Rishikesh
The Yoga Capital Of The World; Gateway To The Char Dham Pilgrimage; A Holy City On The Ganges · Rishikesh, Uttarakhand
A pilgrimage town where the Ganges leaves the Himalayan foothills, and since the 1960s the most famous place in the world to study yoga. The Beatles came in 1968 to the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and the ruins of that ashram, painted with murals, are now a visitor site in the forest. Today the town is a long strip of ashrams, yoga schools, temples and cafes on both banks, joined by suspension bridges, with the evening Ganga aarti at Parmarth Niketan and Triveni Ghat as the daily centrepiece. It is also India's adventure-sport capital: white-water rafting on the Ganges, bungee jumping and camping on the river beaches. By law and tradition the town is vegetarian and alcohol-free. The Laxman Jhula bridge, the most famous of the suspension bridges, has been closed since 2019 as unsafe, and Ram Jhula is the main crossing. Haridwar, where the Kumbh Mela is held, is half an hour south, and the town is the start of the road to the Char Dham pilgrimage shrines. Rafting stops during the monsoon, when the river becomes dangerous.
Swarg Ashram, Ram Jhula, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, 249304, India
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED AND ALL TIMES MUST BE CONFIRMED. The typical pattern: the ghats and Ram Jhula are open at all hours, and the Ganga aarti starts each evening around dusk, earlier in winter. The Beatles Ashram opens in fixed daytime hours, roughly ten to four, as part of the tiger reserve. Temples open early, close for the afternoon and reopen until night. Rafting runs in daylight in the season and is suspended in the monsoon, roughly July to mid-September. Laxman Jhula is closed. The traps: planning to cross the closed bridge, arriving for rafting in August, and missing the aarti by turning up at sunset instead of before it.