As a full-time traveller, Rishikesh was my first destination, back in 2021. Here are the 10 best places to visit in Rishikesh if you are planning to visit for 2 days or so. This is a guide to the most enthralling tourist spots and my endless strolls/babbling.

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It was a two-week exploration. I was living there and walking through the streets like a vagabond. That’s how Rishikesh should be treated and trodden on. Consuming every bit of it and producing every bit of yourself – all at the same time. I officially had an itinerary planned and colour-coded a month prior to the journey (the only time I prepared an itinerary since it was my first destination as a full-time traveller), but I did not even take a look at that.

Places to Visit in Rishikesh

Let’s get to know this quaint town in Uttarakhand as I take you through one place at a time. My three visits in a single year, a place I call my ‘first home’. No doubt the visits had their distinctive reasons and followed or unfollowed charm.

In this guide, you will find the 10 best places to visit in Rishikesh, things to do, how to reach, and where to stay!

1. The Jhulas of Rishikesh

1.1. Laxman Jhula

Distance from city centre – 7 km

Laxman Jhula is a suspension bridge connecting two villages; Tapovan in Tehri Garhwal and Jonk in Pauri Garhwal. After the devastating flood (October, 1924) washed away the bridge, it had to be rebuilt in 1939. This time the Jute bridge was replaced by an iron bridge. The bridge is open for the use of pedestrians only.

The local mythology stands on the pillar that Laxman crossed the mighty Ganges on the jute ropes of the bridge. That’s how it retained its name ‘Laxman Jhula’.

The stretch of green water and the white ripples near the stony obstructions compliment the beauty of this bridge. It’s the surroundings, the cows and dogs, the vendors selling street food – the line goes straightway in a parallel frenzy. At night the bridge adorns itself with long yellow lengths of lights. From the rooftop of the nearby cafes, you can live within those lights and enjoy a local man singing an Uttarakhandi song.

1.2. Ram Jhula

Distance from city centre – 6 km

Ram Jhula is an iron suspension bridge, making it one of the three major bridges in Rishikesh. Ram Jhula has a higher span (750 feet) than Laxman Jhula, probably the reason why vehicles are also allowed to run through the bridge. It works as a link between the Sivananda Nagar area of Muni ki Reti in Tehri Garhwal and Swargashram in Pauri Garhwal.

There is an endearing sense of openness along the roads leading to either end of the bridge. The river has a different pace after a few steps. I have been near and around the bridge almost every day for two weeks. A young girl sells Ramphal on the way to the bridge. The local men and women are open to conversations and take you into their lives as soon as you open yourself to them.

I asked one vendor for directions and she said that since I was going that way, I must let some man (I forgot the name) know that his mother-in-law was looking for him. That’s how it is with the people here. They know how to blend in and imbibe you in their daily caricature as well.

Gita Bhawan, Parmarth Niketan Ashram, and many other ashrams are scattered around Ram Jhula in Rishikesh. The famous restaurant Chotiwala (I had Sabji Puri there) is also near the bridge.

1.3. Sita Jhula

Sita Jhula is the last of the bridges in the line. Given that Laxman Jhula and Ram Jhula are exceedingly famous among tourists, Sita Jhula doesn’t get much spotlight in the tourist book. But it is one of the most beautiful bridges, especially for the water below. The current is way too intense here and white small waves make more noise than anywhere along the stretch.

The walk from Laxman Jhula to Sita Jhula has the earthly smell all along. After sunset, the houses in the distant mountains look like stars within reach. In winter the wind will take your breath away.

Also read – Dehradun – The Winter Capital City of Uttarakhand

2. Ashrams in Rishikesh

2.1. The Beatles Ashram

Timing – 10 am Entry fee – Rs. 150 Distance from city centre: 5 km

Chaurasi Kutia, more prominent among the tourists by the name of The Beatles Ashram, is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas. Primarily known as the International Academy of Meditation, it adopted its later name after the Beatles stayed here for months to learn Transcendental Meditation from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Ashram is in proximity to the Rajaji Forest area on a 150 ft high cliff on the hill Manikoot. And The Beatles Ashram is surely one of the best places to visit in Rishikesh.

