| Benaras Travel Information |
Air:
Benaras is on the popular daily tourist shuttle route linking Khajuraho,
Agra and Delhi. There are also four Indian Airlines flights a week to
Lucknow and Mumbai.
The Indian Airlines office is in the cantonment near the Hotel de Paris.
Office hours are 10 am to 1.15 pm, and 2 to 5 pm.
Sahara India Airlines has daily flights to Mumbai except Saturday and
flights to Delhi and Lucknow daily except Sunday.
Bus:
Benaras's bus stand is a few hundred metres north-east of Benaras
Junction railway station. It's a fairly sleepy depot and there's no
timetable information in English. There are frequent express buses to
Jaunpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Faizabad and Gorakhpur. No buses run direct
to Khajuraho so take a train to Satna and a bus to Khajuraho from there.
Train:
Benaras Junction is the main station. Foreign tourist quota tickets can
be purchased at a ticket office near the UP Tourism information booth in
the main station building. This office is open daily except Sunday between
10 am and 5 pm. If it's closed, go to the separate reservation centre
building on the left as you approach the station. It's open Monday to
Saturday from 8 am to 8 pm, and on Sunday from 8 am to 2 pm.
Not all trains between Delhi and Calcutta stop at Benaras Junction but
most halt at Mughalserai, 12km south of Benaras. This is a 45 minute ride
by bus, tempo or auto rickshaw along a congested stretch of the Grand
Trunk Road. You can make reservations at Benaras Junction railway station
for trains leaving from Mughalserai.
Travellers should keep a close eye on their baggage while on trains
heading to Benaras Junction reckons hardly a day goes by without a
traveller arriving on the platform without their backpack.
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