourist destinations between Delhi and Varanasi, for example, a train would be ideal.

If your trip is not compressed into a short time frame, traveling from Varanasi by train will help you save some money and get a new experience of traveling in railways India. Travel time will take from 15 to 18 hours. The cost of a ticket to a sleeper class car (a la reserved seat) will cost 6.5 dollars (433 rupees), in a compartment with air conditioning - 17 dollars (1, 146 rupees). We traveled by train from Delhi to Varanasi with a simple sleeper. The road takes all night, the train arrives around 9 am. Our trip fell in February, and it was terribly cold on the train with the windows not closing. I highly recommend that all train travelers take not only warm clothes, but also sheets and blankets.

Trains to Varanasi run quite often. One of the main railway lines between Delhi and Kolkata passes through the city of Mughal Sarai Junction, 22 km from Varanasi. The final destination can be reached by bus or taxi. There are 2 railway stations in Varanasi itself - Varanasi City and Varanasi Junction. The fare for an autorickshaw from the stations to the ghats, where most hotels are located, is about 1.5-3 dollars (100-200 rupees). There are trains to Varanasi from different cities India, besides Delhi:

• Allahabad (3 hours).
• (13 hours).
• Lucknow (7 hours).
• Khajuraho (12 hours).
• Gorakhpur (6 hours).
• (14 hours).

Tourist cash desk (Foreign Tourist Center) is located at the main city station Varanasi Junction on the ground floor to the left of the main entrance. The cash desk is open from 8 am to 8 pm, a break from 13.00 to 14.00. There you can get all the necessary information, buy tickets without a queue or according to the tourist quota (intended for foreign travelers). Such tickets are not sold on the Internet or at regular ticket offices, they can only be found in the travel agencies of large cities, one of them. An hour before the departure of the train, all tickets from this quota become general, and anyone can buy them. You can check the availability of tickets for the tourist quota on the Indian Railways Passenger Reservation Inquiry website.

By bus

Buses are a convenient way to travel between neighboring cities. With comfort, you can travel long distances in time up to 12-15 hours. Sleeper basses (buses with sleeping places) run at night, so you can sleep well most of the way. It is an inexpensive and convenient way to travel. If you have no experience of such travel, do not miss the chance to diversify your " transport card". In Varanasi, all buses arrive at the bus station, which is opposite the main railway station Varanasi Junction. An auto rickshaw to the ghats with hotels will cost the same cost - 1.5-3 dollars (100-200 rupees).

From Delhi, you can get to Varanasi by bus in 14 hours. The trip will cost from 17 dollars (1100 rupees). In my opinion, the ratio of price and comfort is unbeatable. For that kind of money you can get a train ticket in a compartment car. Traveling by bus from the capital makes sense if you urgently need to get to Varanasi, and train tickets are sold out. Find the bus in the right direction with available places you can even on the day of departure, while you need to buy a train very early.

There are also buses to Varanasi from:

• Ağrı (10 hours and $15).
• Lucknow (6 hours and $4).
• Khajuraho (12 hours and $13) and many other cities.

For fans of extreme sports, there is even a bus from Jaipur at - 17 hours and 18 dollars. You can buy bus tickets at any street agency (travel office) or online.

***

Summing up, I can say that the plane is suitable if you have limited travel time and unlimited finances. It is better to travel long distances by train if you buy tickets a couple of months in advance. The bus is suitable for trips between neighboring cities and for spontaneous travel.