The Ashram opens at 10 am and I was the first one there at 10:15 am. There is a nature trail that gives you the feel of the jungle and if you get drenched in rain like I did, chances are you will end up being drowned in the ecstasy of the place. There are two buildings, more of abandoned structures, preserved in their natural appeals, without any modern sanctity. All you need is to climb the roof and you know you are in close contact with something greater, bigger, and larger than yourself. The dome-shaped meditation caves on the roofs (the same pattern adopted for other such caves scattered all around the area) were made especially for the four Beatles. The view from the roof of The Beatles Ashram in Rishikesh overlooking the distant mountains is priceless.

You may also be interested in the history of the Beatles in India. Read this article by Rolling Stone).

2.2. Geeta Bhawan

Distance from city centre: 6 km

Located within walking distance of Ram Jhula and situated near Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Geeta Bhawan is a large complex with around 1000 rooms for accommodation. It is free of cost and generally filled with devotees covering a long distance to dip in the Ganges.

It was mostly empty at the time I visited, due to the pandemic. But under normal circumstances, this pilgrim-accommodation remains open to people from all over the world. Also, photography is prohibited here.

2.3. Parmarth Niketan Ashram

Distance from city centre: 6 km

Looking for your next best tourist spot in Rishikesh? Walk along the Ganges for a few yards and you will come across a beautiful building with an aarti ghat right opposite it. There’s a statue of Hanuman with Ram and Sita placed inside his heart. The work of such delicacy (keeping the religious aspect aside) is positioned hither and thither throughout the Ghats.

I couldn’t go inside the Ashram (again due to the pandemic, it was closed to visitors). But it is generally open to visitors and the aarti starts at 5 pm.

2.4. Swami Dayanand Ashram

Distance from city centre: 5 km

To reach Swami Dayanand Ashram I took up the banks of the river as my companion. The locals told me to move along the banks and I will reach the Ashram. Hence started my walk from Laxman Jhula, through Ram Jhula, Sita Jhula, and a few more meters… and I reached the place I had heard so much about.

Swami Dayanand Ashram, a serene visit in Rishikesh, provides meals three times a day (breakfast at 8 am, lunch at 11:30 am, and dinner at 7 pm) and also tea thrice a day. And all this is completely free of cost. The meal is simple and healthy.

On the day of my visit, the meal was prepared by a monk on the occasion of his birthday. Rice, daal, dhania paste, and a white dessert. There are in-house volunteers who serve the food, only you need to cleanse your own plate after the meal.

Also read – Best Places to Visit in the Pine Forests of Lansdowne

3. Evening Aarti in Triveni Ghat

Time: 6 pm (now 7pm, presumably) Distance from city centre: 4 km

Every place has its own share of treasures, except that Rishikesh has a garland of treasures. One such treasure is Triveni Ghat. Evening Aarti is a regular course of life synced with the outline and culture of Uttarakhand. At Parmarth Niketan Ashram, temples near Laxman Jhula, Ram Jhula, and also at slight corners, aarti, small or big, has its own flavour. But the melodrama of the occasion covered up in the simplicity of peoples’ devotion towards a positive entity (to me, it is nature) comes to its supremacy at Triveni Ghat.

Priests confront the almighty Ganga on high stands with the offering of faith in their hands. There is a group of devotees singing songs of devotion in the back. The Mahaaarti starts at 6 pm precisely, and continues for around 20 minutes. The process, the beauty of the choreography, the positive energy amalgamated for an unknown reason, and the small diyas sent out by the devotees to the river bind us all together, at least for that moment.

Revisited Rishikesh in August 2021: After two hectic weeks backpacking across Punjab, I came back to the mountains, and for no particular reason in mind, couchsurfed for a week. The only place I visited during this time was Triveni Ghat, for the Ganges always allured me to its, and mine, soothing self. The only difference I noticed this time was the shift of the Evening Aarti from 6 pm to 7 pm. But the Evening Aarti at Triveni Ghat remained one of my favorite things to do in Rishikesh.

