Varanasi Ganga Aarti tour

What is the Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat?

Each evening at Dashashwamedh Ghat, Varanasi's main ghat, a line of priests in saffron and gold performs the Ganga Aarti: a ceremony of fire and light in which great tiered brass lamps are raised, circled and lowered in unison, accompanied by bells, conch shells and chanting, before a dense crowd of pilgrims and visitors on the steps and in boats moored on the water. It is the ceremony most people picture when they think of Varanasi, and it takes place at the same ghat every night of the year, not on a special or occasional basis.

Almost everything else in Varanasi orbits the river, but the aarti and the sunrise boat ride the next morning are the two experiences that define a visit — do the aarti on your first evening and the boat ride at dawn, and you have the heart of the city.

How to watch it: boat or ghat steps

There are two main ways to watch the ceremony, and each has a different feel.

From a boat on the river, moored facing Dashashwamedh Ghat, gives an open view over the crowd and lets you see the ceremony as a single composed scene, lamps, priests and reflections on the water together — this is the classic photograph of the aarti. From the ghat steps themselves, seated among the crowd, the experience is more immersive and closer to how pilgrims actually attend it, but the view is partial and the crowd can be dense, especially on weekends and festival nights.

We arrange boat viewing where it suits your preference and the evening's conditions, and confirm the boat hire arrangement on your quote rather than quoting a fixed price here.