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Where To Eat
Dharmashalas provide food
only for better-known The list has been restaurants in the in the Ghats
convenient to find Most
 restaurants offering a multi-where you are staying
cuisine menu are located in the hotels in the Cantonment area. The
restaurants in the crowded Ghats area cheaper than in offer mainly
reasonably priced Indian food.Bombay. In our list, Varanasi offers food from
all parts of India. comes with a mention of its if the traveller is
adventurous about food, A sumptuous meal for it may be worth sampling the
Indian food from Rs 150 to over offered at these restaurants. Like in
other ndian cities, the restaurants in Varanasi are varied - not only in
their ambience, or the choices.
ack
of it, but also in their rates. The
Guesthouses and located near the Ghats residents. Here we give a
list of the restaurants in the city. broadly divided into Cantonment
area and those area, as to make it an eatery close to or
working. The food in Varanasi is metros like Delhi and each restaurant
speciality cuisine.
More........
Where To Stay
Varanasi has a wide range of accommodation - from deluxe five-star and
middle-range hotels, to the most basic rudimentary lodging houses that offer
a bed and a common shared bathroom. These down-market tourist lodges in
crowded localities, are really inexpensive but offer minimal amenities.
There are also some guest houses and dharmashalas that are extremely clean,
offer good service and comfortable stay. Two well-known Indian hotel chains
- the Taj and the Clarks groups - offer services that are more than a match
for international hotel chains. Although expensive (Rs 3000 and more for a
standard double room), the top- end hotels are reliable and offer impeccable
service. What makes them special is the Indian brand of hospitality
offered. The deluxe five-star hotels offer facilities comparable to those
available in this category worldwide. These include, swimming pools, tennis
courts, health clubs, shopping arcades, gardens, 24-hour coffee shops and
well-equipped business centres. Most of these hotels have a number of
speciality restaurants that are among the best in the city. Tourists, of
course, feel pampered in these plush hotels, but business travellers too
find them extremely comfortable. The business centres in these hotels
provide round-the-clock service, which include efficient secretarial
service and facility to send and receive faxes and emails at any time.
Single and double rooms have desks with telephone, and in some cases, fax
machines.
Separate lounges, complimentary breakfast and happy hours at the bar all add
to the feel-good factor. Air and train bookings can be made from hotels,
either by in-house travel agencies or resourceful hotel staff. Cars are
available for hire - tour and travel agencies also arrange local sightseeing
tours with multi- ingual guides. Noise
levels in Varanasi are, by and large, pretty high and sound-proofing in
middle- level or budget hotels is not exactly great. So, if you are staying
in crowded areas, it would be a good idea to ask for a room away from the
road. Promises made at the front desk in such hotels often prove to be
inaccurate. So it would be a good idea to personally check out the room,
whether it really has hot and cold running water, the condition of the
toilet, room service and general cleanliness. Most Varanasi hotels are not
equipped to provide adequate facilities for the disabled, like wheelchairs,
ramp at the hotel entrance and lifts at the ground level. Some top-end
hotels may offer these facilities, but most middle-level and budget hotels
do not. For the convenience of the first-time traveller to Varanasi, here is
an attempt to classify hotels based on tariffs. We hope this will assist the
reader
 to
choose his place of stay. We would like to clarify that these are not
recommendations but merely a listing. It is advisable to book your
accommodation in advance as availability in the busy tourist season is
difficult. You may book directly by letter or fax, or indirectly with the
help of your travel agent. Some credit cards offer hotel booking service, so
do check out if yours does. The checking-out hour is usually 12 noon,
although some hotels do it according to 24 hours of stay. So, do ask in
advance. It is also advisable to verify bills and retain receipts.
Taxes Levied
Do remember that over and above the room rent, the government levies a hotel
entertainment tax on air- conditioned hotels and an additional luxury tax
in case of five-star hotels. If you are not an Indian passport holder,
it would be advisable to find out whether your hotel, accepts payment only
in foreign exchange or at the dollar rate which would mean an additional
amount over the rupee rate. Hotels offer discounts during off- season, but
not if you do not bargain for it; for, even in the hot summer months when
fewer tourists come to Varanasi it is common for hotels to first offer the
printed official tariff. All hotels, especially the smaller ones, give
discounts for tourist groups and children. Apart from hotels, there are
other options that one may consider when selecting a place to stay -
dharmashalas run by Hindu religious trusts, and railway retiring rooms.
Retiring rooms are available at Varanasi Railway Station for upper-class
train passengers with valid tickets. There are also dormitory facilities
and youth hostels for students and travellers.
Where To Buy/Shop
The city today boasts of a
number of posh show-rooms and business establishments like the Shiva complex
and the centrally air conditioned Kuber Complex, housing several
top-of-the-line stores and offices. Chowk, Godaulia, Lahurabir,
Dashaswamedh and Bansphatak are the main shopping areas. Most modern
showrooms are located on Maldahiya Road.
Gems & Jewels
The monopoly of the ornament shops of the old markets of Rajadarwaja,
Godaulia, Rani Kua and others, has been challenged in the recent past.
If the Tanishq Showroom at Kuber Complex has over- shadowed them with its
designer collection, the newly opened show- rooms in Lahurabir and
Maldahiya areas are at-tracting the new genera-tion byers.
Boutiques and ladies suit stores
Ananya situated at the Hathua market and Pang-hat at Chaudhari
Chambers, Kumaccha, offer a rich repertoire of traditional and modern
out fits for the ladies, besides all sorts of designer accessories,
jewellery and interior decoration pieces. There are a string of salwar-suit
shops located at the 100 meter avenue near Luxa. Salwar suits, lehangas
and other traditional ladies' outfits could be easily procured at reasonable
prices from a host of shops including Libas, prernai Roopam and Rashi.
Otner shops include Shehnaz and Night Queen at
A Silken Touch
Incredible though it may sound, around 3000 kg of silk is consumed in
the weaving units of the city everyday. While 80 per cent of the produce is
utilised in the domestic market, the remaining 20 per cent is exported. this
helps the country in neting foreign exchange worth Rs 100 core per annum.
All Those Gizmos
Shops on both sides of Kotwalpura and Chetganj offer a wide array of
televisions, geysers, fans, desert coolers and fancy lampshades. The
Ghugrani lane is the ideal destination for those who want to buy tape
recorders, video games and transistors.
Top Gear
With the auto mart opening to foreign companies, several top-of-the-line
cars have steered their way into the country. Varanasi is no exception. All
major cars have exclusive showrooms in the city. With several companies
offering finance for cars, buying a four-wheeler has become very easy.
The final word
An unparalleled treasure trove for book
lovers, the Pilgrim Book House near Durgakund and Indica Book House
located near the Dashaswamedh Ghat, offer a wide array of books on various
subjects. Both have the facility of sending books by air or sea mail.
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