A Road Trip to Rishikesh from Chandigarh.

Rishikesh offers much more than just being a prominent religious place on the bank of Ganges. It’s a quant small town which attracts all types of tourists (including foreigners) from all over India. People come here for seeking solitude by soaking in spiritual aura of pristine Ganga, Yoga & Meditation, Rafting & Trekking, Picnic etc besides most people coming here to have a dip in the sacred Ganga. In fact, it’s a place to unwind. Rishikesh is also the gateway to the Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand covering Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, many beautiful treks and excellent hill stations as Auli, Chopta and Mussoorie etc.

It’s at about 4 hours driver from Delhi NCR and Tricity of Chandigarh both. We started by car from Chandigarh at about 7 AM, had breakfast on the way at Sagar Ratna at Yamunanagar and reached Rishikesh at about 12, we checked in the guesthouse on the bank of Ganga (had booked online earlier). It was a mid range guesthouse offering AC Room at about Rs.1500 per day, it’s biggest advantage was it had backside door opening to Aastha Path, a wide waking pathway by the side of mighty & gorgeous Ganga. Triveni Ghat is less than 1 km by walk. Additional advantage is ample car parking in the guesthouse.

After fresh up in our room, we first had lunch at guests house which offers home cooked nice food at Rs.100 per person and breakfast at Rs.70 per person (unlimited with daal tadka, 2 curries, papad, hot phulkas, rice and sweet).

Thereafter, we started by Autorickshaw to Ram Jhula and then to Lakshman Jhula (parking is a problem so better to move in autos). We walked on these iconic suspension bridges which had stunning views of roaring Ganga on the rocks. Walking in the busy streets of town, we visited Parmarth Niketan and some nearby temples and by evening came to Triveni Ghat for evening Aarti, watched the beautiful scene of Aarti being offered to Goddess Ganga and then walked down to our guest house, we retired in to our rooms after a simple but awesome dinner at guesthouse.

Next day morning we took a dip in Ganga on a ghat at Aastha Path, taking bath in Ganga gives a divine feeling and after breakfast, we hired a cab and proceeded to Neelkanth Mahadev Temple (32 km) where we had good darshan of Bholenath and came back to area near Ram Jhula and had light lunch there. This ancient temple has splendid architecture.

Here near Ram Jhula, many tour agencies offer River Rafting (can be booked online or over the counter there itself). We hired one package for 16 km raft from Shivpuri to NIM Beach and they took us by jeep to the starting point of Raft. It was an amazing and thrilling experience, we got fully drenched due to splash of ice cold water. At many points when out boat had virtually collided with rocks and was about to turn but our rafting guide was experienced enough to avert such accidents, these were breathtaking moments. After the adventurous raft, we came to agency office, changed our clothes (we had brought an extra pair) and had hot tea. Evening again we attended Aarti at Triveni Ghat and walked down to our guesthouse, had dinner and relaxed.

Next day (third day) morning we again took a dip in Ganga and after breakfast checked out and proceeded by car to Haridwar (28 km) which is on the way. Here we parked our car in a parking lot near Har Ki Paudi, had a dip in Ganga. Walked through the busy narrow market to the Mansa Devi Ropeway Starting Point. We took the Ropeway (cable car) and visited Mansa Devi Temple, the view of city and Ganga from Ropeway and temple was amazing and exciting. We offered prayer at the temple and came down by the same Ropeway.

After coming down, we walked down to Mathura Poori Wala through the market, it’s a small and congested place but famous one, we had delicious hot Poories (with two curries of aloo and pumpkin served on leaf plates followed by sweet lassi), thereafter we took Rabri (a famous sweet made from milk) at a famous sweet shop in the market near Har Ki Paudi and came back to our car to start our journey back to Chandigarh.

By 7 PM we were home after a short but a wonderful and rejuvenating trip. This trip certainly provided a great retreat from the chaotic city life.