Travel in Rishikesh

One tour in our India catalogue reaches Rishikesh. It is North India – landscapes and culture, 21 days, from EUR 2,300, and Rishikesh does not appear until day 17, after sixteen days of Gujarat, Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle. The other fourteen India tours never go near it. If what you want is a yoga holiday in Rishikesh, this is not that trip, and we would rather say so now than after you have paid.

Here is what the itinerary actually does. On day 17 you leave Delhi by train for Haridwar, at the foot of the Himalayas, then continue by road to Rishikesh: two nights at the Divine Resort in a Deluxe Room, or similar. Day 18 is the full day. A meditation session and a puja, the morning prayer ceremony, at one of the ashrams. A walk through the market streets, past the temples and ashrams that line both banks. A crossing of the Laxman Jhula, the suspension bridge that joins the two halves of town. The day closes at Triveni Ghat with the evening light ceremony, at the point where the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati are held to meet underground.

Day 19 moves you down to Haridwar for the third and last night in the region, at the Haveli Hari Ganga or similar. Haridwar is one of the seven holiest cities in Hinduism. You climb to the Mansa Devi Temple above the river, see the cremation ghats, walk the markets, and stay for the Aarti on the riverbank, where people set flowers and lights on the water. On day 20 a second train returns you to Delhi, and the tour spends its final two days in the old city and New Delhi.

Now the part that matters more. Outside India, Rishikesh is known for whitewater rafting on the Ganges. Rafting is not in this itinerary. Neither is a yoga course, a teacher training, or a night in an ashram: you visit ashrams, you sit for one meditation and one puja, and then you sleep in a hotel. The Beatles Ashram is not named. Nor is trekking, the Char Dham temples further up the valley, or Rajaji National Park. Three nights in the foothills at the end of a three-week cultural tour is what this is. "Yoga Capital of the World" is the town's reputation, not a description of your programme.

You arrive and leave by rail both times, out of Delhi. No domestic flight is written into this section, so there is nothing extra to book. The train is treated as part of the experience rather than as transport to be got through.

Two dates decide what you see in the days just before. The Taj Mahal on day 15 is closed on Fridays. The Akshardham Temple in Delhi on day 16 is closed on Mondays. Both fall immediately ahead of the Rishikesh leg, so your start date settles both.

The trip is private throughout. There are no group departures and no fixed dates: your own guide and driver, on dates built around you. Included are hotel accommodation, breakfast, a German-speaking guide, 24-hour contact for the whole trip, and a bottle of water on arrival. Breakfast is the only meal. International flights are not included, and that is the only exclusion the itinerary names. Rooms run standard, deluxe, superior and executive. There is no five-star tier, and the Rishikesh and Haridwar nights are deluxe-grade resort and heritage properties, not ashram accommodation.

If Rishikesh itself is the trip you have in mind, a week of yoga or the river in rafting season, tell us when you enquire. Every trip we run is built to order, so it can be looked at. But there is no short Rishikesh route in the catalogue to price it against, and a version like that would be a custom quote rather than a listed one.