Varanasi's riverfront is not one place. It is a run of stone stairs, temples, palaces and cremation grounds strung along the western bank of the Ganges — traditionally counted as 84 ghats, each with its own name, its own use and its own crowd.
On most days you meet them a few at a time, on foot. On Dev Deepawali all of them are lit at once, and the only way to take that in is to get off the bank.
Why 84
The number is not an accident of construction. Eighty-four carries weight in Indian tradition — it recurs in cycles of rebirth and in the mathematics of sacred geometry — and the count has been kept even as individual ghats have been built, renamed and rebuilt over centuries.
Some are vast ceremonial platforms. Some are a narrow flight of steps between two buildings. A few belong to former princely houses that maintained their own landing on the river.
What the walk gives you, and what it costs
Walking the ghats is one of the great experiences of travel in India. You pass through the working life of the river — laundry, bathing, prayer, cricket, cremation — in the space of a few hundred metres.
But it is slow, the steps are uneven, and on a festival night the stretch between the major ghats is impassable in any practical sense. You will see three or four ghats extremely well and hear about the rest.
What the water gives you
From a boat, the riverfront resolves into a single continuous thing. You see the scale of it — how the palaces step down to the water, where the ceremonial ghats sit in relation to the quiet ones, how far the lamps actually run.
On Dev Deepawali that matters more than on any other night, because the illumination is designed to be read as a whole. A million lamps along five miles of stone is a composition, and from the steps you are standing inside one brushstroke of it.
You also get the aarti properly. The great synchronised ceremonies at Dashashwamedh, Rajendra Prasad and Assi are performed facing the river — which means the water is not a compromise view. It is the intended one.
The Akashganga route
The Akashganga cruise runs about four hours, boarding from Ramnagar Fort's own private ghat on the eastern bank and sailing past the full line of illuminated ghats — with a front-row position for the aarti and the fireworks that close the night.
Boarding from the fort rather than a public jetty is the part that changes the evening. There is no queue and no scramble; you are on the water before the crush begins, and you stay there.
Akashganga 2026 runs Tuesday, 24 November, at Ramnagar Fort, Varanasi. Reserve your seats →
FAQ
How many ghats are there in Varanasi?
Varanasi's riverfront is traditionally counted as 84 ghats, running along the western bank of the Ganges. The number has been kept over centuries even as individual ghats were built, renamed and rebuilt.
Can you walk all the ghats of Varanasi?
Much of the riverfront can be walked on an ordinary day, and it is one of the finest walks in India. On Dev Deepawali the stretches between the major ghats are effectively impassable, which is why most visitors take to the water.
Why are the ghats better seen from a boat?
The Dev Deepawali illumination is designed to be read as a whole, along miles of riverfront. From the steps you see one section of it. From the water you see the composition, and the aarti ceremonies face the river rather than the bank.
How long is the Akashganga cruise?
Approximately four hours on the river, boarding from Ramnagar Fort's private ghat and sailing past all 84 illuminated ghats, with front-row viewing of the Ganga Aarti and the fireworks finale.