Triveni Ghat

Triveni Ghat is where Rishikesh's spiritual life is most visibly on display. The name refers to the symbolic meeting of three sacred rivers — Ganga, Yamuna and the invisible Saraswati — and the wide stone steps here have drawn pilgrims for bathing and ritual for generations, well before Rishikesh became a stop on the international travel circuit.

The ghat's real draw for most visitors is the Ganga Aarti held every evening at sunset: rows of oil lamps, chanting, bells, and hundreds of small diyas set adrift on the river as darkness falls. It's a genuinely moving thing to witness, whatever one's own beliefs, and unlike the more curated Aarti at some ashrams, Triveni Ghat's version has a rawer, more local character — this is where residents of Rishikesh themselves come to pray.

Mornings offer a different mood: locals bathing, priests performing smaller rituals, and cattle and monkeys wandering the steps in the early light. Both ends of the day are worth experiencing if time allows.