Ganges River Cruise: Kolkata to Varanasi (8N/9D)

Description

The Ganges is not simply a river in India; it is the axis around which northern Indian civilisation has organised itself for three thousand years. This nine-day cruise from Kolkata upriver towards Varanasi offers something no road journey can match, which is the chance to watch that civilisation unfold slowly from the water, village by village and ghat by ghat, at the unhurried pace the river itself sets.

Your vessel is a purpose-built river ship with a small passenger count, outward-facing cabins with large windows or private balconies, an open sun deck, a dining room serving both Indian and international menus, and an onboard naturalist and historian. Because the ship carries relatively few guests, shore excursions are intimate and can be adjusted to conditions, and the crew-to-guest ratio allows a genuinely personal level of service throughout the voyage.

The shore programme is the heart of this river cruise. You visit the Danish colonial settlement at Serampore and the French enclave of Chandernagore, both remarkably intact; the terracotta temples of Kalna and Baranagar, whose carved brick panels are among the finest in eastern India; the Vaishnavite pilgrimage centre of Mayapur; and Murshidabad, the last independent capital of Bengal, with its enormous Hazarduari Palace. Between stops the river delivers a constant procession of fishing boats, bathing ghats, brickworks and temple spires.

The journey concludes at Varanasi, where a dawn boat ride along the ghats and the evening Ganga Aarti ceremony bring the spiritual dimension of the river into sharp focus. This Ganges river cruise suits travellers who want depth rather than distance, and who appreciate that arriving somewhere slowly, by the route people have always used, changes what you understand when you get there.