4. Tera Manzil Temple

Distance from city centre: 7 km

Once you cross Laxman Jhula from the Tapovan site, Tera Manzil Temple will fall exactly on your right hand. This multi-tiered temple, also known as Trimbakeswar Temple, has a unique combination of 13 tiers.

There is a food stall on the opposite street which became my breakfast eatery pretty much every day (I had my first bread-pakora there).

Also read – Jim Corbett National Park – Leopard Spotting at 2 am

5. The Waterfalls Are the Best Rishikesh Tourist Spots

5.1. Neergarh Waterfalls

Entry fee: Rs. 30 Distance from city centre: 10 km

Neergarh Waterfall is the confluence of three waterfalls coming together to shape one mighty waterfall as high as 25 ft. There’s a hike (you need to pay Rs. 30) for 15 minutes to reach two bridges and a stream of water falling through. If you are heading that way, take the nature trail and you will end up having a secluded time to yourself through the forest.

And if you are an explorer who doesn’t want to limit herself/himself to the hike up to the waterfall and wants to experience the village life, there is an offbeat trail all the way up to the village Neer. Visit Neer in Rishikesh to break free from the tourist trap.

5.2. Patna Waterfalls

Distance from city centre: 9 km

Situated at a distance of 6.5 km from Laxman Jhula on Neelkanth Temple Road, Patna Waterfall flows at its own will from and around massive limestone caves. The short hike leads itself through Rajaji Forest up to the abode of the waterfall, a stone’s throw away from Patna Village. Locals let the mules carry the essentials all the way up to the village. Mules are frequent, and so are the pahadi men and women nodding their heads along to the visitors.

The Maggi points are quite a few near the waterfall. But Maggi is highly overpriced here (Avoid Maggi either way, as much as possible, carry your own food).

What Food You Must Try?

Little Buddha Cafe & Chotiwala

Being two of the most promising cafes, Little Buddha Cafe & Chotiwala have become quite famous among tourists. And why shouldn’t they be! Facing Laxman Jhula and the extended sweep of the Ganges, the rooftop cafe Little Buddha serves delicious food and a riverscape. Little Buddha Cafe is surely a must-try place In Rishikesh!

Chotiwala has lost its old essence, but it’s still worth a try! At least for the guy in his choti, modeling at the entrance of the restaurant.

Also read – Is Almora Worth Visiting? Let’s Find Out!

Things to Do in Rishikesh

Let’s take a lonely walk down memory lane beyond the typical ‘best places’ and make it more attuned to slow travelling!

1. Hit the Streets of Rishikesh

Orange. Orange dominates the streets. Sadhus, fakirs with only a steel container hanging from a knot in their pale clothes, vendors alongside the roads – all of them together contribute to a conspiracy to make the city orange. And what a beautiful conspiracy that is!

The unsaid intimacy animals have here with people goes way beyond the definitions. Especially the cows. A cow started following me one day and a sadhu came along apprising me of cow-nagging, which only mirrors their desire to be fed. There came out his container.

Along the way, a pretty lady, Preety, offered me Ramphal, a local fruit her mother brings from the forest. The smell of cow-dung and the reiteration of ‘Hari Om’ will never leave your side as you walk through the narrow streets.

2. Enjoy Street Music & Cafes

Forget the Rishikesh Travel Guide. What do you see when you pass by? Mountains, snow, roads, tea, and Maggi stalls-all meshed up in a word ‘beauty’. When you are in a car, you dilute everything to one single entity. Everything is beautiful. You miss out on the heres and theres. You miss out on the detailed inscription of beauty that hides behind what you at a glance name as beautiful.

Walking around a place gives me so much space to roam with people. You can always go to a cafe and listen to live music. But how about coming across a musician on the street playing the flute?

