Getting from Varanasi airport without being overcharged

The airport, Lal Bahadur Shastri International, is out at Babatpur, roughly 26 km north-west of town. Depending on the traffic and which side of the city you're staying, you're in the car for anything from 45 minutes to an hour and a quarter. For most people it's the very first thing they pay for in Varanasi, and, sadly, the thing they most often overpay for.

What the transfer costs

Just so you know, these are fixed one-way fares for the airport run, not our per-km rate. An airport transfer is priced as a job, start to finish, not by the kilometre.

Which one you want

The honest advice is that most visitors over-book this leg. Two people with two suitcases do not need an Innova; a Dzire does it for ₹649 and fits down the lane to your hotel, which the Innova may not. Where size genuinely matters is luggage: a Dzire's boot takes two bags and a third goes on a lap. If you are four adults with four large cases, book the Ertiga.

If you are arriving for a multi-day trip, ask for the transfer and the trip to be priced together. A vehicle that collects you and then stays with you is cheaper than a transfer plus a fresh booking the next morning.

Surcharges that are legitimate

• Toll on the airport road, charged at actuals with the receipt.
• Airport parking, if the driver waits inside rather than at the kerb.
• Night allowance for pickups between 11pm and 6am — this is the driver allowance charged a second time, not a doubled fare.
• GST, added on the invoice.

Surcharges that are not

A "festival rate" on the airport transfer. A higher price because your flight was delayed and the driver waited — waiting is legitimate to charge for, but it should have been agreed as an hourly figure before he set off, not invented afterwards. And a fare that goes up between the phone call and the kerb, which is the single most common complaint visitors to Varanasi report.

Our whole rate card is published, which makes that last one impossible: the number on the page is the number on the invoice.

Timing your arrival

Land before 9 in the morning and you'll beat most of the traffic into town. Between 5 and 8 in the evening, though, the roads into Cantt and Godowlia crawl, and a run that takes 50 minutes at lunchtime can easily take 80. Hoping to catch the Ganga aarti the same evening? Try to land before 3 pm, or be ready to go straight to the ghat, bags and all, and skip the hotel stop.