Varanasi and the Ganga Spiritual Trail

Arrive at Babatpur airport, twenty-five kilometres out, and check into a hotel near the ghats. In the late afternoon walk down through the crush at Godowlia to Dashashwamedh, where a private boat is far better than the steps for the seven o'clock Ganga arti: seven priests, tiered brass lamps, conch and bell carrying across the water. Afterwards, thick malai lassi at Blue Lassi in Kachori Gali.

On the water by half past five, rowed north from Assi past Harishchandra and Dashashwamedh to Manikarnika, where the pyres burn day and night and photography is not permitted. Land at Assi for Subah-e-Banaras, the sunrise recitation, raga and yoga on the steps. Breakfast of kachori-sabzi and jalebi at Ram Bhandar in Thatheri Bazaar, then the Kashi Vishwanath corridor and the silk shops of Vishwanath Gali.

Drive ten kilometres north to Sarnath. Walk the excavated monastery foundations to the Dhamek Stupa, forty-three metres of brick and carved stone from the Gupta period, standing where the Buddha is said to have taught his first five disciples. The site museum holds the Lion Capital carved around 250 BCE. Afternoon back in the city for the Ramnagar Fort museum and Banarasi handloom weavers in Madanpura.

Drive 125 kilometres, about three hours on the highway, to Prayagraj. Take a boat from Saraswati Ghat out to the Triveni Sangam, where the clear Yamuna and the silt-brown Ganga meet along a visible line and the Saraswati is said to join unseen. Then Akbar's fort of 1583, the underground Patalpuri temple with its Akshayavat, and the tiled Mughal tombs of Khusro Bagh at sunset.

Morning at Anand Bhavan, the Nehru family house handed to the nation in 1970, and the planetarium in its grounds, then 165 kilometres northeast to Ayodhya, about four hours. Arrive in time to climb the seventy-six steps to Hanuman Garhi, see the gold-clothed idols at Kanak Bhawan, and be at Ram ki Paidi for the evening Saryu arti and the floating of lamps.

Queue early for darshan at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, consecrated in January 2024 and built in Nagara style from Bansi Paharpur sandstone; phones and bags are not allowed inside, so travel light and leave everything in the car. Afterwards, breakfast, a short walk along the Saryu at Nayaghat, and the transfer to Ayodhya Dham airport, or 135 kilometres to Lucknow for onward flights.