Experience the best of Haridwar

Haridwar stands in Uttarakhand, where the Ganges comes down out of the Shivalik hills and begins its course across the northern plains. It is one of the seven holiest cities of Hinduism, and pilgrims bathe at Har Ki Pauri, the main ghat. The city hosts the Kumbh Mela, one of the largest gatherings of people on earth, every twelve years.

At dusk, priests at Har Ki Pauri perform the Ganga Aarti, waving flames while crowds float small leaf boats of flowers and lamps onto the current. Temples to Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi crown the hills above the town and can be reached by cable car or on foot. Rishikesh, with its yoga ashrams, lies a short way upstream to the north, and Rajaji National Park, where wild elephants roam, begins next to the town.

Haridwar is a vegetarian pilgrimage town, so street stalls serve kachori with spiced potatoes for breakfast, lassi, and sweets of milk and ghee. The monsoon swells the river from July, while winter is cool and clear. Pilgrims in saffron robes and sadhus with ash-smeared faces are part of the daily scene.