A minister's mansion on the river
Our grandmother, who made the pilgrimage to Kashi twice, used to say the riverfront is a list of every kingdom in India written in stone. Rajput, Maratha and Bengali houses each left a palace here. BrijRama is one line of that list, and one of the few you can sleep in.
Who built it: Shridhara Narayana Munshi, a minister in the Maratha state of Nagpur, completed the mansion in 1812 as a retreat for pilgrimage. The steps beside it still carry his name, Munshi Ghat.
- Completed
- 1812
- Built by
- Shridhara Narayana Munshi
- His state
- Nagpur, ruled by the Maratha Bhonsles
- Ghat named for him
- Munshi Ghat, beside the house
- Owned from 1915
- The royal family of Darbhanga, Bihar
- Why a minister built here: the Marathas rebuilt much of the Varanasi riverfront in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Kings and ministers competed to endow ghats, temples and pilgrim houses in the holy city.
- What he built: a tall sandstone front rising straight from the river, with arched windows, balconies and stepped terraces. It looks less like a house than a fortress, and it was meant to be seen from the water.
- The Darbhanga years: in 1915 the house passed to the royal family of Darbhanga in Bihar, one of the great Brahmin landholding houses of the east. The ghat in front became known as Darbhanga Ghat.
- What it means for you: you sleep inside a building that has watched the river for more than two centuries, on a stretch of ghats our guides know family by family.
From Darbhanga Mahal to BrijRama
The old name: boatmen and pilgrims still call the stretch Darbhanga Ghat, and some older Banarasis call the building the Darbhanga palace.
New owners: in the 1990s the house was bought by a hotel family, who gave it the name BrijRama and began to restore it.
- A slow restoration: the work took many years. Old stone, river damp and the narrow lanes behind the ghat make every repair slow, and materials often had to come in by hand or by boat.
- What was kept: the river front, the arched windows, the terraces and the sense of a fortified house rising from the water. This is a restoration, not a rebuild in an old style.
- What changed: modern plumbing, cooling and comfort inside walls that were never designed for them. Expect thick walls, deep windows and rooms that differ in shape and light.
Where it stands on the river
Facing the sunrise: Varanasi faces east across the river to an empty sandbank, so the sun comes up straight in front of the house. River-facing rooms get the first light.
Close to the aarti: Dashashwamedh, where the great evening Ganga aarti is held, is a short walk along the steps. You can be there and back without a car.
- Ghat
- Darbhanga Ghat, beside Munshi Ghat
- To Dashashwamedh
- A short walk along the ghats
- Faces
- East, across the Ganga to the sandbank
- Cars
- Cannot reach the ghats
- Airport
- About an hour by road, plus the last stretch on foot or by boat
- Close to the temple: the lanes to the Kashi Vishwanath temple and its new corridor start a few minutes behind the ghats. Your guide walks you there.
- Raised above the bustle: below you, bathers, priests under bamboo umbrellas, boatmen and flower sellers. Above, on the terraces, it is surprisingly calm.
- The price of the setting: steps everywhere, early noise from temples and loudspeakers, and festival nights that run late. That is the river, and it comes with the room.
What a stay here feels like
Arrival by boat: in most seasons you are met near the edge of the old city and rowed or motored along the ghats to the hotel steps. It is the arrival we recommend, weather permitting.
Arrival on foot: when the river is high, or if you prefer, you walk the last stretch through the lanes while porters carry your luggage. It is short but busy and uneven.
- Mornings: the ghats are loudest and loveliest at first light. Bathers, chanting and the creak of oars drift up to the terraces.
- Middays: this is the hour to stay in. Varanasi is crowded and hot by late morning, and the terrace with a book is the best seat in the city.
- Evenings: lamps on the water, the distant sound of the aarti, and a meal on the terrace if the weather allows.
- The mood: a heritage hotel inside a sacred city, not a resort. Service is gracious and personal, and the building, not the facilities, is the point.
Choosing your room
Face the river: the reason to stay here is the view. We always ask for a river-facing room and confirm the view in writing.
Go higher: upper floors catch more light and a wider sweep of the ghats, and they sit further from the noise of the steps.
- Expect character: rooms vary in size, ceiling height and window shape. Some older rooms have smaller windows set deep in the stone.
- Mind the stairs: this is an old building on the ghats, and there are steps at almost every turn. Tell us early about any mobility needs.
- Light sleepers: temples and loudspeakers start before dawn. Bring earplugs, and ask us for a room away from the most public terraces.
