Tout Dodging
Like Agra and Delhi, Varanasi is rife with touts, and you will have to be careful of scams, especially on arrival. Most hotels pay a commission of up to eighty percent of the room rate (for every day you stay) to whoever takes you to the door - a cost that is passed on to you. All English-speaking rickshaw drivers are part of this racket, and avoiding it takes persistence. At the railway station, first visit the very helpful tourist office and telephone your hotel of choice. They'll send someone to pick you up. If you want to make your own way to the hotels of the old town, walk away from the bus or railway station to the main road, find a non-English-speaking rickshaw driver, and ask to be taken to Godaulia, 3km southeast - a Rs10-15 cycle rickshaw ride. Rickshaws are unable to penetrate the maze of lanes around Vishwanatha Temple and are banned from the central part of Godaulia. Again, you should telephone a hotel from here and they'll come and find you - if you attempt to get to a hotel yourself, someone will attach himself and claim a commission on arrival. The only hotels in the old town that don't pay commission to touts are the Vishnu, Shanti and Yogi Lodge , so it's common to hear that these places have "burned down" or "flooded".
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