Even people who have not heard of Varanasi have heard of it - it's just that they know it by its other name, Benares. That's how it was referred to by the three photographers - Raghubir Singh, William Gedney and Michael Ackerman - whose pictures of this amazing place made me want to go there in the first place. But as anyone who has visited India's holiest Hindu city will know, there is a dearth of nice places to stay. The Taj Ganges, on the outskirts of town, is sedate (if rather anodyne) and any tranquillity stored up there will be devoured by the nerve-shredding, 40-minute journey down to the Ganges. Most of the places on the ghats, on the banks of the mighty river itself, are for backpackers. Which means the only place to stay is the Ganges View at Assi Ghat - essentially a large family home, half of which has been converted into a guesthouse. Assi is a mile or so upstream from Manikarnika burning ghat - where families bring their dead to be cremated - and the journey there from the hotel - on foot or by boat - is a dream of beauty, flecked with traces of nightmare.
Aside from the location, the biggest attraction of the hotel is the huge terrace - prone to occasional monkey raids - overlooking the Ganges. There's a terrific bookshop a few doors away. The owner, Shashank, is a connoisseur of Indian classical music, and concerts are sometimes held on the terrace. It's lovely to be able to step out of the hotel straight into the intensity of life (and death) on the ghats, and even lovelier to be able to step back inside this refuge when your senses have been thoroughly overwhelmed - as they are approximately every 15 minutes.
• A double room costs from 3,000 rupees (£41) (www.hotelgangesview.com). You can fly, but an atmospheric way to travel is by train. The Shriv Ganga Express, an overnight sleeper from Delhi, costs £17 (www.seat61.com). Geoff Dyer's new novel, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, will be published by Canongate in April
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