Saket-Kashi-Prayag Yatra ex-Kolkata — 5 Days

Day 1 begins at Howrah. You reach the station by 7:30 PM, find your platform, and board the overnight train to Varanasi by 8:00-8:30 PM (the exact train varies by date — the Vibhuti Express is the 8 PM boarding this plan is built on; the Doon Express also runs but reaches Varanasi around 11 AM, which shortens Day 2). The train carries you west through the night, past Asansol, past Dhanbad, past Gaya, across the Ganga plains. You wake to the morning fields of Uttar Pradesh and reach Varanasi Junction by mid-morning. The cab and driver are waiting at the platform when you step off; from there it is a 20-minute drive into the old city, to the hotel within walking distance of Dashashwamedh Ghat. The yatra has begun.

The heart of Kashi in a single day. You arrive Varanasi Junction by mid-morning, the cab takes you to the hotel near Dashashwamedh, you freshen up and have breakfast. By 11:00 AM we walk down to the ghat for the late Subah-e-Banaras boat hour — Assi to Dashashwamedh downstream, the soft post-dawn light on the eighty-some ghats, our boat operator pointing out Tulsi Ghat (where Tulsidas wrote the Ramcharitmanas), Harishchandra Ghat the second cremation ground, Manikarnika the great cremation ghat where the fire is held to have burned without break since Sri Vishnu first lit it. Back at Dashashwamedh by 12:30 PM, we walk through the lanes to Kashi Vishwanath. Our coordinator walks you through the corridor — the new Vishwanath Dham approach, the security check, the Jyotirlinga itself in the inner garbhagriha. There is no free pre-bookable darshan window here; if you want a shorter line, a Sugam Darshan ticket (Rs 250-300) can be booked online at shrikashivishwanath.org.</p><p>After Vishwanath, lunch at a Banarasi kachori place near the temple — pure veg, generations old. The afternoon is Sankat Mochan — the Hanuman temple Goswami Tulsidas is held to have founded in the 16th century, on the spot where he had darshan of Hanuman ji. The murti is small, the temple is leafy, the bhava is calm. We are back at Dashashwamedh 45-60 minutes before the aarti — about 5:00 PM from October to March, about 6:00 PM from April to September; our coordinator has reserved seating on the ghat for the Ganga Aarti — the seven priests, the seven brass lamps, the conch and the bell. We sit, not stand at the back behind the crowd. Dinner at a Banarasi thali place near the ghat, then back to the hotel.

An early breakfast, then we leave Varanasi by 8:30 AM and drive west along the Ganga to Prayagraj (125 km, 3 hours). We reach by late morning, check into a 3-star hotel near Civil Lines or the Sangam, and after a short rest we drive to Triveni Sangam — the meeting of the Ganga (clear, green), the Yamuna (darker, slower), and the unseen Saraswati that the puranas hold to flow beneath. Our boat operator is waiting; we have worked with him for two seasons now. The boat takes us out into the sangam waters for the snan — a dip from the boat or from the platform, three handfuls of jal as tarpan for ancestors, and back to the bank.</p><p>After the boat, Akshayavat — the immortal banyan tree inside the Allahabad Fort that the puranas describe as the tree that survives the pralaya. The ASI opens the underground chamber to pilgrims at fixed hours. From Akshayavat we drive a short distance to Bade Hanuman — the reclining Hanuman murti of Prayagraj, 20 feet long, lying in repose. The murti is one of the rare sleeping Hanuman forms in the country; the bhava is gentle, parental, calm. Back at the hotel for dinner; tomorrow we drive to Ayodhya.

After breakfast we leave Prayagraj at 8:00 AM and drive north-east through the Awadh plains — past Pratapgarh, past Sultanpur — to Ayodhya. The road is paved, the country is flat, the journey is 5-6 hours with one chai stop. We reach by mid-afternoon, check into a 3-star hotel within walking distance of the Saryu, rest a short while, and walk up to Hanuman Garhi by evening — the 76-step climb to the hill shrine of Bajrangbali. The darshan here is held to be the gatekeeping darshan of Ayodhya; one bows to Hanuman first, before any other shrine. The temple is on a small hill in the heart of the old town, the steps are broad, the air at the top is open.</p><p>From Hanuman Garhi we walk down to the Saryu about 45 minutes before the evening Saryu Aarti — around 5:00 PM in winter, 6:00 PM in summer at Ram Ki Paidi or Naya Ghat — the lamps on the river, the bell, the conch, the river into which Sri Ram took jal samadhi at Gupt Ghat. The Saryu Aarti is quieter than the Dashashwamedh aarti — fewer priests, fewer crowds, more space to breathe. Back at the hotel for an early dinner; tomorrow morning is Ram Janmabhoomi and the train home.

The closing morning. Early breakfast at the hotel, then Ram Janmabhoomi for the morning darshan — general darshan is free and unslotted, so there is nothing to book — we reach at the opening hour, when the line moves fastest. The darshan of Ramlalla at the new mandir, the parikrama of the inner courtyard, the prasad. Out by mid-morning, we walk to Kanak Bhawan — the palace Kaikeyi gifted to Sita Mata on her wedding day, the only Ayodhya temple where Sita-Ram are worshipped together as raja-rani (king and queen, not avatara). The murti is small, dressed in real-cloth garments changed every few hours; the bhava is domestic, not heroic.</p><p>After Kanak Bhawan we walk back through the lanes to the hotel, check out, and have a late lunch. The cab leaves Ayodhya by 1:30 PM and drives to Lucknow station (135 km, 2.5-3 hours). At Lucknow you board the evening return train to Howrah — Doon Express, Howrah-Amritsar Mail, or similar depending on dates. The train carries you east through the night and you reach Howrah by Day 6 morning. Three dhams done. Kashi, Prayag, Saket — touched. The blessing carried home to Kolkata.