anyone have a good guide to recommend in Varanasi India?

thanks

Yes, we recently had a great experience with Pappu from Varanasi Walks. Most of their guides are local. Pappu featured as a guide in the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. A really interesting young man.

We used Ashok Verma back in 2009:

http://guideashok.com/

My son found him highly recommended, at the time, on various forums. He has a Ghandi-like shtick, with his clothes, and all. He took us to a wedding, to meet some friends on the way (a pharmacist and family), and the last day, he had us over his house for lunch to meet his mother, wife, and daughter. My son and I were eating only vegetarian on the trip, so the women cooked some great food without meat especially for us.

Overall, I would say that he was a good guide. We walked from one end of the ghats to the other with him, but I was a little disappointed when we went to the museum in Sarnath. He didn't seem to know much history there, and I would have preferred to tour the museum alone. If you go there, tell him that you would like a peaceful hour to read the signage yourself.

Like satoric we also had an excellent experience with a firm called Varanasi walks and used them for a Dawn trip along the ghats in a boat and then a walk called "Northern bazaars and hidden alleys". The latter was amazingly good. Our guide was called Nomi and we liked the way he gently interpreted some of the spiritual aspects of Varanasi for us.

http://varanasiwalks.com/

I do not think you need a guide for Sarnath. We just got a taxi from our hotel and asked it to wait and relied on our guide book. This was hassle free.

Thanks to all of you - I'll probably try Varanasi Walks
Stevr

Have a wonderful trip, and please post some feedback when you return.