Services
Accommodation came first because it is the hardest thing to get wrong quietly. Cabs and boat rides can be arranged now. The rest are in preparation: they cannot be booked yet, and nothing on this page marked so is a live offer.
01
Available now
Vehicles and drivers for the parts of a pilgrimage that cannot be walked — the airport, the railway station, temple visits outside the old city, and day trips to Sarnath. For elderly travellers this includes an escort who stays with the vehicle and helps at both ends, not just a car that drops you at a lane entrance.
02
Available now
A boat on the Ganga at first light or for the evening aarti, arranged with a boatman we use ourselves rather than whoever is on the steps that morning. The price is agreed before you board. Say how many are coming and whether anyone needs a hand getting in and out, and the boat is chosen to suit.
03
In preparation
A list of priests in Varanasi with their temple affiliation, the rites they perform, the languages they conduct them in, and what they charge, recorded plainly. Arranging a shraddha or a satyanarayan puja from another city currently means relying on whoever a hotel desk happens to know. The intention is that you choose a named person in advance and know the cost before arriving.
04
In preparation
Guides who can walk an eighty-year-old through the old city at their pace, who know which lanes have steps and which do not, and who can explain what is being seen rather than hurry a group past it. Each guide will be listed with their languages, the areas they know, and their rate for a half or full day.
05
In preparation
Samagri assembled correctly for the specific rite being performed, delivered to the property before it is needed. Families arriving for a rite often spend their first morning hunting through markets for items they do not know the local names for. The intention is that the correct set is waiting in the room.
Something else
If you need something this page does not mention, ask anyway. Much of what we arrange started as a question from a family who assumed we would say no.