Travelogue: River Run with the Hyundai Creta: Lucknow to Varanasi

The drive from Lucknow to Varanasi is a short one, so we’ve planned a detour. About 4.5 hours and 200km from the Nawabi city is Allahabad, the city where the Yamuna flows into the Ganga at Triveni sangam, the site of the Kumbh mela. We had imagined it to be a sprawling space but the Yamuna has dried a fair bit so it’s tough to get through the vastness of the sangam through these pictures.

Triveni sangam means the confluence of three rivers. In Allahabad, you get two physical rivers in the Yamuna and Ganga and the third one is the mythical Saraswati river. It’s said to flow underground and has deep religious significance in the Rigveda. For the uninitiated and the non believers, the river on the left is the Yamuna and the one on the right is the Ganga. The Yamuna runs deep at the Sangam while the Ganga is shallow. The confluence is important to help the Ganga on its way for the remaining journey to the Bay of Bengal.

Getting in and out of Allahabad is a tedious task and once you are out, the initial stretch of highway is mired with potholes so maintaining a good pace isn’t easy. After driving on NH2 to a place called Bhiski, the highway merges into AH1 and then speeds pick up. We reach Varanasi by late afternoon. The total distance after our detour to Triveni Sangam is about 340km. A mix of single carriageways on this route and driving through the heart of Allahabad makes the travel time a good nine hours. 

Varanasi is a temple town, known to locals as Banaras and Kashi and is mainly a town developed along the 87 ghats built on the banks of the River Ganges. After a quick check in to our hotel, we rushed to the Dashashwamedh Ghat for the evening Ganga Aarti. It’s a spectacle one just can’t miss when you go to Varanasi. The priests at the ghat perform fire worship in splendid style in front of thousands of tourists every evening. 

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Login Now

The next morning, we catch the sunrise over the Ganges at Assi Ghat, right at the other end of Varanasi. For foodies, the apple pie from Vaatika Café at Assi Ghat is a must try. Assi Ghat is a hotspot for foreign tourists and students who come to the temple town for research. It is also one of the many ghats that people come to, to offer their early morning prayers to the sun and take a dip in the river. 

Route: Lucknow – Rae Bareli – Allahabad – Varanasi

Distance: 340km

Best time to visit: Sunrise/Sunset