The Ganga aarti: when to arrive and where to stand

More people turn up for the evening Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat than for anything else in Varanasi, and it's also the easiest thing here to get wrong. Whether you have a magical evening or a frustrating one comes down, almost entirely, to what time you show up.

When it happens

Timing depends on the sun. Winter evenings, you're looking at about quarter past six (18:15); April to September it slides nearer to 19:00. Give it three-quarters of an hour. Assi Ghat does a smaller, gentler one too, and that's where the dawn Subah-e-Banaras happens, if you're up that early.

Get there 45 minutes early. Not fifteen, forty-five! The good spots on the steps go long before the first lamp is lit, and it's the difference between watching the ceremony and watching the back of someone's head.

Steps or boat

Neither is objectively better. The steps give you the noise, the bells and the press of people, which is the point for many visitors. A boat gives you an unobstructed frontal view and an easy exit, which matters if you are with elders or small children.

Where the vehicle stops

Godowlia crossing. From there it is an eight to ten minute walk down to Dashashwamedh, through a lane that is busy at that hour. Plan the walk into your 45 minutes rather than on top of it.

Practical notes

• Leave large bags at the hotel — you will be sitting on stone steps in a crowd.
• The steps are uneven and unlit in places; sensible shoes matter more than they sound like they should.
• Keep valuables in a front pocket. It is a dense crowd, not a dangerous one.
• On Dev Deepawali and other festival nights the aarti runs at a much larger scale and the whole approach is barricaded — arrive far earlier, and expect to walk 20 to 40 minutes.

The best combination

Guests keep asking us whether they can catch Sapt Rishi at Kashi Vishwanath and then the river aarti the same winter night. We wish! Sapt Rishi's 19:00 to 20:15, the Ganga one kicks off around 18:15, and you can't be in two places at once. So split them over two evenings, or on one day do the mid-day Bhog Aarti and then the river in the evening.