I have been to Varanasi first in 1961. This was by road from Ayodhya via Akbarpur and Jaunpur. The road was narrow. Then we stayed in the Clark hotel in Varanasi. It still exists in Varanasi Cantt. Lucknow in those days had the venerable Carlton on Shahnajaf road that was started by Italian brothers and then after Indpendence run by the Mahendrajitsingh family of Kanpur.
The next time I went to Varanasi, the whole city was being dug up and Babatpur airport where I landed, was acquiring a new terminal post Modi. The road to the city had all sorts of diversions and was being 4 laned. A minder was sent to receive me and a driver and both said that next time I came, they would zip me to the town in minutes when all the construction was over. This was 2016. Second time I stayed in the Ramada Inn at Varanasi Cantt, which is next door to the old Clark and I had a bemused smile walking past the Clark on a stroll reminding me of a young boy aeons ago. I went to all the major places in Varanasi, in the right order. There is a vidhi to be followed at Varanasi too. Plus other places that I know one should go. Then I was dropped off at Prayagraj and took a flight back to Delhi from Prayagraj and got to see a Mirage squadron as IAF Bamrauli/Prayagraj is HQ Central command and the airport is a civilian enclave inside an IAF station.
Babatpur/Varanasi is scheduled to have its runway extended. There is a 4 lane road now along the airport boundary, and this road is scheduled to go inside a tunnel with the runway over the tunnel. This extended runway will allow wide body aircraft like 777 and other similar aircraft to land at Varanasi directly from international destinations allowing Buddhist pilgrims to visit Sarnath directly without going to Delhi and changing planes. The ASI museum at Sarnath is small but excellent and worth a visit. You have to deposit cell phones and cameras at the security booth there, as the Asoka lion capital which was excavated at Sarnath and is the national emblem of India is in that museum and they want to make sure that nothing untoward happens to it.
The ASI museum at Sanchi stupa is also small and also excellent. It is on the way from Sanchi stupa to the rock cut Udayagiri caves where there is a huge Varaha rock cut sculpture with a small Vikramaditya and his minister bowing in front of Varaha avataar. The Udayagiri cave has the oldest sculpture existing of Vishnu reclining also. Wear good shoes as the paths here are uneven between caves and a good pair of shoes help. Not many tourists here(I was one of two people) and certainly none at the Heliodorus column at Vidisha which I went to after Udayagiri. The Heliodorus column is called
Khambha Baba by the locals. And that is what the SUV person driving me knew it as.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliodorus_pillar
My base for this operation was Bhopal where I stayed in an excellent hotel, and after Sanchi and Udayagiri, the next day I visited the prehistoric cave paintings at Bhimbetka which lies towards Hoshangabad, now renamed Narmadapuram. Bhimbetka rivals Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain which are now closed to tourists as the breathing is ruining the pigments. At Bhimbetka some of the paintings date to 10000 BCE and you can go up close to the paintings. On the return from Bhimbetka, I visited Bhojeshwar temple on the Bhopal outskirts. It was Makar Sankranti and full of pilgrims. The hotel provided me with the car an SUV and driver and a picnic lunch of a sandwich, fruit and water.
On the way from Bhopal to Sanchi you will also cross the Tropic of Cancer. There is a marker by the side of the road and you can take pictures. It is known as
Karka Rekha to the cab drivers.
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In 2016, cell phones, cameras etc were banned from the area around Kashi Visvanath temple and there was heavy police bandobast. One first visits
Dhundhi Ganapati and then proceeds to Kashi Visvanath temple. Next one visits Annapurneshwari and takes a packet of rice from your own home as an offering so that your home is always abundant with food. Then Visalakshi(where glass bangles are offered by women). Lastly Kaal Bhairav temple is visited which is 2-3 km away from the Kashi Visvanath temple complex which has Visalakshi, Annapuraneshwari and Kashi Visvanath. This is the bare minimum. Sankat Mochan temple and visits to Dasashmesh ghat, Harischandra ghat, Ganga aarti etc are other things to do as well traveling on the Ganga by a boat.
In Ujjain also there is Annapurneshwari. Sandipani ashram where Sudama and Krishna were fellow students in the gurukul of Sandipani rishi, Jantar Mantar, Chintamani Ganesh and of course Mahakaleshwar and Gadkalika devi who was venerated by Kalidas. Kalidas was suposedly a dolt in his young days, veneration of Gadkalika aroused his intellect and poetic powers. There is also Kaal Bhairav in Ujjain. No cell phones allowed on the premises of Mahakaleshwar temple nor cameras. There are photographers who will take your picture outside the temple of Mahakaleshwar and instantly give you copies. There are also priests around who will for a fee perform any pujas you desire and they will also assist you in having the proper darshan of Mahakaleshwar. I flew into Indore and traveled by road to Ujjain and stayed at the Shipra Residency(Shipra is the river that flows past Ujjain) in Ujjain. Hotel accomodation has improved a lot since the 8 years I was last at Ujjain.
