Spiritual & Heritage India

A Varanasi and Bodh Gaya pilgrimage from Singapore on this itinerary starts with a direct flight of about five and a half hours from Changi to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, where your driver meets you. The Delhi to Varanasi and Varanasi to Delhi flights are included and booked for you: Air India AI2509 on Day 3, 07:00 to 08:30, and IndiGo 6E6380 on Day 6, 21:00 to 22:25. Bodh Gaya is reached by road from Varanasi, 250 km and 5 to 6 hours each way. International flights are not included; the trip is planned around Air India AI382 home on Day 11, Delhi 13:25 into Changi 21:45.

Plan on 7 to 9 working days of leave for HSJ's 11-day Varanasi and Bodh Gaya trip, depending on the start day: 11 consecutive days always include at least one full weekend, so a Saturday start uses 7 working days and a Monday start uses 9. Day 1 is a travel day with no sightseeing, and on Day 11 the flight home the itinerary is built around, Air India AI382, lands at Changi at 21:45, so you are back the same night. Winter fog in late December and January can delay the Varanasi flights and the flight home, so keep a buffer day before you are due back at work in those months.

HSJ prices its Varanasi and Bodh Gaya trip per person in Singapore dollars on a twin-share basis, and the price for each departure appears in the dates and prices table on this page whenever dates are open; none is open at present, so request a quote through the enquiry form. The price includes ten nights in 4-star hotels, both domestic flights between Delhi and Varanasi, daily breakfast, an air-conditioned vehicle with a professional driver, a local English-speaking guide in each city, the sunrise boat on the Ganges, all sightseeing in the itinerary and entrance tickets to every monument named. Budget separately for international flights, the Indian e-Visa, travel insurance, lunch and dinner, camera fees at some monuments, and tips.

October to March is the season for Varanasi and Bodh Gaya, with comfortable days across the route from the Ganges to Jaipur, and it covers the Singapore year-end school holidays. December and January dawns are genuinely cold, close to 8 degrees in Varanasi, so bring a warm layer for the sunrise boat, and dense fog in late December and January can delay flights, which makes October, November, February and March the easier months. April to June is regularly above 40 degrees on the plains, so the June school holidays are a hard time for this route, and July to September is the monsoon, when the lower ghats can flood. No departures are open at present, so request dates through the enquiry form.

The Varanasi and Bodh Gaya trip needs no special fitness: there is no trekking and no altitude, with 4 to 7 hours of sightseeing a day and the car never far away. The walking is mostly on the flat but often uneven: the stone ghat steps at Varanasi, worn and slippery near the water and taken in the dark before the boat, the long approach inside the Taj Mahal complex, and the stairs at Amber Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. The real demands are two early starts, the Ganges boat and the Taj Mahal gate, and Day 6, the longest day, with a 5 to 6 hour drive back from Bodh Gaya and a 21:00 flight. Shoes with grip matter most at the ghats.

Seniors in good health generally manage the Varanasi and Bodh Gaya trip, since the ghat steps and the stairs at Amber Fort can be taken slowly or skipped; the long drives to and from Bodh Gaya, 250 km and 5 to 6 hours each way, are the bigger demand. Children who travel well can join too, but Varanasi is an intense place and the cremation ghats are in open view from the river, so families often choose the Golden Triangle for a first India trip and this route for a second. Tell HSJ about any mobility condition before booking so your guide can adjust each day.

The Varanasi and Bodh Gaya trip uses 4-star hotels for all ten nights, twin sharing, with breakfast every morning: Novotel New Delhi City Centre for the four Delhi nights, Ramada by Wyndham Varanasi Katesar for two nights, Hyatt Place Bodh Gaya for one, Radisson Blu Agra Taj East Gate Road for one and Golden Tulip Jaipur City Centre for two. Lunch and dinner are not included. Varanasi and Bodh Gaya are largely vegetarian towns where alcohol is restricted near the temples, vegetarian food is easy everywhere, and halal or allergy needs are passed to every hotel and guide if you tell HSJ in advance. Bodh Gaya is the smallest stop, which is one reason it is a single night.

At the ghats and temples on the Varanasi and Bodh Gaya trip, cover your shoulders and knees, and expect to take your shoes off at Kashi Vishwanath, at Mahabodhi Temple and at most shrines, so footwear you can slip off saves time. Some Hindu temples do not allow leather belts or bags inside. At Mahabodhi, walk clockwise around the stupa with everyone else, do not touch monks in robes, and women should avoid handing anything directly to a monk. Photography is not permitted at the Manikarnika and Harishchandra cremation ghats, and anyone offering to take you closer for a donation is running a scam. Ask before photographing pilgrims and sadhus.

HSJ's Golden Triangle tour is 7 days covering Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, while this 11-day trip adds Varanasi and Bodh Gaya before the same Mughal circuit, with two included domestic flights. Both see the Taj Mahal at sunset from Mehtab Bagh and again at sunrise, and both use 4-star hotels with daily breakfast. The extra days buy the Ganga Aarti, a sunrise boat on the Ganges, Sarnath and the Mahabodhi Temple, at the cost of two long road days to and from Bodh Gaya. Choose the Golden Triangle for a first, shorter look at India, and this route if the pilgrimage cities are the reason you want to go.

Varanasi, Bodh Gaya and every other stop on this route need no special permit, only the Indian e-Visa that Singapore passport holders need for India. The e-Visa is applied for online in your own name on the official government portal, and HSJ cannot submit it for you, though we tell you when to apply and give you any itinerary details the form asks for. Delhi is an approved e-Visa entry airport, and the tour starts and ends there. Your passport needs six months of validity beyond entry and two blank pages, which airlines check at the gate in Singapore. Fees and arrival forms are covered on our India destination page.

The Varanasi and Bodh Gaya trip runs as small-group departures of no more than 12 travellers, and the same itinerary can also be booked privately for your own party on dates you choose. No group departure is open at present, so new dates appear in the dates and prices table when they are released, or you can request dates through the enquiry form. Solo travellers are welcome on group departures; the published price is per person on a twin-share basis, so ask about the single-room cost. A private booking can add a night in Varanasi or change a hotel, and HSJ requotes the trip.