Dev Deepawali from the water
Tuesday 24 November 2026. A reserved seat on our lit motor boat for the one night the whole ghat line is laid with lamps. ₹3,999 per person.
- Boards at
- Assi Ghat
- Goes to
- Dashashwamedh and back
- Duration
- 3 hours
- Best time
- Report by 3:30 PM
- Seats
- 20
What it costs
Prices are per person.
On Kartik Purnima every step of every ghat is laid with earthen lamps and lit by hand at dusk. Six kilometres of it, seen at once, from midstream — which is the only place you can see all of it at once.
The evening. Report at Assi Ghat by 3:30 PM; vehicles are stopped around 2 PM and the lanes fill beyond walking pace after that. The boat is on the water for the lighting hour and holds position in front of Dashashwamedh for the Maha Aarti, performed that night by twenty-one priests instead of the usual seven.
What else the night puts on. A laser and projection show runs along the ghats and there are fireworks over the far bank. Both belong to the district administration, not to us — we take you where you can see them.
Book early. There are twenty seats to a boat and this is the one night of the year every boat in Varanasi is spoken for months ahead.
Included
- ✓Your own reserved seat on the lit motor boat
- ✓Bottled water and a snack box
- ✓A life jacket
- ✓About three hours on the water
Not included
- ✕Any vehicle on the night — the city is barricaded
- ✕Hotel, meals and anything on land
Common questions
- When is Dev Deepawali 2026?
- Tuesday 24 November 2026, on Kartik Purnima. The date is fixed by the lunar calendar and the lamps are lit from about 5:30 PM.
- Can a car drop us at the ghat?
- No. The administration stops vehicles at Rajghat and the other approaches around 2 PM. The last stretch is on foot or by toto for everybody, including us.
- Is this the same boat as the ordinary rides?
- It is a motor boat, lit on board for the night, and the seats are shared rather than a whole boat to one group. Your seats are reserved together.
- What if boats are not allowed to move that night?
- The river police decide the route on the night and can hold boats within a shorter stretch for crowd safety. We follow those orders like everyone else, and we tell you what we know 48 hours before.