Uttar Pradesh, India
Local guides in Varanasi
Book a verified Localite for the day in Varanasi — someone who lives here, sets their own rate, and gets paid only after they have accepted your day.
- Best time to visit
- October to March
- Peak months
- October, November, December
- Nearest airport
- VNS
- Railhead
- Varanasi Junction
Why go with a local
What Varanasi gives you that a guidebook cannot
Varanasi is not a city you sightsee. The ghats run about six kilometres along the Ganges and the useful unit of time is a morning, starting before dawn on a boat when the light comes up behind the far bank and the whole west side of the city is doing something.
Manikarnika burns continuously and has for a very long time. It is not a spectacle and photographs are not welcome; a local will tell you where you can stand and where you cannot, which is worth more than any guidebook paragraph about it.
The lanes behind the ghats are genuinely disorienting — that is not a figure of speech, they are unmapped, unsigned and constant. This is the one Indian city where a guide is less a luxury than a practical decision.
No Localites in Varanasi yet
We open a destination once there are enough verified Localites to give you a real choice. In the meantime, the nearest places with Localites available:
Plan your day in Varanasi
Browse Localites, agree a roadmap, and pay only once they accept.