And now a little about Varanasi. For those who are not quite in the know, a small educational program. The old name of the city is Benares, and in ancient times it was called Kashi - Kashi (lit. Shedding light), historians interpret this name as the name of a certain king who once ruled in the city, the second version speaks of porridge grass, which grew on the banks of the Ganges and was used in sacrifices. Varanasi, a city located along the bend of the Ganges River, is not only one of the seven sacred cities of India, but one of the oldest cities in the world, the first mention of which dates back to the 6th century BC. BC, and archaeological finds in the vicinity of Varanasi indicate that already in the 9th century. BC. there was a settlement in this place. The second unspoken name of Varanasi is the City of the Dead. Located at the ford on the ancient trade route, Varanasi was already in the early centuries considered a sacred place-tirtha (lit. “crossing (to the other world)”, it is believed that those who die in Varanasi achieve moksha (liberation from rebirth). Widows and the elderly, as well as the terminally ill (horns) come here to spend here last days, they find shelter in the numerous temples and dharmashalas of Varanasi, living on the alms of believers. Along the entire bank of the Ganges, on a 6-kilometer stretch between the southern Asi Ghat and the northern Adi Keshava Ghat, 84 ghats (lit. stone steps) have been preserved, built by various Indian rulers and merchants. Varanasi is famous for its cremations on the banks of the Ganges, and is regarded by Indians as Mahashmashana lit. Great cremation ground. Cremations are carried out at two ghats: Harishchandra Ghat (cremated on fires here, as well as in a modern electric crematorium), and the main cremation site - Manikarnika Ghat. About 30,000 bodies are cremated here every year, and funeral rites take place here one after the other. The local houses, the untouchables, are constantly busy relieving the last moments of those who came to die here. The cremation site itself (about a dozen funeral pyres) is littered with all sorts of rubbish, slop, stale flowers, cow shit, and the air smells of ash and roasted meat. Dogs scurry everywhere, on the second day I saw how one dog stole the remains of a leg from an dying fire and rushed away from the enraged relatives of the deceased, on the fourth - how another dog gnawed at a huge bone near the Ganges suspiciously resembling a human one. In general, I have a suspicion that almost all dogs in Varanasi once tasted human flesh.
Cremation (anteshti, lit. “last sacrifice”) is the most common burial method among Indians from the time of the Vedas to the present day, they believe that, just as the sacred fire delivered sacrifices to the gods to Heaven, it could also transfer the human body there. When the body was devoured by fire and turned into ashes, the deceased could receive a new body in the world of the death god Yama (nirriti) and join the ancestors, as well as receive a reward or be punished for their actions. It was believed that the souls of sinners, buried in the ground, became evil spirits.
At present, Hindus consider cremation to be extremely important for the well-being of the soul of the deceased, they understand it as the liberation of the soul from the earthly shell. The exceptions are the souls of deceased children, who were sinless and pure, as well as holy beggar sadhus, who are believed to have overcome evil inclinations and therefore can be buried as completely harmless, and cremation rites were not performed on pregnant women. All these bodies (children, pregnant women, beggars) are simply drowned in the Ganges.
. The day before, in Gokarna, I came across (accidents are not accidental) a GQ issue with an article about Varanasi. After the trip with a smile, I remember the article. Well, journalists need to feed on something, somehow beat the loot out of greedy editors. Let me debunk some myths. Women can appear on cremation grounds completely freely. Photography is officially prohibited here, but one shot of a funeral pyre is clearly not worth 100 bucks. It's not hard to find an incineration chief and negotiate for a much more modest amount (I was allowed to photograph for 30 minutes for 2,000 rupees - about $40 at the current exchange rate). In general, I went to Varanasi just for these pictures of funeral pyres and I had to take them in the first days after my arrival in the city. Then everything changes in my head. Although I agreed to take pictures, I suddenly did not because of the piled-up human emotions. Although so many copies have been broken on this subject! I passionately defended the very idea of ​​taking pictures, so what? I just imagined how I would jump around the funeral pyre under the silently condemning gaze of the crowd of relatives of the deceased, and all the desire to take pictures immediately disappears somewhere. Still, do not be my reporter ....
In order for the body to burn completely, 200 kg of dry firewood is needed. One kilogram costs 150 rupees. That is, to burn the body, 30,000 rupees ($ 680) are required - again, completely different figures appeared in the custom article. To perform cremation, the body is placed on a bundle of firewood and the eldest son kindles a fire, and when the fire goes out, he breaks the skull of the deceased, and relatives collect unburned remains (almost always unburned arms and legs remain) and throw them into the Ganges.
Well, now, as usual, pictures for a more complete picture.

This is an electric crematorium, it was behind it that my guest was, every day I watched how the corpses were carried on bamboo stretchers and breathed fumes from the ghats.

Harishchandra Ghat.


ghats and Ganges.


beautiful Muslim towers, which are a million years old at lunchtime)


Pigeons.


Ablutions in the Ganges. More on this in future posts.


Hundreds of boats are constantly floating on the Ganges, one of the most popular local "businesses".


on the way to Manikarnika Ghat.


Manikarnika. The most important cremation site. At the sight of the camera, they yelled at me angrily from the shore, and even the boy boatman shook his head disapprovingly.


towers of Manikarnika.


Manikarnika.


Manikarnika and Ganges.

Drawdown. Religious uncles feed other religious uncles rice from a bucket. Indian charity. One of the reasons why there are so many homeless people, bobais and other sadhus in Varanasi.

architecture.


school line on one of the southern ghats.

dawn on the Ganges.


dawn.

boats, boatman and coastal debris. Garbage and other rubbish (including corpses) in the Ganges in bulk.


metropolis) By the way, Varanasi is one of the cities in India where I met McDonald's.


Varanasi and the Ganges.


ghats.

pink towers.


boats and boatmen.


boats.


evening corners. Lonely Planet warns travelers about the dangers of traveling in the evening Varanasi - 5-6 tourists disappear here every year. In addition, frequent power outages are the most frequent of all the cities where I have been. complete down if you don’t have a flashlight with you - a really difficult situation)


night Varanasi taken from the roof of the RufTop restaurant.