There are many hotels and lodges in Varanasi but the better ones are situated in the cantonment area, which is 20 minutes away from the ghats. If you don't mind compromising on luxury, it's best to stay at a small cheap lodge on the ghats to be close to all the action. We decided to stay at Hotel Riverview, a family run lodge, near Brahma Ghat. Apart from great food, our room overlooked the Ganges and had a magnificent view of the entire stretch of the ghats. Varanasi, at first sight, comes across as a rather filthy and dirty town. The narrow gullies in the old city are littered with animal and human waste, trash and slush. You have two choices: Either shake your head in disgust or get used to the litter. Choose the latter and your experience starts. Quaint shops selling eatables, paan shops in every corner, small temples, priests saying their prayers, masseurs, barbers...every nook and corner of these gullies holds a surprise for you.
We spent the first day walking across the ghats and understanding them. Manikarnika and Harishchandra ghats are where the dead are cremated. Dasashwamedha ghat is the most sacred and sadly also the most commercially exploited. Boatmen vie with each other to grab on to tourists, masseurs will beg you to oblige them and beggars will hound you. But things change as the sun sets and the prayer session starts. The place becomes choc-a-bloc with pilgrims and tourists who come to watch the puja and the river, by then spectacular with hundreds of little floating diyas. We decided to watch the "show" from the river and hired boat for Rs. 200. The entire stretch of the river along the ghats takes one and a half hours and you can even stop at Karnataka ghat for some chai served in clay cups.