The Journal · Featured · Festivals · Kolkata
Durga Puja in Kolkata 2026: dates, rituals, pandals and how to see it
For five days each autumn, Kolkata becomes one long, sleepless walk from pandal to pandal, to the beat of the dhak. What happens on each day, where the old pujas and the great theme pandals are, and how to see it without spending the night in a queue.
Read the story · 7 min readWanderMate · Est. Kashi
The Journal
Heritage, culture and the traditions of the world — introduced by the people who travel them. Read about a place before you go, or instead of going. Either is a beginning.
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18 stories
GuidesVaranasi7 min read
What to eat in Varanasi: a street-food guide from dawn to midnight
Banaras keeps its own hours, and so does its food: kachori at dawn, lassi at noon, chaat at dusk, paan at midnight and malaiyo only when the nights are cold. Here is the day, dish by dish, and how to eat it like someone who lives here.
Read the story · 7 min read
GuidesSarnath7 min read
Sarnath from Varanasi: a guide to where the Buddha first taught
Ten kilometres from the bells of the ghats, a green, quiet park marks the place where the Buddha first turned the wheel of the Dharma. What happened here, what to see, and how to spend a morning.
GuidesVaranasi6 min read
How many days in Varanasi? One, two and three-day itineraries
Varanasi rewards slowness, but most travellers have a long weekend. Here is how to spend one, two or three days, hour by hour, so that you see the river at its two best moments and still have time to get lost.
GuidesVaranasi6 min read
Ganga Aarti in Varanasi: timings, where to sit, and Dashashwamedh or Assi
Every evening at Dashashwamedh, a row of young priests raises great tiered lamps to the river. How to time it, where to sit, what each part of the ritual means, and when Assi is the better choice.
GuidesVaranasi7 min read
Kashi Vishwanath darshan: timings, aartis, Sugam Darshan and what to carry
The golden spire of Vishwanath, the Lord of the Universe, is the heart of Kashi. A practical guide to darshan: how the day is divided, how the tickets and gates work, and what to leave behind.
GuidesVaranasi7 min read
The best time to visit Varanasi: a month-by-month guide
Varanasi is a different city in every season: luminous in Kartik, wrapped in fog in January, burning in May and swollen with the river in August. Here is what each month is really like, and which one suits your trip.
GuidesVaranasi9 min read
Dev Deepawali 2026 in Varanasi: the complete guide to the night of lamps
On the full moon of Kartik, Varanasi sets a lamp on every step of its riverfront, from Assi to Raj Ghat. A complete guide to the night: what it means, how it unfolds hour by hour, and where to be.
TraditionVaranasi2 min read
The Ganga Aarti, explained
Every evening at Dashashwamedh Ghat, priests offer fire, incense and song to a river they revere as a goddess. Here is what you are watching, and how to watch it well.
FestivalsVaranasi2 min read
Dev Deepawali: the night the gods come down to the ghats
Fifteen days after Diwali, on the full moon of Kartik, Varanasi lights its riverfront with lamps — for the gods, who are said to descend to bathe in the Ganga.
HeritageVaranasi2 min read
Why Kashi is called the City of Light
Varanasi has three names and a reputation older than history. A short introduction to the city we call home.
TraditionAmritsar2 min read
Langar: the kitchen that feeds everyone
At the Golden Temple in Amritsar, a free kitchen serves tens of thousands of people a day, all seated together on the floor. It began with Guru Nanak.
HeritageBodh Gaya2 min read
Under the Bodhi Tree
In Bodh Gaya, a fig tree marks the place where Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha. Its story travels to Sri Lanka and back.
HeritageSiem Reap, Cambodia2 min read
Angkor: the Indian epics in stone
The largest religious monument on earth was built for Vishnu. Its galleries carve the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the churning of the ocean into sandstone.
CultureKyoto, Japan2 min read
Fushimi Inari: a mountain of gates
Thousands of vermilion torii climb a hillside in Kyoto, each one given by a person or a business. An introduction to Inari, the kami of rice.
HeritagePetra, Jordan2 min read
Petra: the city the Nabataeans carved
A desert people grew rich on the incense trade and carved their capital into rose-red cliffs. The building everyone calls the Treasury was never a treasury at all.
Notes from WanderMateVaranasi1 min read
Our guide to luxury travel in Varanasi
We create bespoke luxury experiences for those who seek more than just the iconic sights of the oldest living city in the world.
Notes from WanderMateVaranasi1 min read
The pursuit of feeling
Travel has always been about more than checking a destination off a list. In a city as visceral and ancient as Varanasi, travel is about feeling somewhere else.
Notes from WanderMateVaranasi1 min read
What we do, and why we do it
Since our founding, WanderMate has had one mission: crafting remarkable, tailor-made journeys through the heart of Varanasi.
Words to know
A small glossary of the sacred
Words you will meet in our stories and on the road, each from the tradition that gave it.
- AartiSanskrit
- An offering of light, a flame waved in circles before the divine.
- GhatHindi
- Stone steps leading down to a river, for bathing, prayer and ritual.
- DarshanSanskrit
- To see and be seen by the divine, the heart of a temple visit.
- SevaPunjabi
- Selfless service, such as cooking or serving in the langar.
- KamiJapanese
- The spirits of nature, places and ancestors in Shinto.
- ToriiJapanese
- A gate marking the passage into sacred ground.
- SemaTurkish
- The whirling ceremony of the Mevlevi dervishes, followers of Rumi.
- TshechuDzongkha
- A Bhutanese festival of masked dances honouring Guru Rinpoche.
Read it here. Then come and stand in it.
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