Hi Folks,
I will be talking about our 3-Day Trip to Rishikesh from Delhi. Rishikesh is destination that caters to tourists of different kinds.It is an amalgamation of being a very holy destination for Hindus, with the Ganges flowing right though it, and being THE destination for best white-water rafting in India. The other reason why Rishikesh is very famous is the great Yoga destination it is turning out to be. There are a lot of places offering 1/2/3/10 Day courses in Yoga. It is a very hippie place with a lot of Israeli tourists, and great cafes filled with Israeli food. We went on this trip from 27th Feb - 2nd Mar, 2018. We went in our self-driven car from Delhi. All prices mentioned below are in INR(Indian Rupees), for 2 adults. I'm sharing a suggested itinerary for people who are planning this trip below.
Suggested Itinerary:
Day 1: Start from Delhi to Rishikesh. Reach Rishikesh in 6 hours. (250Kms from Gurgaon. Good roads to drive). Visit Har ki Pauri in Haridwar enroute Rishikesh. Check out Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula, and the amazing cafes lined up around the Jhulas.
Day 2: Visit Vashist Gufa, Neelkanth Mahadev Temple, Neergarh Waterfall, Garud Chatti Ashram, Phool Chatti Waterfalls, Rishi Kund, Triveni Ghat, Beatles Ashram.
Day 3: White-water Rafting -> Leave for Delhi
Cost of Trip
Fuel Expenses: 2500Rs (For Round Trip)
Hotels: Rs 800 per night for 3 nights
Food & Sight-seeing & Entry Tickets & Toll: 2000Rs
Total: 5,500 Rs
Trip in Detail:
We started for Rishikesh from Gurgaon at around 9.30AM, after having breakfast. It is advisable to start as early as you can, to avoid traffic enroute Lansdowne. We took the Delhi-> Meerut Bypass -> Haridwar -> Rishikesh route. (The default route shown in Google Maps) to reached Haridwar at around 5.30PM, just in time for Har Ki Pauri. I'm jotting down the places to visit in the order of their popularity, instead of the order we visited them, on the 3 days.
Har Ki Pauri: Har ki Pauri is one of the ghats of the Holy River Ganga in Haridwar. It is said to be the steps leading to Lord Shiva (Har). It is a very holy place visited by pilgrims from all over the country. We parked our vehicle in the Har Ki Pauri parking area and went in for the Evening Aarti in this Ghat. It started at around 6PM, and lasted for 10 mins. Haridwar is around 30Kms from Rishikesh and is famous for the Kumbh mela which is held here once in every 12 years.
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| Har ki Pauri Ghat |
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| The Ganga Aarti at Har Ki Pauri Ghar |
Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula: Rishikesh is a town with the Ganges flowing right in between it. The two sides of the town are connected with 2 Jhulas - The Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula, allowing tourists and 2-Wheelers to commute to both parts of the town. Both these bridges are suspension bridges, and are always bustling with tourists!
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| Ram Jhula |
Vashishta Gufa and Ashram: This is the meditation cave of an ancient sage called Vashishta. He along with his wife mediated here, due to the very pleasant environment around this place. The river flowing by the side, still makes it a very pleasant view, and a must-visit monument in Rishikesh. The cave is now inside the premises of an Ashram, where sages still come to meditate.
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| At the entrance of the Vashishta Gufa Ahsram |
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| At the entrance of the Cave |
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| The view just outside the Ashram |
Neelkanth Mahadev Temple: This is a long journey to the temple, perches on top of a hill. By road, it took us around 45 mins to reach, thanks to the meandering pathway up-hill. This is a very historically important temple, which is famous for the Neel-kanth or the blue throat of Lord Shiva. He is known to have consumed the Samudramanthan or the Amrita(which turned out to be poison), made from the churning of the sea. The architecture on the temple dome depicts the same, is what the local tourists told us there.
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| The Sanctum Sanctorum in the background |
Garud Chatti Waterfalls & Phool Chatti Waterfalls: These are two small but very beautiful waterfalls enroute Neelkanth Mahadev Temple. They are quite small for the rest of the year, but very full and pretty falls in the monsoons, as told by the locals there.
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| The small but very beautiful waterfalls! |
Neergarh Waterfall: Very beautiful 2-staged waterfall, enroute the Neelkanth Mahadev temple. There is an entry ticket of 30Rs at the corner where you turn to take the road for this waterfall. It is a small hike up to the 1st stage of the waterfall. By the time we went, it was quite late in the evening, and we didn't go to the second stage, but this is a very beautiful waterfall, worth all the pain of hiking up!
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| At the Neergarh Waterfalls |
Triveni Ghat: This is one of the banks of the Ganges, just while entering into Rishikesh. It is famous for the Ganga Aarti that happens here every evening.
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| At the Triveni Ghat |
Beatles Ashram: This is another must-visit place in Rishikesh. However, there is an entry fee of Rs 150 per person for Indian Nationals and Rs 600 per person for people of Non-Indian origin. It is situated right inside the Rajaji National Park, with a caution board hanging there, warning tourists of wild elephants in the vicinity!
The place is very peaceful, and nestled along the banks of the Ganges. The Beatles band visited this place for meditation in the 60s, for meditating, a quite a few songs have been composed by them along the Ganges. Once you get inside, there are lot of small caves, with stones and graffiti painted on them, and one can take these nature walks inside the ashram.
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| At the Beatles Ashram |
Rafting: Rishikesh is turning out to be the destination for white water rafting in India. The unique aspect of the rafting here is the rapids one encounters on the Ganges. The prices are very economical. 18Kms Rapids cost around Rs 500, and the 21Kms ones cost around 600Rs. They are open to bargaining, upto this price point. They put you on a jeep and take you uphill, in Shivpuri, and from there, you hike down to the banks of Ganges. From there, one gets into the raft, and the whole thing lasts easily for around 2hours! Very safe, and good value for money. The experience is one of it's kind!
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| The Ram Jhula in the background. The only part where we could click pics! |
That was about our 3-day trip here. Do allocate time in your itinerary to check out the very lovely cafes lined up near Ram Jhula, Lakshman Jhula, Parmarth Niketan. The food, the crowd and the ambience in these cafes is amazing!
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