Trip to Neelkanth Mahadev Temple, Rishikesh

Hi Everybody,

I just want to pen down about my trip to Neelkanth Mahadev Temple, Rishikesh (map) on 11th Nov, 2007.

Around 20 years ago, I had visited Neelkanth temple with my parents (I was a kid and do remember very small things about it). So I thought that while going for Diwali, I would definitely pay a visit to holy temple.

Rishikesh lies in the Uttaranchal, a newly carved state out of Uttar Pradesh, lying in Northern India. Rishikesh is a holy place, where ONLY vegetarian(shuddh) food is served.

Way to Go Rishikesh : There are lot of ways to go Rishikesh (Rishikesh on wikitravel) especially if you are around Delhi region. From Delhi it is around 6 hour journey.

How to Go Neelkanth Mahadev Temple :
There are two ways to go Neelkanth Mahadev Temple
a) If you have your own vehicle, you can go via IDPL. I had my vehicle but because of risk on the hilly roads, I avoided it.

b) If you wish to take taxi (ambassador/jeep) on sharing basis, you need to go Ram Jhoola. I opted for this one. :)

In Rishikesh, reach Ram Jhoola on the left side. You can park your vehicle (I was in car). The Parking charges are 30/- for (any amount of time). The route to Neelkanth lies on the another side. There are two ways to cross the river to go other side.
1) There are regular boats which help the person to cross the river. They charge some amount. I thought it was of no use, because the second option of bridge was good :)
2) The regular Ram Jhoola, bridge is small around 500 m, and definitely you would like to cross it. It is free (as of now). It can be crossed within 5-10 minutes.

After crossing Ram Jhoola, you can enquire where do you get a vehicle to go to Neelkanth, it's hardly a 5 minute walk. (very near to Swargashram)

There are two modes of transport available from Ram Jhoola other side to Neelkanth. Both are maintained by taxi association. So need not worry, if they might ditch you. The people there are good and would help you in the best possible way.

1) Jeep - To and Fro charges - Rs. 80 and 1 way Rs. 45. I had observed, that these jeep wallahs only prefer those people who hire jeep for "to and fro". In about 1 hour, you can reach the base point where Neelkanth temple lies

2) Ambassador car - White in color :) - The ambassador car can be booked for Rs. 600/- for to and fro trip. This is a good one, if you are 4-5 members wishing to go to Holy temple.

Since me and my wife were travelling, we opted for Jeep. In around 1 hour, we reached the temple.

First of all, I was bit tired and thought of taking a bath in the waterfall "jharna". This jharna is not a proper one, but there are few people who bathe before entering the temple premises. The water there is very cold. So if you have your kids, ensure that they are not in waterfall for long time, else there are high chances that they might shiver a lot or catch cold.

We kept our bag and chappals at one of the shops near the jharna. The shop-keepers do this to ensure that you buy "pooja thaali" from them. Pooja thaalis range from various prices @ 21, @ 51 , @101 etc. Depending on your choice, you can go ahead and buy whatever you want.

After bath, we entered the holy temple premises. As it was bhaiya-dooj, so the temple didn't have a huge rush. (We thought it is good, as our time gets saved). After paying obeisance to Lord Shiva, we roamed around for the beautiful sceneries around Neelkanth temple. It is really good.

It took around 1 hour for bathing and visiting temple. After an urge from the stomach, we had tea and some snacks there. Then we were back in the jeep. luckily we were the 4th passenger to come back. The driver was waiting for all passengers to come. As all passengers arrived, the jeep dashed off to its base at Ram Jhoola.

Since we didn't want to miss Laxman Jhoola, we asked the jeep driver to stop at Laxman Jhoola for short time, which he agreed. We visited the temple at Laxman Jhoola and then we moved back to Ram Jhoola, crossed the Ram Jhoola and were back in car.

So overall it took around 4 hours for our journey after car parking @ Ram Jhoola, Rishikesh.

I hope this would be helpful to you all.

Bam Bam Bhole
Adhir Garg