Rishikesh

Rishikesh, sitting in the Himalayan foothills of Uttarakhand at the spot where the Ganges leaves the mountains and enters the northern plains, is the most concentrated spiritual-vegetarian travel destination in India. The city is officially declared a holy zone — meat, fish, and intoxicants are banned within municipal limits by law and have been for decades — which makes it one of the few major Indian cities that is 100 percent vegetarian by default. The travel experience centres on three things. First, the Ganges itself — the river is at its most spectacular here, having descended 200 km from the Gangotri glacier through Devprayag and the gorge of Rishikesh, and the evening Ganga Aarti at Triveni Ghat and Parmarth Niketan is one of the moving rituals of Hindu devotional life. Second, the ashrams and yoga schools — Rishikesh has been the world's yoga capital since the 1968 Beatles visit to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram (now an evocative ruin called the "Beatles Ashram" inside Rajaji National Park, open as a heritage site), and today hosts hundreds of certified Yoga Alliance schools offering 200-hour and 500-hour teacher training. Third, the adventure-sports belt — the rapids upriver from the city support India's largest white-water rafting industry (September-November and February-May seasons; closed in monsoon and peak winter for safety). For vegetarian travellers, every restaurant in the city is vegetarian by law — the satvik (no onion, no garlic) sub-tradition is especially strong here. Try Chotiwala Restaurant (the original since 1958, near Ram Jhula), the German Bakery zone cafés, and the ashram thalis at Parmarth Niketan and Sivananda Ashram (open to respectful visitors). The two iconic suspension footbridges — Lakshman Jhula (the historic span, replaced by a new bridge that opened in 2022) and Ram Jhula — are the city's landmarks. Reached by air via Dehradun (Jolly Grant Airport, 35 km), by train to Rishikesh (RKSH) or Haridwar (HW), or by 6-hour road from Delhi.