I have explored the cafes, the streets, and the hostels of Rishikesh where music celebrates music. I have lived with some street performers (two street musicians and two dancers) in a dormitory and set up bonfires every evening to celebrate music, not just Uttarakhandi, but The Beatles, Elvis Presley, old folk songs, and Lucky Ali. A Punjabi middle-aged man I met at a tea stall took me to the ashram he was staying at, to make me listen to his music.

On my last night in this town, a musician I met at Rishikesh Music Festival asked me to join him at a cafe called HiLight Cafe where he was supposed to be jamming with fellow musicians. A local man sang an old pahadi song with a guitar in his hands and a voice I can revere for its gorging bravery. I learnt new songs, and new tunes which I kept listening to even after I left.

The truth is, this was my first home as a nomad, and it still reeks of home, and it probably will for a long, long time. I remember those two weeks of walking around, hitchhiking for the very first time, distributing pamphlets for the live jamming session for the hostel, spending hours by the Ganges in the early morning, and slowly realising the freedom I acquired for myself!

3. Don’t Forget to Meet the Locals

There are always some implicit and some explicit aspects in travelling and also in the inputs that lead to our bit of output. What really intrigues me is meeting the locals. There are places that no outsider can know about except those who call the land their own. Interacting with the locals and making my way through is my favourite part of travelling, actually one of the biggest reasons behind travelling. It’s not possible to pen down each and every person you meet on the street, but here are some of the interesting people I met in this town.

Rishikesh can go out of food but it can never get enough of babas. Young or old, with or without long beards, babas are omnipresent, and so is their literal presence. I met such a baba ‘Raju Baba‘ near the Ghat. He was sitting on a bench, painting, rather sketching, in his drawing book. He asked me to sit with him, told me jokes, and paid for my coffee. ‘All this for your big smile’, and he gifted his artwork to me. Needless to say, he asked for my number and bothered me to the day I was determined to block him. Raju Baba totally ruined the first baba-oriented encounter for me! (He still bothers me from different numbers even after 3 years)

The people here believe that there is no greater sense of doing than feeding the fish. Small children sell rounded bundles of condensed flour (a mixture of flour and water) for Rs. 10 at all Ghats (especially ghats near Ram Jhula) which you can throw in the water to lure the fish to eat the bait. I met such a vendor living on the street whose primary source of income is selling such bundles and a thousand-and-one stones Rishikesh sells by its definition. She offered me half of the only orange she had for the sake of a chance conversation.

Shivam, Krishna, and Shivani – three kids who trade in flowers to the pilgrims became my favourites. They collect and sometimes buy flowers from the famous tourist spot Trivani Ghat and move along the Ganges selling them. Their trick of the trade is to tell every individual ‘didi bouni karwa do’ (‘We haven’t sold a piece yet. Please have the first one’). Each kid, at any time of the day, in any possible season, would iterate those exact words!

Also read – Kasar Devi in Almora – The Worst Volunteering Experience

4. Learn about the Village Life in Rishikesh

Outside a commercial setup, you really have to forage the rural footage, but I would say, travelling to Rishikesh would remain open-ended without knowing the people of Garhwal.

4.1. Patna Village

Patna waterfall is serene and peaceful. The thin water-lines fall straightaway on a puddle, touching the surface of the limestone caves. The woman who was making butter in a huge cauldron warned me not to enter the forest alone. I did it anyways.

The hike to Patna Waterfalls, one of the best things to do in Rishikesh, has its own share of proximity to nature. But to me, the road became more intimate towards the edge of Patna Village. The local man who sells Maggi and coffee at Maggi Point in front of the waterfall invited me to his village, which is a half-an-hour trek away from the waterfall.

Once again, the beautiful roads make way for more beautiful interactions. I was sitting on top of the mountain when a local woman came to me with a sickle and took me to her home for tea. The milk was freshly squeezed from the cows and it is probably the best tea I ever had.

