Weather in Varanasi in March

A hard month. March is a hard month in Varanasi, and worth planning around. Daytime highs average 35.8 °C and the afternoon is not negotiable — outdoor plans move to early morning or evening.

March ranks 6 of 12 in Varanasi: past the worst of the year but short of December, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain falls on only 2 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Pack for heat management rather than style: shade, water, and a schedule that gives up on the middle of the day.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 20 days of the month clear 35 °C — that is not a heatwave, it is the month; the day swings 17.9 °C from low to high, which means one bag has to cover both. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 44 °C and the coldest night fell to 8.4 °C.

This is the volatile part. March rainfall has ranged from 0 mm to 36 mm across the twenty years measured — a 36 mm spread around an average of 10 mm. The average is real but almost no individual March looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind is light at 7.3 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and the air is dry at 29% humidity, which makes the heat far more bearable than the same figure somewhere humid — and dehydrates you faster than you expect.

How March sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 6.3 °C warmer than February, and April adds another 5.4 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in March

12 hours of daylight, gaining 0.7 hours across the month. That is between Varanasi's extremes of 13.7 and 10.6 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 34.1 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. Within March itself the daily swing is 17.9 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

March in Varanasi versus nearby

If Varanasi is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Patna is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Kanpur is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: March is a compromise. December is 50 points better and is what Varanasi is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Varanasi

See all twelve months in Varanasi, or where else to go in March.