Hotel – the most expensive
Hotel de Paris (tr 46601) is located in a dilapidated building, and it does not deserve to be called a three star hotel. It is true that among the greenery of the garden, stylish arcades are white, but the whole thing asks for a decent renovation under the watchful eye of a good architect. Overnight in a hotel costs money 550/760 INR in rooms with air conditioning. You pay for breakfast 105 INR, for lunch or dinner 165 INR. The hotel accepts American Express credit cards, Visa and Money.
Four-star hotel Hindustan International (O 57075; fax 352374) it's new, concrete building in the city center. The rooms cost money 1150/2000 INR (air conditioning, bathtubs in bathrooms). There is a swimming pool next to the hotel. Hotel Varanasi Ashok (O 46020; fax 348089), right in front of the Clarks Hotel in the Cantonment district, has a quiet garden and swimming pool, but it is of a worse standard than Hindustan International. The price of the rooms: 1196/2000 INR.
Hotel Clarks Varanasi (tr 348501; fax 348186) it is the only one that dates back to British times. Today it looks very modern. You pay for a room with air conditioning 1195/2250 INR (swimming pool next to the hotel). Among the hotels of this class, Clarks Varanasi is by far the best and more popular than the equally expensive Taj Ganges hotel (tr 348301; fax 322067). Rooms with air conditioning cost from 75/90 USD.
The Ideal Tops Hotel is right next to Clarks Varanasi (n 348091; fax 348685), which offers well-equipped, air-conditioned rooms included 28/35 USD.
Gastronomy
Railway station and Lahurabiru areas
The most advantageous place to eat in Benares is the restaurant at the train station. It serves tasty breakfasts and good tea. Tasty, albeit a bit over-priced food is served in the restaurant at Tourist Bungalow. The Mandarin Chinese Restaurant offers inexpensive dishes, however, even a less sophisticated gourmand will notice, that they are probably not Chinese. There is a decent Most Welcome Restaurant around the corner.
In the Lahurabir district, behind the cinema is Winfa, the best (true!) Chinese restaurant, in which the prices of the dishes vary between 15 a 40 INR. Pradeep Hotel's Poonam restaurant offers delicious Indian cuisine (main course approx 40 INR). The restaurant has good service. It is worth a try, what the original Mughal shahi tukra dessert tastes like, i.e. bread baked in cream with peanuts (recommended for puddings gourmets).
The best in the area is the trendy El Parador restaurant, which serves, among other things, soups, Salads, fettuccine (type of pasta dish), corn cake with meat filling and chili sauce (enchi-lady), stews, chocolate chip cookies and cappuccino coffee.
Place, as good, it's not cheap. The main course here costs around 70 INR. Sets with pancakes can also be ordered in the restaurant, mashed potatoes or porridge (40 INR one set).
Tasty cuisine is offered at the Buddha Hotel's restaurant, and there are many dhabas on the same street, serving cheap Indian food.
Cantonment Area One of the cheapest restaurants in the Cantonment area is the Tourist Dak Bungalow, but the food is no different. Hotel Surya specializes in Chinese cuisine (main course 35 INR).
Decent restaurants are Palki at Hotel Vaibhav and Amber at Hotel India. Next to the Taj Ganges Hotel there is a Burger King snack bar, the seller, among others. vegetarian equivalents of burgers.
Stylish restaurants have opened in Clarks and Taj Ganges hotels.
Godaulia and the Old Town The Aces New Deal restaurant offers breakfast and snacks The menu is varied, you can sit in the small courtyard outside. This not very charming place, however, is very popular among tourists.
100-Jalyog summer restaurant, on the main square in the Godaulia district, serves kaćauri (fried bread with vegetables) and exceptionally tasty samosas. The name of the restaurant is in Hindi, the English name was written underneath it in tiny letters.
The best vegetarian restaurant in the area is Keshari, a little block from Dasaswamedh Ghat Rd. The main course costs approx 20 INR. Yelchico Restaurant (in the basement) serves good vegetarian and meat dishes from a typical Sino-Indian-Continental menu (main course 30 – 45 INR). It is one of the few restaurants that sells beer (40 INR). Chinese restaurant Monga has similar prices. Ayyars Cafe serves tasty dosa masala and other light meals.
The intimate Garden restaurant has prepared a menu especially for Europeans. There are potted plants around the terrace, there is a shadow here in the afternoons. Prices are low, dishes served aesthetically.
There is a small one on the ground floor of the Golden Lodge, pretty good restaurantHowever, sometimes both waiters, and the chefs put the nerves of hungry guests to a severe test, forcing them to wait unbearably long.
Ganga Fuji i Blue Diamonds, close to the Golden Temple, they offer decent dishes. In the evenings, concerts of classical Indian music are held here.
The restaurants at the Trimutri Guest House hotels are also very popular, Yogi Lodge i Shanti Guest House. Tasty dosala masala (8 INR) submitted by Sunita Cafe, niedaleka Sri Venkateshwar Lodge.
The Sindhi restaurant is open next to the Lalita Cinema, serving very tasty vegetarian food. Rickshaws know the name of the cinema well, and they will hear about the restaurant for the first time from you.
Sweets are the domain of Benares cuisine. On the same side of the street, Madhur Jalpan Grih offers heavenly sweets. The city is famous for high-quality betel. State-owned bhang retailer (type of marijuana) located on the road leading to the well signposted Shanti Guest House.
Entertainment
There is no nightlife in Benares. Twice weekly, at the International Musie Center near the Dasaswamedh ghat, classical Hindu music recitals are held. Cinema screens occupy worthless films, shot in countless numbers in Mumbai (Hollywood movies!).
Shopping
Benares is famous for the most beautiful silk brocades and saris in India. Unfortunately, many merchants are scammers, not to mention the beaters (also present in this industry). Accepting an invitation to tea constitutes consent to go to the store. Tourists are even forced to buy. If you insist, that you won't buy anything, it may happen, that you will pay for the tea, and even for electricity! Watch out for hotel staff, including the manager, who supposedly know cheap shopping places. The price in such stores will always be around 30% higher, because hotel service must get a commission.
The cheapest silk brocades can be found at the Golghar bazaar, near the main post office. Golghar stores buy goods directly from the manufacturers. However, you always have to pay attention to the quality of the product. For laymen, silk mixed with cotton is no different from pure silk. In the area of Ćowki in the Old Town there are all large shops with silk brocades. The Main Shopping Center of Handicraft Products has fixed prices (Cottage Industries Em-porium) in the district of Cantonment.
Be careful when buying a sitar, traditional musical instrument. Admittedly, a popularizer of the sitar, Ravi Shankar, lives in Benares (if not traveling to Western countries), but it does not guarantee the good quality of each product. The Triveni Musie Center on Kewalgali Lane is worth recommending 19/3, near the Dasaswamedh ghat. Posters advertising music recitals hang above the entrance, taking place at this place.