- Families: connecting rooms are limited in old buildings. Ask early, and we will check what can be held together.
A vegetarian kitchen with no bar
Why vegetarian: much of the old city near the temples is vegetarian by custom, and many ghat hotels keep to it. Here it is part of the respect the house shows its neighbours.
No bar: if a glass of wine at sunset matters to you, plan a night in a garden hotel in the cantonment such as Taj Nadesar Palace. Our page on alcohol and dry days explains the wider picture.
- Kitchen
- Vegetarian only
- Alcohol
- Not served
- Best table
- The terrace above the river
- Dietary needs
- Tell us ahead, especially Jain or vegan
- Banarasi flavours: ask for the dishes of the city, such as kachori-sabzi, puffed lentil breads with spiced potato, and in winter malaiyo, saffron milk foam whipped overnight and gone by noon.
- Breakfast on the terrace: the most memorable meal of a stay, with the river below and boats setting out for the day.
- Street food, safely: we would rather you taste the lanes with our guide than eat randomly. We know which stalls fry fresh and which to skip.
- A private dinner: for a celebration, we can ask the hotel about a quiet meal on a terrace, timed to the lamps on the river.
Yoga on the roof, rest in the afternoon
Sunrise yoga: the hotel offers early morning yoga on the rooftop terrace. It is gentle, and you share the dawn with pilgrims offering water to the rising sun.
Treatments: wellness here is simple rather than a full resort spa. Tell us what you would like, and we confirm what the hotel can arrange during your dates.
- The real rest: the afternoon. After a dawn boat and a morning in the lanes, a cool room with thick walls is a luxury of its own.
- Meditation: many of our guests simply sit on the terrace at dawn and dusk. Varanasi does the rest.
- For a full spa: pair a night or two here with the gardens of Taj Nadesar Palace, which suits guests who want space and quiet after the river.
Varanasi from the hotel steps
The dawn boat
When: before sunrise, every morning you are here if you can.
- How: a wooden rowing boat from near the hotel, with a boatman whose family has worked this stretch for generations. Motorboats are quicker but loud.
- What you see: bathers waist-deep in the water, priests at their morning prayers, and the palaces turning gold one by one.
The Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh
What it is: the evening offering of light to the river, with conch shells, bells and great brass lamps raised in unison.
- Two ways to see it: from a boat held at the front, or from reserved places on the steps. We often arrange one each evening.
- From the hotel: a short walk along the ghats, so no car and no traffic.
The lanes and Kashi Vishwanath
What it is: one of the twelve jyotirlingas, the holiest shrines of Shiva, rebuilt in 1780 by Ahilyabai Holkar, the Maratha queen of Indore.
- How we visit: on foot with our guide, phones and bags left behind. Read our temple etiquette guide first.
- On the way: sweet shops, brass sellers and a shrine set into every other wall.
Man Mandir and its observatory
- Why we love it: Raja Man Singh of Amber built a palace here around 1600, and Sawai Jai Singh II, founder of our Jaipur, added an observatory to its roof.
- The connection: a smaller sister of the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur, on the bank of the Ganga.
Manikarnika, with respect
- What it is: the holiest cremation ground in Hinduism, where fires burn day and night.
- How to visit: from a boat or an upper level with your guide, quietly, and never with a camera.
Sarnath
Why go: the deer park where the Buddha gave his first sermon, about ten kilometres north-east of the city.
- What to see: the Dhamek Stupa and the Sarnath Museum with the lion capital of Ashoka's pillar, India's national emblem.
- When: late morning after a dawn on the river, with lunch nearby.
Weavers of Banarasi silk
- Where: weaving families in neighbourhoods such as Madanpura, many working handlooms at home.
- How we go: to families we know, never to a shop a stranger suggests. Our textile shopping page explains handloom versus powerloom.
Two days from BrijRama, the way we would spend them
Day one, arrival and the aarti
Afternoon: land at Varanasi, drive to the edge of the old city, and take the boat along the ghats to the hotel steps.
- Late afternoon: settle in, tea on the terrace, and watch the light turn on the water.
- Dusk: walk or row to Dashashwamedh for the aarti, then back for a quiet vegetarian dinner.
Day two, dawn, lanes and Sarnath
Before sunrise: a rowing boat downstream past the bathers and the burning ghats.
- Morning: walk up through the lanes to the Vishwanath temple area with your guide, with kachori and malaiyo in season.
