Which is cheaper, Gorakhpur or Varanasi?

Gorakhpur and Varanasi cost about the same: roughly $750 per month for one person.

Is Gorakhpur or Varanasi safer?

Gorakhpur and Varanasi score the same on safety (55), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.

Where is the internet faster, Gorakhpur or Varanasi?

Varanasi: a measured median of 11.5 Mbps versus 10 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

Gorakhpur vs Varanasi

for digital nomads

Under balanced weights Varanasi edges it, 44 to 41, winning 3 of the 9 factors. Gorakhpur is stronger on nothing outright; Varanasi on getting there & around. Change the weights in the ranker to see which one wins for you.

Gorakhpur

out of 100

Temple and railway city on the road to Nepal and Lumbini

Full Gorakhpur profile →Plan a trip to Gorakhpur →

Varanasi

out of 100

Ganges ghats and the oldest living city in India

Full Varanasi profile →Plan a trip to Varanasi →

Where they differ

Getting there & around. Varanasi leads on getting there & around, 17 to 6, against Gorakhpur. Non-stop airport destinations: 6 vs 16.
Climate. Varanasi leads on climate, 50 to 42, against Gorakhpur. Comfortable months: 5 vs 6.

Where they are close. Within five points on internet, cost of living, safety, healthcare, visa ease, air quality, quality of life.

Pick Gorakhpur if you want

no clear edge over Varanasi in the data

Pick Varanasi if you want

more flights and easier getting around

Factor scores (0–100, balanced weights)

Metric	Gorakhpur	Varanasi
Cost of living	88	88
Safety	55	55
Healthcare	63	63
Internet	43	46 ✓
Visa ease	32	32
Getting there & around	6	17 ✓
Climate	42	50 ✓
Air quality	0	0
Quality of life	43	43

Cost

Metric	Gorakhpur	Varanasi
Monthly cost, one personcountry-level estimate for at least one city	$750	$750
Central one-bedroom rent	no data	no data

Safety and health (country-level)

Metric	Gorakhpur	Varanasi
Homicides per 100k	2.72	2.72
Political stability (0–100)	55	55
UHC service coverage (0–100)	69	69
Life expectancy	71 yrs	71 yrs

Internet (M-Lab measured medians)

Metric	Gorakhpur	Varanasi
Download	10 Mbps	11.5 Mbps ✓
Upload	2.7 Mbps	3 Mbps ✓

Visa

Metric	Gorakhpur	Varanasi
Nomad visa	none listed	none listed
Minimum income for the visa	no data	no data
Entry, US passport	e-visa required	e-visa required
Entry, EU passport	e-visa required	e-visa required
Entry, UK passport	e-visa required	e-visa required

Getting there and around

Metric	Gorakhpur	Varanasi
Non-stop airport destinations	6	16 ✓
Walkability (1–5, editorial)	2	3 ✓
Transit (1–5, editorial)	1	2 ✓

Climate and air

Metric	Gorakhpur	Varanasi
Comfortable months per year	5	6 ✓
Annual mean PM2.5	57.9 µg/m³ ✓	60 µg/m³

✓ marks the better value in each row; ties and missing data are left unmarked.

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, Gorakhpur or Varanasi?: Gorakhpur and Varanasi cost about the same: roughly $750 per month for one person.
Is Gorakhpur or Varanasi safer?: Gorakhpur and Varanasi score the same on safety (55), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.
Where is the internet faster, Gorakhpur or Varanasi?: Varanasi: a measured median of 11.5 Mbps versus 10 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

More comparisons

Sources: Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows); 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level); Digital Nomad Visas 2026; Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100); Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population (national data, latest year); UHC service coverage index; Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes; M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024); Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables); NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means); WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, June 2026 update (V8); SatPM2.5 satellite-derived annual PM2.5 (V6.GL.02.04); Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023); EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band); Walkability and transit ratings (editorial); Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations); OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API); Starlink availability map. Dataset 2026.11.2. See each city page for per-metric footnotes and the methodology.