Rishīkesh

Perched on the banks of the sacred Ganges where the river bursts from the Himalayas onto the plains, Rishikesh has long been a magnet for seekers, sages, and, since the Beatles’ 1968 pilgrimage, global wanderers chasing transcendence. Known as the “Yoga Capital of the World,” the town’s ashrams—from the sprawling Parmarth Niketan to the intimate Sivananda Ashram—offer daily classes, meditation retreats, and teacher-training courses that draw practitioners of every level. Yet Rishikesh is equally an adrenaline playground: white-water rafting on the Ganges’ Grade III–IV rapids, bungee jumping from India’s highest fixed platform (83 meters), and trekking to the nearby Neer Garh Waterfall or the Beatles Ashram’s graffiti-clad ruins. As dusk settles, the ghats of Triveni and Parmarth come alive with the hypnotic Ganga Aarti, a fire-and-chant ceremony that turns the river into a corridor of floating diyas and devotion.

Tumbling 40 feet into a rocky amphitheatre before fanning into a series of plunge pools, Kempty Falls has been Mussoorie’s weekend exclamation mark since the British carved the access path in the 1830s. Today, the cascade is less a wilderness secret than a festive riverside carnival — changing stalls, maggi-noodle stalls, and ropeway queues form a backdrop to the roar of water. Yet step beyond the first pool, scramble up the moss-slick boulders, and the crowd thins; higher tiers reveal quieter cataracts sliding into jade basins shaded by deodar and oak. The falls’ charm lies in this duality: a family-friendly splash zone at the base, a brief hike away from something that still feels like the Himalaya’s own shower.