Varanasi trip from Bangalore: how many days, flight or train, and a 4-day Kashi yatra plan

A Bengaluru family needs 4 days on the ground for a full Kashi yatra: Kashi first, then Gaya for pind daan, then the Sangam at Prayagraj. Our package for that exact route is ₹12,499 per person on twin sharing. The journey up comes on top of that, and if you take the train, that's two nights on board.

How many days a Bengaluru family needs

That depends on how much of the yatra you're doing. Here's how we'd size it. These are days in Varanasi and around it, not counting the trip from Bengaluru.

If your family keeps the Kashi yatra the way it's done in Karnataka, with pind daan at Gaya, you want the four-day row. Elders who can't sit through a long road day might be happier on the five-day loop, since its drives are shorter. It skips Gaya though, so have a word with your priest before you pick it.

Getting there from Bengaluru: flight or train

With elders in the group, we'd fly. You land at Varanasi airport (VNS) at Babatpur, our car meets you at the arrivals gate, and it's 25 km by road to Godowlia, about 45 minutes to most hotels. Flight timings shift every season, so check yours on the airline's own site and send us the landing time. Land before lunch and Day 1 runs just like the plan below: check in, rest, the ritual at Pishach Mochan at 14:00, then the evening aarti.

Coming by train? On the railway timetable, only one regular train goes from Bengaluru all the way to Varanasi Junction, and it's not a daily one. It's the 22687 Mysuru-Varanasi Express, and you can only catch it on a Tuesday or a Thursday. Get on at KSR Bengaluru at 10:20, or at Yesvantpur at 10:35 if that's nearer home. Two nights later you're in Varanasi at 08:25. On the timetable that's 46 h 05 min. There's no pantry car, so carry food for the whole ride. IRCTC's Bharat Gaurav tour trains from Yesvantpur also reach Varanasi on some dates, but you can only book those as part of their tour package.

Every other train from Bengaluru stops at Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction instead. Most people here still say Mughalsarai, and it's a 14.9 km drive from there to Godowlia. Two of those trains run daily, and of the two we'd pick the Sanghamitra Express (12295): it goes every day from SMVT Bengaluru and has a pantry car, but it lands you at DDU at 03:58. That's a hard hour to get off a train with elders, so we'd book the hotel from the night before and send a car to the station.

You'll find different rail distances online, and they aren't really in conflict. Each belongs to a different pair of stations. The 22687 covers 2567 km from KSR Bengaluru to Varanasi Junction, and the 12295 covers 2482 km from SMVT to DDU. So neither one is the Bengaluru to Varanasi distance.

As for driving all the way, the shortest road from Bengaluru City Junction to Varanasi Junction is 1,814.5 km. We wouldn't put a family through that.

From the airport or station to the ghats

We measured 25 km by road from Varanasi airport (VNS) to Godowlia crossing, which is where cars stop for Kashi Vishwanath and Dashashwamedh. The temple trust's tourist page puts the airport at 22 km from Varanasi but doesn't say from which point, and that's why the two numbers differ. Give it about 45 minutes from the airport to most hotels. Varanasi Junction is much closer, only 4.9 km from Godowlia.

Past Godowlia, nobody drives. The temple trust keeps a No Vehicle Zone from Godowlia to Maidagin, so the car stops there and everyone walks to Vishwanath, roughly a 10-minute walk through the lanes. For devotees who can't manage it, the trust runs an E-Kart for the differently-abled. The temple opens at 02:45 for Mangala Aarti and shuts at 23:00 after Shayan Aarti.

Day by day: a 4-day Kashi yatra

This is our Complete Kashi Yatra, which runs on the same plan as our pind daan package. It goes Kashi, then Gaya, then Prayagraj, and a pandit is booked at every site. The rituals have fixed windows, mostly early in the morning, so we build each day backwards from them and fit the sightseeing in after.

See where it ends? We finish at Prayagraj so you can head home from there. If your train or flight back leaves from Varanasi, say so and we'll drive you back on the last day. And if your priest wants the Sangam done first, we can run the whole circuit the other way round.

Add Prayagraj and Ayodhya instead?

Some families would rather see Ram Janmabhoomi on the same trip. Our Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya loop takes 5 days for ₹14,999 per person, with a night in each city. The drives are kinder: 125 km to Prayagraj, 170 km on to Ayodhya, then 220 km back to Varanasi. The catch is that Gaya isn't on it.

If Ayodhya means more to your family than Gaya, go for that one. There's a longer guide on our blog about the Varanasi, Ayodhya and Prayagraj loop, with the order and the kilometres for every leg. Short on days? Varanasi and Ayodhya on their own take 3 days, at ₹7,999.

What it costs per person

Every price here is per person on twin sharing, and it covers the hotel, an AC vehicle, breakfast and the driver. The four-day yatra costs ₹12,499 and includes a pandit arranged at each of the three sites. It doesn't include dakshina to the pandits, the samagri, lunch, dinner or GST.

Your ticket from Bengaluru isn't in there either. Package sites like to fold the fare into one big number, but fares move too much for us to promise one. So you book the train or flight, and we look after everything from the platform or the arrivals gate.

In Kannada: the Kashi yatra page

If your parents would rather read all this in Kannada, we have a Kashi Yatra page in Kannada. It walks through the traditional order, from Rameswaram to Prayagraj, Kashi, Gaya and home again, along with the packages and what elders tend to ask us. Kashi Yatra page in Kannada

Reading on for someone who prefers English? The same yatra is here: Kashi Yatra page in English

Planning from Bengaluru? WhatsApp us at 7233999686 and start with "Plan from Bengaluru". Send your dates, how many of you are coming, any elders in the group, and whether it's train or flight. We'll write back with a plan that starts from the moment you arrive.