Treks Near Varanasi: Chunar, Vindhyachal’s Hills and the Rajdari-Devdari Falls, Honestly Rated

Trekking near Varanasi: what is realistic

Varanasi is one of the flattest places in India to look for a trek. The city stands at about 80 m above sea level on the Ganga plain, and the nearest rock rises to the south and south-east, where the Vindhya and Kaimur hills reach the river near Chunar and Mirzapur and run on into Chandauli. Those hills are low. What you get within a day of Varanasi is hill walking, stair climbs to hilltop temples and forest waterfall hikes of a few hours, not multi-day mountain treks. For those, you need to plan a longer trip.

That is still worth training for. A full day at Vindhyachal or Chandraprabha means several hundred steps or rough forest paths in heat or monsoon humidity, and plenty of Varanasi visitors come back with sore knees and calves. The table sets out what is close enough for a day trip.

Chunar Fort: the nearest hill climb to Varanasi

Chunar Fort is the closest real high ground to Varanasi, about 23 km south-west of the city on the south bank of the Ganga in Mirzapur district. The fort stands on a rock at about 85 m above sea level, with a bluff rising 32 m above the river, on a detached spur of the Vindhya range near the Kaimur hills. Its walls enclose an area about 690 m long and up to 270 m wide, with a perimeter of about 1,690 m.

It is a half-day outing rather than a trek: the climb from the town to the gate is short and steep, and the best exercise is walking the full ramparts. Combine it with an hour on the riverside below for a gentle first outing if you haven’t walked much in a while. Chunar has its own railway station on the Mughalsarai–Kanpur line, so you can do it by train and auto from Varanasi.

Vindhyachal’s Trikon: Varanasi’s best stair workout on the Vindhya range

The Trikon Parikrama at Vindhyachal links three temples: Vindhyavasini in the town, the cave temple of Kali Khoh, and Ashtabhuja, which the Mirzapur district administration describes as standing on the highest peak of the Vindhya mountains. Ashtabhuja is about 4 km from Vindhyachal railway station and about 65 km, roughly a two-hour drive, from Varanasi. Devotees usually walk the 1–2 km between Kali Khoh and Ashtabhuja.

There are three ways up. A paved road reaches the hilltop, a stairway serves those who prefer to climb, and a ropeway, inaugurated on 1 August 2021, takes visitors up the hill. We couldn’t find an official count of the steps, so judge the climb yourself on the day. If you are training for a bigger trek, take the stairway up and down: it is the nearest sustained climb to Varanasi, and stairs are exactly what Himalayan trails demand.

A Chunar and Vindhyachal day from Varanasi, step by step

1. 1

   Leave Varanasi by 6 AM

   In December and January, allow extra time for fog on the roads; in March, the early start keeps you ahead of the heat.

2. 2

   Chunar first, for about an hour

   Climb from the town to the gate and walk the ramparts, roughly 1.7 km round, as a warm-up for the legs.

3. 3

   Drive on to Vindhyachal

   Chunar lies between Varanasi and Mirzapur, so Vindhyachal is the natural second stop on the same road south-west.

4. 4

   Walk the Trikon

   Start at Vindhyavasini, go on to Kali Khoh, then walk the 1–2 km to Ashtabhuja and take the stairway up rather than the road or ropeway.

5. 5

   Head home before dark

   Eat light at midday, drink more water than you think you need, and keep the evening free to stretch your calves and hips.

Rajdari and Devdari waterfalls in Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary

Rajdari and Devdari are the two waterfalls Varanasi people mean when they talk about hiking near the city. Both lie inside the Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary in Chandauli district, about 70 km from Varanasi according to UP’s Ecotourism Board. The sanctuary was set aside in 1957 over 9,600 hectares, with another 66,000 hectares of buffer forest, and three Asiatic lions were brought there from Gir that year; they survived until 1970. It sits on the Naugarh and Vijaigarh hills on the northern slope of the Kaimur range, and the Karmanasa and Chandraprabha rivers run through it.

The Chandauli district administration lists the nearest railway station as Mughalsarai, about 50 km away, and suggests a shared jeep from Mughalsarai to Chakia, then another jeep to the falls. There is no accommodation at Rajdari or Devdari, only small eateries, so treat it as a day trip and start early. The falls are at their best in the monsoon, when the rocks are also at their most slippery; in winter there is less water but the forest walking is far more comfortable.

When to go: Varanasi’s weather by season

Heat is the main limit on walking near Varanasi. India Meteorological Department normals for 1991–2020 show an average May high of 40.4°C, and the city has recorded 47.2°C. These are the months to plan around:

Weekend treks from Varanasi: Rajgir’s five hills

If you have a weekend, the nearest proper ring of hills is at Rajgir in Bihar, the ancient capital of Magadha. The old city is surrounded by five hills, Vipulachal, Ratnagiri, Udayagiri, Suvarnagiri and Vaibhargiri, with temples on their tops, and an ancient cyclopean wall almost 50 km long once ran along the hilltops around it. Udayagiri is 1.5 km from Ratnagiri, so linking two or three hills in a morning makes a good half-day hike. Vulture Peak (Gridhrakuta), where the Buddha spent months preaching, is the best-known climb.

For Himalayan treks, Varanasi trekkers usually travel to Uttarakhand, Himachal or Nepal. Those trips start at altitudes where breathlessness and the long descents are the hard part, so give yourself eight weeks of preparation, not four.

Training for treks on Varanasi’s ghats: a six-week plan

Varanasi has something most flat cities don’t: stairs. The city has 84 ghats, stone steps that run down to the Ganga, and a morning walk along them from Assi towards Dashashwamedh with repeated climbs is the best trek training on the plain. Combine that with two short strength sessions at home and you’ll be ready for Vindhyachal, Chandraprabha or Rajgir. The general principles are in our guide on how to prepare for a trek.

Do the ghat sessions early, before 7 AM in summer, and skip them on festival mornings when the steps are crowded. If you are carrying extra weight, our BMI calculator is a quick starting point, and a coach will set the pace of your progression.

If you train in a gym in Sigra or Lanka, Personal Gym Training in Varanasi puts a coach on video with you there; if a knee or back needs care first, Rehab and Recovery in Varanasi is exercise coaching after your doctor or physio has cleared you. To compare local costs, read gym fees in Varanasi and personal trainer fees in Varanasi, or start at online personal training in Varanasi.