Here is to sitting there, in front of a higher truth we call mountains, listening to the stories of elephants and tigers coming out in the dark and knowing that I am always welcome to their world – that’s how I absorbed my first-ever brush-up against rural Uttarakhand.

4.2. Neer Village

There was no trail. There was no one around for miles. It wasn’t even my plan. Well, nothing is the plan anymore anyways.

I started out with the ‘plan’ to visit Patna Waterfall. When you are on foot, you are a free bird. On the way, I thought of steering the wheels of my feet and hiking all the way up to the mountain where three waterfalls merge together to make one stunning sight, Neergarh Waterfalls.

Tourists in Rishikesh visit the Waterfalls quite often, and it’s at a moderate distance in the hills. But the trail becomes intense if you intend to reach up to the top, and not through the main road of course. It’s not exactly a trail. It is sometimes used by local villagers who come down to acquire food from the market, as it seemed, but later on, I realized I had chosen the wrong path. That trail is actually not used as such. If one step falls a little off the edge, chances are you will slip down to eternity. Towards the crest, I had to pull out narrow branches of small trees to make way for myself.

But there it was. A small village in the hills with tiny tent-like makeshift houses where local men and women were immersed in farming and construction work. Hardly would anyone call it a village, as there are only ten to fifteen dwellings scattered over a long stretch of green land. And to me, it was one of the best places I had visited in Rishikesh.

I was welcomed to the village with the howling of a dog tied up at the threshold of the first house of the village ‘Neer’. The woman in a blue blouse and half-worn red skirt made tea for me in a room in outright darkness. I don’t know how she could do it.

5. Spend Time by the Ghats

The stretch is long. The green water keeps itself occupied with its brown streaks in between.

Everyday I go to a certain point and then come back. And go again the next day for the next bit. The highest was the walk all the way from my dorm (near Laxman Jhula) to The Beatles Ashram, covering Ram Jhula, Gita Bhawan, Parmarth Niketan Ashram, up to the top of Manikoot Parvat (in the rain). It’s the same river, only the current differing in its intensity and digressing the course of the admirers’ eyes. That’s all there is. And it makes all the difference. And the people.

6. Experience River Rafting in Rishikesh

White Water rafting is one of the most famous adventure sports in Rishikesh, along with Bungee Jumping and Cliff Jumping. You should definitely try this, especially if you have only 2-3 days in hand. All the details about White Water Rafting can be found here – My First White Water Rafting Experience in Rishikesh.

How to Reach Rishikesh

By bus: If you are coming from Delhi, overnight buses are available. Rishikesh is well connected via roadway to all the major cities like Pune, Varanasi, and others.

By train: The nearest railway stations are in Haridwar and Dehradun. From there, it’s just an hour’s bus ride. Local buses are available from the railway station to this town.

By air: Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun is the nearest airport.

Where to Stay in Rishikesh

Rishikesh, being the tourist hub of Uttarakhand, has guest houses, homestays, and hostels everywhere. I would suggest you stay in Tapovan, away from the main road, yet close to the tourist spots.

Hostel for Budget Travellers

• The Art Bliss, a cozy backpackers’ hostel in Tapovan, at a close proximity to Laxman Jhula. (I myself have stayed there for 2 weeks)
• Nature Villa
• BlaBla Hostel
• House of Travellers
• Joey’s Hostel

Guest Houses for Budget Travellers

• Yogi Homestay (I stayed there for three days) (Updated in 2024: The homestay seems not to exist anymore)
• Athaliya Guesthouse
• Shiv Dham Homestay
• Anjali Homestay

Camping in Rishikesh

• Boho Homestay and Camping, near Neer Waterfall.
• Tribe Aqua, near Neer Waterfall, promoting sustainable travel in Rishikesh.

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Find the 10 best places to visit in Rishikesh on Google Maps to enhance your Itinerary! I hope you consult this travel guide before planning your next trip for 2 days! I also hope you ditch this guide and find your own sanctuary in this town in Uttarakhand.

What is your favorite place In Rishikesh?

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