The explorer Simon Reeve has been to many places over the course of his career, but one of the most memorable has to be the holy city of Varanasi.
Sitting next to the mighty Ganges river, it’s a place of pilgrimage, funerals and spectacular temples – as well as home to some seriously good street food. Here, he tells us what to expect from a visit.
Where is your favourite destination and why?
Varanasi in India. It is one of the most spectacular places I have been. It’s one of the oldest inhabited cities on Earth and has been a place of faith for something like 30 centuries. It’s said to be older than Babylon. It’s also one of the most overwhelming places that I’ve been to. But I think you can have as much of it or as little as you like. If you want to really dive into it, then it’s a place that will stick in your heart and your soul for the rest of your existence. But if you want to skirt around the edges, you’ll still have a very memorable time.
I’ve also written a guide to Varanasi for a Nutmeg travelling investment brochure. India has the largest population in the world, and it’s one of the most youthful countries in the world. So it’s an incredibly exciting place to visit, but it’s also somewhere all of us should be looking at much more than we are in terms of it being a rising economy and superpower.
When was the last time you were there, and who were you with?
I’ve been there twice. I first went 10 years ago, then again five years ago. I’ve been to India six or seven times, I think, and travelled pretty extensively there. I’ve been across it twice, following the Tropic of Cancer and the river Ganges from source to sea, which was a hell of a journey.
Where do you like to stay there?
The Taj Hotel in Varanasi
Taj
We stayed in a little guest house for part of it. There is a Taj Hotel there: the Tajs are quite posh, and that would definitely be an option if I went back again. But the river guest houses are really special. Ours was called Ganpati, and it was a riot of colour. Every room was painted in what some would say garish colours. I would say colours that just make you feel alive.
What was your favourite meal?
In terms of food, I tend to just accept what the wise souls offer. I’ve almost always travelled in India with a guide and I’ll take their advice about the best food to eat. One of my favourite foods for breakfast is masala dosa. That’s a crispy golden pancake filled with spiced mashed potatoes. It’s cheap and cheerful, and served with chutneys that make you want to lick the plate. I remember having a meal in what some people call a death hotel, which is not necessarily somewhere anyone other than a guide would take you to.
Many Hindus believe that if you die within Varanasi, you achieve moksha: you escape the circle of reincarnation. So lots of people come to Varanasi to die and there are hotels where people are just waiting for the end. From a Western perspective, that sounds quite depressing but they’re actually quite joyous places. We ate aloo tamatar sabzi, which is a mildly spicy curry with tomatoes and potatoes, and large doses of turmeric, cumin, ginger and garam masala. The elderly lady I was visiting was worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle anything too spicy. So she cooked me up some comfort food. It was completely delicious. But it still blew my head off.
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What is the one unmissable thing you recommend doing?
Get up early and take a boat along the river so you arrive just as the sun is rising. I arrived into Varanasi for the first time on a little boat travelling down the Ganges at dawn and it was a completely overwhelming sight. I can still really vividly remember being on the boat, the scent and the morning mist, then people starting to emerge from the gloom along the river bank and become this teeming mass of humanity and existence. It’s a glorious, incredible place and of course perhaps the holiest city in India next to its holiest river.
What would you do if you only had 24 hours there?
Take the boat on the river, so you’re launching yourself straight in there. Further along the river, if you’re brave, you can see them building the funeral pyres. That will stick in your mind forever. And then I think you need to get some breakfast. Follow a guide’s advice, or if you’re feeling a little bit brave, you can go to some of the street vendors. There are some really spectacular street vendors in Varanasi. You’ve got literally thousands of options to choose from.
This is not chicken korma; this is genuine Indian street food, beautiful and simple. Load up your hands and your plate and then start wandering around the temples and soaking it all in. It’s a place which, more than anywhere, draws mystics and the thoughtful. So you’ve got a lot of people who are searching for something. There are a lot of deep meaningful conversations among strangers in Varanasi.
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The one thing you would bring home as a souvenir?
I’m more or less banned from bringing back souvenirs now after 20 years of adventures, because we’re running out of shelf space. But from India, I’m definitely allowed to bring back fabrics. There’s a chain of shops there called Anokhi, which has gorgeous fabrics and handicrafts — they’re basically posh souvenirs, aren’t they?
Is there a travel tip you are willing to share?
I’ve got to stress finding a guide. When I’ve travelled in India, I’ve always used guides, and you really do want to think about investing in one because whenever you’re visiting a country that is glorious but sometimes tricky you benefit massively from having somebody who can hold your hand and lead you through it. And if you’ve got the time, I would arrive into Varanasi having gone along as much as you can of the Ganges river, from its source. It starts up in a town called Devprayag, which is high in the mountains and is absolutely stunning. That’s in the very far north of India, and you follow the river down and it takes you though to towns like Rishikesh, where the Beatles went to an ashram in the 1960s, and then Varanasi.
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I’ll always take my tea bags and some flapjacks. I’ll always take a guidebook, even now, because I love learning about a place. I also definitely take some hand sanitiser wherever I go. I’m still doing that even after 130 countries. Probably more so now because I’m aware of the risks.
Your dress code for the destination?
It’s not really a code so much as a fabric suggestion, which is dig out your linen, for goodness’ sake. You really want to be in breathable materials. It always escapes me why people wear plastic nylon shower curtain clothing. So linens, nice flowing stuff that traps lots of air and keeps you cool. And India can often be quite conservative, particularly around temples. It’s definitely an idea in Varanasi, as the holiest site, to stay quite covered up.
Simon Reeve is working with Nutmeg, the J.P. Morgan-owned digital wealth manager. For details visit nutmeg.com