Top 10 Temples in Varanasi You Must Visit
Discover must-visit temples in Kashi including Vishwanath Jyotirlinga, Sankat Mochan, Durga Temple with darshan timing tips.
Varanasi is not a city you visit temple by temple so much as one you walk through, letting the shrines arrive. There are thousands of them — in courtyards, at the head of ghats, tucked into lanes barely wide enough for two people. Still, some are essential, and knowing which ones deserve your limited hours makes the difference between a rushed trip and a memorable one.
Here are ten that belong on any Kashi itinerary, with practical notes on timing, access and etiquette.
1. Kashi Vishwanath Temple
The reason most pilgrims come. One of the twelve Jyotirlingas and the spiritual centre of the city. The Vishwanath Dham corridor has transformed access, connecting the temple directly to the Ganga at Lalita Ghat and easing what used to be an extremely tight approach through the old lanes.
- Best time: Mangala aarti in the early hours for those who plan ahead, or immediately after opening for general darshan.
- Note: Mobile phones, cameras, leather items and bags are not permitted inside. Use the cloakrooms, and expect a security check.
- Tip: Special aarti participation is limited and usually requires arranging a pass in advance.
2. Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple
Founded by Tulsidas, and one of the warmest, most welcoming temples in the city. Tuesdays and Saturdays are especially busy. The temple is set in a leafy compound and the atmosphere — continuous Hanuman Chalisa recitation, offerings of laddoo and sindoor — is quite different from the intensity of Vishwanath.
Phones are typically not allowed inside. The resident monkeys are bold; keep prasad and spectacles secured.
3. Durga Temple (Durga Kund)
An eighteenth-century temple in distinctive red ochre, beside a rectangular tank. Non-Hindus may view the temple from the courtyard but not enter the sanctum. It is at its most striking during Navratri, when the surrounding area fills with devotees.
4. Kaal Bhairav Temple
Kaal Bhairav is regarded as the guardian, the kotwal of Kashi. Tradition holds that a pilgrimage to Varanasi is incomplete without his darshan. The temple is small and often crowded, and the black-thread blessing offered here is one of the city's most recognisable rituals.
5. Annapurna Devi Temple
Adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath and devoted to the goddess of nourishment. Most pilgrims visit both in the same trip since they are steps apart. Annakut, shortly after Diwali, is the temple's great festival, when an enormous offering of food is prepared and distributed.
6. Tulsi Manas Mandir
Built in white marble near Durga Kund, on the site associated with Tulsidas composing the Ramcharitmanas. Verses from the epic are inscribed across the walls, which makes this an unusually calm and readable temple — a good pause between more intense stops.
7. New Vishwanath Temple, BHU
Inside the Banaras Hindu University campus, this twentieth-century temple was built with support from the Birla family and is open to all visitors regardless of faith. The campus setting is green and quiet, and the temple's tall shikhara is among the highest in the city.
8. Mrityunjay Mahadev Temple
Associated with health and relief from illness, and known for the well within its precincts whose water is considered curative. Less visited than the headline temples, which is precisely its appeal.
9. Bharat Mata Mandir
Unusual and worth an hour. Rather than a deity, the sanctum holds a large relief map of undivided India carved in marble. Inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi, it is a temple to the land itself — a quiet, thoughtful stop for travellers interested in the city beyond its ritual life.
10. Nepali Temple, Lalita Ghat
A wooden pagoda-style temple built in Nepali style overlooking the river, sometimes called the Kathwala Temple. The carving is exceptional and the ghat-side position gives one of the finest river views in Varanasi. It sits close to the Vishwanath Dham corridor's riverfront entrance, making it easy to combine.
Planning your temple days
| Time of day | What it is best for |
|---|---|
| Pre-dawn | Mangala aarti, boat ride at sunrise, the ghats at their quietest |
| Morning | Kashi Vishwanath, Annapurna, Kaal Bhairav — shortest queues |
| Midday | Many temples close for a few hours; rest, or visit BHU and Bharat Mata |
| Late afternoon | Sankat Mochan, Durga Kund, Tulsi Manas |
| Evening | Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat |
Most Varanasi temples close for a midday break. Building your day around that closure — rather than discovering it at a locked gate — is the single most useful piece of planning you can do.
Etiquette and practical notes
- Dress modestly. Covered shoulders and legs; avoid leather belts and wallets where restrictions apply.
- Footwear comes off well before the sanctum. Slip-ons save a great deal of time.
- Photography is restricted in most sanctums and prohibited entirely in some. Ask before you raise a camera, and never photograph cremations at Manikarnika or Harishchandra ghats.
- Be wary of unofficial guides offering queue shortcuts near Vishwanath. Arrange guides through your hotel or operator.
- Carry small notes for offerings, boatmen and cloakrooms.
- Walk where you can. The lanes of the old city are the experience; vehicles cannot reach most of it anyway.
A sensible two-day route
Day one: Sunrise boat ride from Assi to Manikarnika, then Kashi Vishwanath, Annapurna and Kaal Bhairav. Rest at midday. Evening Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh, viewed from a boat if you can.
Day two: Sankat Mochan, Durga Kund, Tulsi Manas and BHU with New Vishwanath. Late afternoon at Bharat Mata and the Nepali Temple, finishing with sunset at the ghats. Sarnath, ten kilometres away, fits neatly into a third day.
Final word
Ten temples is a useful frame, not a checklist to be completed. Kashi is best met at walking pace, with time to sit at a ghat and watch the river do what it has done for millennia. Cover the essential darshan early in the day, then let the city take over.
