Rishikesh is a very spiritual city, and you can feel it when you are here. People are so kind and welcoming. Strangers say namaste as a greeting as they pass you on the street, someone you just met will offer you a ride on their scooter if you are going in the same direction, and the city sits around the holy Mother Ganga, which is the river you might know as the Ganges (gan-jeez), which has a distinct spiritual energy of its own.

A gorgeous view of Ram Jhula one evening from our dinner spot.

It seemed like just after 2 weeks, I became friends with everyone on my street: the family that ran my favorite general store, the husband and wife duo who built my favorite restaurant all by themselves using only recycled materials, the guy who made the best smoothie bowls, all the street dogs and especially the family of 6 puppies up the road, and all the cows living on my street.

My little pups that I fed and visited everyday.

I lived there for 2 months, near my yoga school, and away from the main tourist area, more nestled amongst the mountains and that was really lovely. It was amazing to watch the sun rise and set every day behind the mountains. And I loved laying in bed in the morning, and listening to the streets wake up: horse hooves trekking loads up the mountain roads, cows mooing, children laughing on the way to school, dogs barking and playing. It’s a really amazing place, especially if you can stay for a while. And if you can, here are some great things I recommend doing.

1. Yoga Teacher Training

Yoga teacher training is one of the main things this area is known for. I did a 200 hour kundalini certification through Adi Yogpeeth, and couldn’t have been happier with my choice. There are hundreds of schools in the area, and more being built each day, so you’ll have to do a fair bit of research to choose your school. Doing teacher training here is very affordable. Even with a flight, I think it’s cheaper than most trainings I’ve seen in America and Europe. And these trainings include room and food and excursions, so it’s a really amazing experience.

2. Dunk Yourself in the Ganga (with caution)

One of my friends from yoga school told me she heard if you dunk your body in the Ganga, head all the way under, you’ll receive all the answers you are looking for. So obviously we had to try it haha! We did this in November, so it was a bit chilly, and the water is super cold, so it was quite a rush. I ended up dunking myself in 3 times because it was just so fun. I’m not sure that I received all my answers, but no worries! I had a great time.

A few words of wisdom: 1. Please be careful where you do this! The Ganga’s current is strong, and it would be possible to wade out too deep, and get pulled out. People drown in the Ganga each year, so you don’t want to mess around. Just find a shallow area on one of the many beaches and do it there. 2. Woman, do this with clothing on only. I know this is a very annoying double standard, because men can go in in their underwear. But for now, that’s the way it is. So make sure you are dressed appropriately in general, and then just dunk yourself in those clothes.

If you don’t want to go all the way in, you can also just scoop some water in your hands and put it on your head. You’ll see a lot of Indian people doing this.

3. White-water Rafting on Mother Ganga

This was such a fun adventure, and gave us a real taste on just how strong and scary this river is in some points. We decided to do a 1 hour rafting tour, that cost 500 rupees (~$7). I was all excited about this, but I’ve only ever white-water-rafted once, and by the time we got to the shore, I was getting a bit nervous! The drive to our launching point was enough to get anyone’s adrenaline going, but then as we are standing on the shore, waiting to load into the raft, we see a raft go over this crazy rapid, and every single person fell out. And not only did they fall out, but they remained under for a scary amount of time, and I did not even see them all get back into the raft before they all turned a corner. I’m sure they were totally fine, but this was a super frightening start to our adventure!

It ended up being pretty scary, but only in 2 parts. The rest was super calm. Like you wouldn’t believe that level of calmness could transition into rapids so quickly. The worst part was the first set of rapids we did. I swear, it felt like we were on the open ocean which how big the waves are. The raft would go up and down at least 12 feet each time. But luckily no one fell out.

4. Ganga Aarti

This is a spiritual ceremony that takes place every evening on the Ganga in various locations. The one I went to was at Parmarth Niketan Ashram, and that was great because it wasn’t too large. This is a ceremony that is done in gratitude to the River Ganga and all that she has provided for this area. There are some fascinating rituals to behold here, many taken from the ancient text the Vedas.

5. Visit the Main Rishikesh Market (closed on Thursdays)

This market is where the locals shop so things are usually cheaper, and it can be pretty intense but fun. I can usually only last about 40 minutes walking around before I need to go home for some peace and quiet. I was in the tourist/yoga school area of town, but it’s very easy to grab a blue tuk-tuk into town for 10 rupees. And it’s super fun because you will get totally jam packed in them with wayyyy too many people. I would say they are meant to seat 6 (Indian people do tend to be smaller than Americans), but once I got crammed in there with 11 and it was a wild ride.

6. Bridge to Bridge Walk

There are two main bridges in the area: Lakshman Jhula and Ram Jhula. I was staying closer to Lakshman Jhula and crossed it many times. Just crossing the bridge is an adventure on its own. And actually, you do need to be careful of the monkeys! They are fierce here and will bite or attack. And they are always on these bridges. Cows and bulls also cross these bridges haha. And there’s tons of people and the bridges have a slight bounce to them, so it’s kind of scary the first time. And on Ram Jhula, motorbikes are also allowed to cross, so it’s really just totally crazy dodging monkeys, cows, people, and motorbikes at once. But you can cross either bridge, and then walk from one to the other on the south side of the Ganga. It’s a more peaceful walk, and you can stay pretty close to the river the whole time. I think it takes about 30 minutes to go from one to the other.

