Ram Bhawan, Kautilya Society Residence Reviews

I looved this place! No a/c, that's true. So if you go to Varanasi when it's hot you will be sweating... but staff is very sweet, the food really yummy (included breakfast n lunch), location great for exploring... and within the society it's very peaceful and cozy.

The Hostel has definitely a great atmosphere an is close to the main ghat, although hard to find. You should call the Hostel for sending you a riksha with a driver who really knows where to go because the last 300 meters rikshas are not allowed. Anyway, the Hostel is more for long-term staying for you have to pay additionally to the room charge a membership and donation for the society. So we paid over 2000 IR for 2 nights. But besides the price we had great stay!

I love this place. Such a haven from all the chaos outside. Also Auntie Mangla is the sweetest!

Truly western style hostel blessed with the indian touch. Breakfast -and also lunch!- included, free wifi internet and the the best of all, clean! Filtered water also free... it´s not so cheap, especialy for the suscription price, but is a realy nice place. Money/value excelent. Very close from the river, friendly/trustful indian staff (can you imagine that in a touristic spot??) and peaceful... what else you can ask for?

Absoloutely awesome. As proposed on the website: You will feel like home. We had a very good and clean room, the provided food is excellent and the staff very friendly. It is directly behind the Ghats located so within 2 minutes you can reach the river Ganges. The atmosphere when you entert the hostel is very cozy and I have to state that the house of the kautilya society ranks top #1 in India for me.

Best place we have stayed at in India. Heritage walk highly recommended - a little pricey,but for a good cause

This hostel is clearly the best hostel you will find in Varanasi! If you find anything wrong with this hostel and the facilities then budget travel is not for you! We booked a day here due to previous bad experiences and regretted it as soon as we got her, there were no extra rooms except a single and they changed it into a double for us for no extra cost! You get ya breakfast and lunch which are both awesome!!! This place gets 100% from us its been an amazing experience!

Great hostel. One thing I didn't like though, was they lock you in a night with a padlock, so if you want to go and take a dawn boat ride on the Ganges, like I did, you will need to go and wake one of the hostel owners up to unlock the door.

Lovely staff, great lunch included (fresh and healthy food, prepared before your own eyes). You can even join in to learn some Indian cuisine skills. And it's more than a place to stay, there's a whole positive philosophy behind as the residence is part of an NGO that supports local projects.

Totally impossible to find -- you'll have to ask a local. Once you get there and get to know your surroundings, the location is quite excellent. The food provided was plentiful and delicious! The rooms were very clean (kept clean by housekeeping every day), had hot water (although during limited hours), and the common areas/cafe are perfect to meet other travelers. The only problem I had is the lack of security -- our room had no lock and there were no lockers. However, we had no problems.

Owners were really friendly, place is lovely and chilled out, great place to meet other backpackers and you have free breakfast and lunch every day included in the cost. It is a perfect place for escaping the crazy town!

We spend nice time in this hostel. It was hard to find at the beginn, but when you find it than is all OK after that. Location in very good, in narrow street, few minutes to the one of most important ghats. In the price is breakfest and home made lunch, that was very tasty! This place is very good for people which would like to stay longer time, it will be cheaper than, because they charged for some membership. The building is very nice inside.

I loved staying here...would recommend it to anyone who visits Varanasi! It was a highlight of our trip around the world!

simply on of the best.

Very quiet, great spot and well setup to meet people.

We are a couple that stayed here for 2 nights, we had a good time, service was really good and friendly, location is perfect, 2 min walk from the main ghat. We highly recomend the stay and its worth the extra fee to become a member.

This guesthouse WAS GREAT!! CLEAN, SECURE, COMFY & BEST OF ALL, DELICIOUS HOME MADE INDIAN BREAKFAST/LUNCH! Kautilya is such an oasis from the buzz and activities along the Ganga. The location is perfect, a very short walk from the main ghats and really close to the shops. The location is also a little hard to find but we were only lost for 5 minutes. We loved it here and wished that we could have stayed longer.

My friend and I traveled all over India and both agreed that this was the absolute best place we stayed. We tried hostels as well as full blown $100+USD/night hotels and both left India reminiscing this place. The location is perfect (although a bit hard to find the first time), staff and facilities are great, and it's an amazing place to meet people. It may have been luck of the draw but we met some great travelers staying here (however I think it's common). I would definitely come back here.

good to have a lunch and breakfast for free and chatted with interesting ppl. around the table. bed is clean, quite big size bed in the dorm room, interior design of the guest house is cool! You should check the nice view with monkeys on the rooftop, and the funny sound-recalling "old phone" upstairs also! Staffs are helpful. Finding the route from the Munshi ghats would be better.

very good, cheap location directly on the ghats with very friendly staff. Its cold in the rooms at night, but anything else is excellent! Also good meal for free!!