Varanasi

Varanasi is not a city you sightsee; it is one you submit to. On the western bank of the Ganges, where the river swings north as if in salutation, the ghats descend to the water in an unbroken run of stone steps that have carried pilgrims, priests, and the dead for millennia. Hindus hold it among the holiest places on earth, and to die here is believed to release the soul.

The rhythm of the city is the rhythm of the river. Before dawn, boats push out to watch the sun rise over the sandbank opposite; by evening, Dashashwamedh Ghat fills for the choreographed fire-and-lamp Ganga Aarti. Behind the waterfront, the lanes tighten around the Kashi Vishwanath Temple to Shiva, recently reframed by a broad corridor to the river, while Manikarnika burns without pause as the great cremation ghat. Ten kilometres out, Sarnath marks where the Buddha first taught.

MyTripMyTravel treats Varanasi as one of India's most rewarding but most easily mishandled destinations. The intensity is the point, but it must be sequenced, a private sunrise boat before the crowds, an escorted walk that reads the old city rather than getting lost in it, a reserved vantage for the aarti, and an optional half-day at Sarnath's calm. The logistics are handled so the guest is free to simply absorb the place.