- Late morning: drive to Sarnath for the stupa and the museum, with lunch nearby.
- Afternoon: rest. Evening: the aarti from the steps this time, or a private music recital we arrange.
With a third day
Morning: a weaving family in Madanpura, then the southern ghats from Assi to Kedar on foot.
- Afternoon: the Bharat Kala Bhavan museum on the Banaras Hindu University campus, or simply the terrace.
- More ideas: our Varanasi itinerary has longer and shorter versions.
Who will love it, and who won't
Couples and honeymooners: a room above the Ganga, a dawn boat from your own steps and dinner with the lamps below is as romantic as India gets.
Solo travellers, writers and photographers: you are inside the life of the river at the hours that matter, without a car between you and the light.
- The curious and the spiritual: anyone drawn to faith, ritual and the oldest rhythms of Indian life will feel at home here.
- Not ideal for limited mobility: the ghats and lanes are steep and uneven. A garden hotel with car access suits better. See our accessible travel advice.
- Not for those who want a bar or a big pool: this is a vegetarian, alcohol-free heritage house, not a resort.
- Not for very light sleepers: the city wakes before dawn, every day, and festival nights are loud.
- Families with small children: possible, with care on the steps, but many families prefer the lawns of the cantonment.
How BrijRama fits our journeys
Rajasthan and Varanasi: our Rajasthan and Varanasi journey ends with nights on the river, and BrijRama is our first choice for them.
Central India: after Orchha and Khajuraho, Varanasi is the natural next stop. See our Rajasthan, Orchha and Khajuraho journey and where to stay in Orchha and Khajuraho.
- A pairing of waterfronts: many couples combine a night at the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur with nights here. One lake, one river, two very different kinds of calm.
- Splitting the stay: some guests do one night here and the rest in a garden palace. Our luxury hotels in Varanasi guide compares the options.
- How we route it: our guide to airports and flights explains how we link Rajasthan to Varanasi by air.
When to stay
October to March: warm, dry days and the best light. December to February mornings are cold and misty on the water, magical but chilly. Bring a shawl.
Dev Deepawali: about two weeks after Diwali, the ghats are lit end to end with clay lamps. River-view rooms sell out many months ahead, so book six months or more in advance.
- Best months
- October to March
- Coldest mornings
- December to February, often misty
- Hottest
- April to June
- Monsoon
- July to September, river over the lower ghats
- Busiest night
- Dev Deepawali, full moon of Kartik
- Holi and Mahashivratri: Holi on the ghats is joyous and wild, and Shiva's great night in February or March fills the temple lanes.
- April to June: very hot. Keep outings to dawn and dusk and stay in through the day.
- Monsoon: the Ganga rises over the lower ghats, boats are often stopped, and arrival by boat may not be possible. Check with us before you plan around the river.
- Month by month: our guide to the best time to visit Varanasi has the detail.
Getting there
By air: most of our guests fly in from Delhi, or from Khajuraho when flights run. We meet you at the airport and drive you to the edge of the old city.
By boat: in most seasons the hotel's boat brings you along the ghats to the steps, weather and river permitting. Not in the monsoon.
- Nearest airport
- Lal Bahadur Shastri International (VNS), Babatpur
- Airport to old city
- About an hour by road
- From Delhi
- About an hour and a half by air
- By train
- Vande Bharat from Delhi, about eight hours
- Last stretch
- By boat, or on foot with porters
- On foot: otherwise, a short walk through the lanes, with porters for the luggage. Pack a smaller bag for the river nights if you can.
- From Khajuraho by road: a long day, so we fly when connections allow. See Khajuraho for the temples on the way.
- Leaving: allow plenty of time for the walk or boat to the car, and for winter fog at the airport.
What we tell friends before they stay
Pack light for the river: steps and lanes are kinder to a soft bag than a hard suitcase. Leave the big luggage with the car if you are moving on.
Wear shoes you can slip off: temples, terraces and shrines come one after another.
- Cover shoulders and knees: this is a city of temples, and the ghats are places of prayer.
- Never photograph the cremations: the one firm rule of the ghats. Ask before photographing sadhus or pilgrims.
- Don't drink or swim in the Ganga: a sprinkle on the head is enough, however devout the crowd.
- Book early for festivals: Dev Deepawali and the winter peak fill the riverside rooms first.
- Two nights at least: one night gives you a dusk and a dawn. Two give you the river at rest.
- Confirm the view in writing: river-facing, upper floor. We do this for every booking.