Best time to visit Varanasi

Varanasi is a city of two halves. December scores 98 and June scores 27 — a 71-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. Only 3 months come close to the top, which makes the timing narrow.

May is the warmest month at 43.2 °C and January the coolest at 24.7 °C — a 18.5 °C spread across the year. 257 days a year top 30 °C, more than a third of the calendar, so heat is the baseline here rather than a season.

There is a real wet season here. July to September carry the rain — up to 23 wet days in a month — while January, February, March, April, October, November and December drop as low as 1. That 22-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Varanasi, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 10.6 hours in winter to 13.7 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are December, January, November. The one to think twice about is June. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Varanasi month by month