The picture has nothing to do with healing, I just love it.

7. Healing

Rishikesh’s spiritual nature brings out a ton of healing opportunities, every type you could imagine: crystal healing, chakra healing, pranic healing, reiki, massage therapy, Ayurvedic therapy, meditation, yoga, everything really. So if you are interested in getting a healing, or learning some of these techniques, this is a perfect location. I ended becoming certified in Reiki healing and really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the “spiritual” realm these days that use this term to just take advantage of people who are in a hard time. So make sure you ask around, find a local you trust and ask them for a recommendation.

8. Waterfalls

I didn’t end up going to any waterfalls, but there are a few in the area and Neer Waterfall looked super beautiful. My friends went, and came back with stunning pictures. This would be an especially great activity if you need to cool off for a bit. Make sure to take some mosquito repellant for the treks up to the waterfalls!

9. Get involved in the community

Being in Rishikesh was so freeing, and I felt like beautiful and amazing things were happening all the time. I randomly got the opportunity to teach yoga to kids and it was one of my favorite experiences there. The kids were absolutely amazing, and it allowed me to practice my new yoga teaching skills. It was on the most unbelievable rooftop setting at an ashram near the river. The kids were so sweet and fun and grateful. I’m so thankful for this experience.

10. Rajasthani Hotel Rishikesh Sweets

India has the most amazing and unique sweets you can imagine. Check out my post on food to read more in detail. But the Rajasthani Hotel is a famous spot for sweets, and you can try just about anything there. Sometimes there’s even a long line because it is so popular. Even if you can’t make it out to this hotel, try as many sweets as you can get your hands on!

11. The Beatles Ashram

This is a really cool Ashram. It’s about a 30-40 minute walk from Lakshman Jhula. It’s a huge abandoned ashram that has been graffitied all over with this amazing artwork, much of which has to do with the Beatles. It’s a large area so you can spend a long time in it walking around. Definitely a great place to get some unique photos. Even though it’s “abandoned”, it does cost to get in haha. For foreigners it was 600 rupees.

My friends Shree and Ashkia after getting their tattoos.

12. Get a Tattoo

Why not?! I wanted to get one, but ended up not doing it because I wasn’t able to get the drawing right with the artist. Plus, I really enjoy donating blood back home, and even though I did research on this, and it seemed like I would still be able to give, I didn’t want to risk it. The tattoo my friends went to was Sacred Ink Rishikesh. They were really kind, and did a wonderful job, and designed some really beautiful pieces. There’s tons of tattoo places around, you can even just get them done on the street (which I don’t recommend), but this one had a really cool vibe.

13. Kirtan

Kirtan is a really beautiful thing to do. It’s chanting mantras and dancing to them. It’s kind of like a meditation of it’s own as you can really just let yourself go to these often simple and repeatable chants. And the people leading them have fascinating instruments and beautiful voices. We went to a session by the Hare Krishnas which was very good, but my friend Shree also led us in some of her own just casually on some nights with her guitar, and its was beautiful.

14. Go to a Wedding

If you are in India for a while, especially during October November when many weddings happen, it’s pretty easy to get an invite. A friend of a friend of a friend is enough haha. I went to two weddings during my 2 months there and they were a-maz-ing! You can’t even imagine all the food and the wild dancing that goes on. And on my second wedding, we rented saris for 300 rupees to get the full experience!

All dressed up in our saris and enjoying the festivities.

15. Festivals

Hinduism has seemingly endless festivals and ceremonies, so if you are in India for any period of time, it’s likely it will coincide with a celebration. I was in Rishikesh for Diwali and Dusshera and they were both really fun. For Diwali, we mostly just shot off fireworks all night. Literally everyone was shooting firecrackers, into the wee hours of the night so sleeping was pretty difficult. Kids were shooting them off too, definitely no age restrictions.

Dusshera was such a fun night. A few of us from yoga school went with our friend Ishan who lives in Rishikesh in the main area of town to watch the effigies burn on the river. However, we left late, and getting there in time to get a spot turned into this huge adventure. Luckily Ishan was guiding us or we never would have figured out how to get there. But it started with this epic tuk tuk ride into town until we hit so much traffic (because of the ceremony) that we had to get out and run through the streets for about 20 minutes to get to the river. Ishan was so fast, and we watched his head bob up and down in between hundreds of people down the narrow and winding streets and we ran and laughed to keep up with him. It was so magical. On the way back, there were literal swarms of people, should to shoulder foot traffic that was actually a little unnerving. Overall, it was such an adventure.

My time in Rishikesh was just so magical and life-giving. I am so grateful for the 2 amazing months I got to spend there, and all the friends and memories I made. But as with every location I’ve had the privilege of staying in, at some point, in my heart, I can tell that it is time to move on. And so with a full heart, I left Rishikesh to go to a new place in India and live at an ashram for some time.