Discovering Rishikesh on a Bicycle - 2 days Rishikesh itinerary

Working in a corporate agency in Gurgaon and not getting the desired leaves you want, is a pretty common affair (read: disturbance). Thanks to the Haryana elections, I got the Monday off (only day I liked Haryana has to be this Monday).

Long weekend in Delhi-NCR? Well, more often than not it has to be Rishikesh. I hopped on a late night bus from Delhi after a Diwali get together and over-sleeping in the bus to miss the Rishikesh bus stop by 10kms. I think I took my care-free attitude a little too far, LITERALLY. The missed bus-stop had some silver-lining to my solo vaccay as I hitchiked a bike whose rider was generous enough to drop me off to the city bus stand. I boarded a shared auto-rickshaw to reach the hostel I booked. Rishikesh and no crowd? As soon as I started to wonder, we got stuck in traffic jaam and the city din began. The one and only motive to visit this crowded city was to explore it on a bicycle but it was a sunday and my bubble didn't last as I got to know all the bicycles were rented out. Damn! I didn't think of a plan B as who'll ever think all the bicyles in a city like Rishikesh will be rented out for the day. I was proud of the tourists and travellers who opted to explore a hill station on a bicyle but mostly disappointed as I didn't get to be one of them. Being a Public Relations professional, did some phone calls and a cycle was right in front of me within an hour. Just kidding, I just said please till the time they were irritated enough to rent the personal ones.

The official journey began - riding my e-bike to reach this not-so-explored place about 16kms above the main city. As it's not very much explored, there are no sign boards directing you but just trust the Google Maps for this. There's a tea-stall from where the hike began and I parked my bicycle there. It is a steep 2-3kms trek and would tire a person who have been riding a bicyle uphill for almost 20kms. But, what I saw after reaching the top was all worth it. I never knew I could witness something so beautiful in Rishikesh. Even these photos can't do complete justice to the beauty of the place.

This is even a lesser-known place and you ought to miss it even while passing its starting trail. Just 2-3kms away from Patna waterfalls, this too is also one of the least explored waterfall of Rishikesh. A difficult trail to reach the top or probably I took the wrong one but definitely difficult to reach its main point. I slipped kinda badly while trying to reach the top and hence didn't continue ahead.

Situated inside Rajaji Tiger Reserve's perimeter, Beatles Ashram has been Rishikesh's Taj Mahal for the youth from quite a few years now. Couldn't have missed it, but not being a Beatles fan myself I didn't enjoy this place too much. A good place to click pictures with some ancient style buildings and dorms. I also saw a few people from around the world performing yoga inside the Ashram's activity hall which intrigued me thinking about the reason behind that.

Riding through Rishikesh's terrain for the whole day, I planned to finish it here. The famous aarti place in Rishikesh, Parmarth Niketan.