Rishikesh

Rishikesh is where the Ganges leaves the Himalayan gorge and enters the plains for the first time, and the specificity of that transition — mountain river meeting flat earth — has been regarded as sacred for long enough that the town around it has been attracting sages, seekers, and curious outsiders since before reliable records begin.

The yoga tradition at Rishikesh predates the Beatles' arrival in 1968 by several centuries, but that visit — four months with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi — turned a regional pilgrimage town into an international spiritual address it has been managing the consequences of ever since. The genuine yoga instruction still exists here, in institutions including the Sivananda Ashram and the Iyengar Yoga School that maintain rigorous practices rather than tourist-facing flexibility classes.

The river at Rishikesh is clean enough to swim in — the Ganges is still mountain water here — and fast enough for commercial white-water rafting on the sections above the town. The Ganga Aarti at Parmarth Niketan, performed at dusk by priests whose lamp-flames are released onto the current while hundreds of witnesses watch from the ghats, is smaller and more intimate than Varanasi's ritual — and in some ways more powerful for the lack of tourism infrastructure around it.

Places to Visit in Rishikesh

• Laxman Jhula
• Ram Jhula
• Triveni Ghat
• Beatles Ashram

Things to Do in Rishikesh

• Yoga and meditation sessions
• Evening Ganga Aarti at Triveni Ghat
• White-water rafting on the Ganges
• Beatles Ashram graffiti walk