Varanasi Shopping

At the ghats itself. After the evening 'aarti', a bit of shopping; after spiritual satisfaction, some material satiation!

What to buy: The silk saris of Banaras are known the world over and are priceless family heirlooms, handed down from mother to daughter. In days of yore, these costly items were made costlier by the intricate weaving of gold and silver threads. Not any more. These days the silk threads are lighter but the designs are as exquisite and the colour combinations as vibrant as ever. Of special interest is the close rapport maintained between Kolkata and Varanasi in all matters of saris.

First Written: Mar. 28, 2012

What to pay: Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 1,00,000/- and beyond, if you can afford to.

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Very reasonable prices. Clean environment. Helpful and polite staff. Free tasting.

What to buy: Besides the silk saris, the other item Varanasi is famous for is the endless variety of Indian sweetmeats. These just melt in your mouth. There are shops here which have been in business for over a century, if not more.

First Written: Mar. 28, 2012

What to pay: Rs. 1,000/- for a variety of sweets - for self and as gifts.

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banaras art culture is located in varanasi at Bhadhani assi area an 275 years old heweli is developed as local art show wonderful creative articals offered as a teracotta bronze silk aroma and paintings ..............................

What to pay: us$1 to 1 million

What made this shop so special was that after ordering two sets of silk bedding to be handmade, I left them with the money to cover the cost of the items and for the shipment to the UK. I also left various personal items with them, such as CDs, films and numerous souvenirs to be included in the package (I know, I know: stupid, or what!) When I got back to the UK, some 5 months later, there was the parcel: wonderfully wrapped, and with everything all present and correct, waiting for me. The silk items were absolutely beautiful. There are many silk shops in Varanasi, and I can't say anything about any of the others, but Mehrotra proved themselves to be not only excellent craftsmen, but also scrupulously honest. In my experience, they can be relied upon to provide excellent goods, and trusted to despatch items (even ones they've not supplied) worldwide.

What to buy: I bought duvets and pillow slips, but they also sell, to quote their invoice:
Scarves; Table and Cushion Covers; Dress and Furnishing Materials; Raw Silk; Plain and Printer Silk; Sarees and all sorts of handicrafts.

A great place to shop is the U.P. cottage Emporium, i nthe mittle of Varanasi old city. Yo uwill immediately detect the difference, as here the prices are fixed, and as far as you enter, the owner, a young guy, will offer you a glass of Chai. The ambient is great, morevoer if you are on Varanasi’s street trying to have a shop since few hours...here is quiet, you can simply having a look and get out...no pressure at all! Amazing!
Those two guys has a lot of stuff, from silk to the traditional musical instruments, silver, bags, clothes and so on..a lot of things to see...The shop has two floor, on the entrance one there are the most touristic stuff, but upstairs there are also few Kalaga, very nice to see!
Great things to buy are silk bedsheet cover (shoudl not cost more then 30USD), Silk pillow cover (sld not cost more then 2 USD), hand made paper, tshirts and so on... Really great items!
The quality of the item sold here is very high, and the prices are almoust the same then on the street, but here there is no pressure, you can have a sit and check! Much better!

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Sari,sari,sari & more sari...
This is Alladin cave full of bright colours, cool cotton and sinful silks...
You have to excuse the assault on your eyes abut all your other senses go in overdrive.
if you are in Varanasi, you have to buy silk and cool cottons...
the best quality of both can be found in Varanasi & the State of Uttar Pradesh...

What to pay: For nice sari, you can pay as little as Rs400 and go to few thousands.. depends on the quality of the silk and specially on the bead work..
the Indian ladies appriciate lots of intricate bead work on their saris....

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Old Varanasi has few small food markets hidden in the maze of the Old city, near the ghats.
Take aimless walk around the winding streets of the old town and you are bound to stumble upon one, where the local ppl and neighbours do their food shopping.
The smells and colours are amazing, as the nice and smiling ppl around.

What to buy: Local veg, flowers, spices...

What to pay: As little as Rs25 for bag of curry spices and Rs10 for garland of flowers to honour Ganga Ma

Varanasi (Benares or Banarasi) silk is famous throughout India for its quality, and no Indian bride's trousseau is complete without at least one Banarasi silk sari. If you want to take home a piece for yourself, a good place to start is Ganga Silk, a small fixed-price shop above the Bread of Life Bakery on Shivala Road (you'll see signs on the ghats from around Munshi Ghat heading south).

Bear in mind that this probably isn't the best place to grab a bargain, but it will give you an idea of what prices should roughly be, and more importantly, what quality to look for. For example I bought an absolutely gorgeous green silk scarf from here - it cost me 600rupees (about 2 nights lodging for me and my partner!), but the quality of it is really fine, I didn't see anything in the back streets to rival it.