Story behind Haridwar is that according to Puranic legend, Haridwar, along with Ujjain, Nashik and Prayag, is one of four sites where drops of amrita, the elixir of immortality, accidentally spilled over from pitcher while being carried by the lord Garuda during the Samudra Manthana. As per Hindu faith every one gets purified by taking a bath in this river on the banks of Har ki Pauri. This ghat is the major attraction of the holy city of Haridwar. Lord Vishnu is prayed in Haridwar.
I am giving here my complete plan of visiting six places in one tour.
We reached Haridwar at 11 AM and moved directly to hotel GMVN Haridwar Rahi Motel which is about 3.5 KM by from Har ki Pauri. It is an average hotel with good ambience. I had just 2N stay at Haridwar so it was fine for me. Room was big enough.
Where to stay
I personally always prefer to stay in state Govt. Tourism guest houses throughout India as these are very good, neat, reliable, big campuses, neat surroundings and have very good service. Also they own some responsibility of your safety. Their restaurants are also big and neat with varied cuisine.
They accept only ONLINE Bookings. In case you are not able to book only just reach them personally.
Accommodations – Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam
https://gmvnonline.com/trh-filter.php
Haridwar they have three guest houses –
GMVN Haridwar Rahi Motel, GMVN Alaknanda, Haridwar, GMVN Piran Kaliyar
Accommodations – UPSTDC Hotel
https://www.upstdc.co.in/Booking/HotelBooking
Hotel Bhagirathi – peaceful.
The rent ranges from 1000 – 3500 per day
Season
All seasons except May to July and December to January.
Distance to be walked on foot
For local temples darshan, Har ki Pauri you need to walk a total of about 2 KM with no stairs.
There are ropeways to Chandika devi and Mansa devi temple hills but you have to walk about 1.5 KM and climb about 50 stairs. It is not tough either for senior citizens as well.
Travel tips
Olas are not available in Haridwar. You can get easily e-rikshaws, auto. Keep light luggage. Autos and hotels reject paytm and google pay. So keep cash with you. Enter only in hygienic restaurants, enjoy local food and pooris at Mohan pooriwala, Har ki Paidi.
Expenses
For two persons total average expense lodging and boarding and local sightseeing may be not more than
Rs.6000 in 2 Night stay on average living.
How to reach
Haridwar has nearest airport at Dehradun. But dehradun airport is very far from city. So best way to reach Haridwar is by train.
Mode of Transport
In Haridwar you can go round all temples, Ghats by auto. Even Rishikesh you can go by auto.
- Sight seeing
- Day 1 – Rest
- Day 2 – Patanjali ashram, 4 Temples and aarti ( 7 hours)
- Day 3 – Chandika and Mansa Devi (5 hours). Move to Rishikesh by 2 PM
Day 1 -We took complete rest in hotel.
Day 2 – Next day we contacted an auto guy. We fixed the auto for Rs.800 to show 5 temples and Patanjali ashram. We started at 10 AM. More time was spent in Patanjali Ashram as it was far and e-rikshaw is slow. We had desire to see Patanjali ashram as heard a lot about it in TV. We had a “kichdi” in ashram for Rs. 50. It was wonderfully tasty. Lunch is also available for Rs.120.
On return from Patanjali auto guy showed us Daksh temple, Maya temple, Sati kund, Bheem Gauda kund and he dropped us at near to point where autos are allowed.
It was 5 PM by now. We had a little walk of about 1 KM at Ghat and reached near the tower clock where aarti takes place. The aarti was for about 20 minutes. There was large crowd.
You can spend about 2-3 hours here and enjoy poori-sabbji at Mohan Poori wale and have a walk through old markets of Haridwar.
The day was OK.
Day 3- Since we missed seeing Chandika Devi and Mansa Devi temple we delayed our Rishikesh plan. We fixed an auto for Rs. 600 to show us these two most famous temples of Haridwar. He was very helpful to save our time by purchasing the ropeway combined ticket for Rs.325 each. Started at 9.30 AM. He first took us to Chandika Devi temple ropeway point. There was some queue ropeway travel was just for 5 minutes. We could finish the darshan within 1.5 hours.
The auto guy was waiting down the hill and he took us to Mansa Devi ropeway. This darshan also we finished in 1.5 hours.
We were free by 2.30 PM and same auto driver fixed another auto for us to drop us at Rishikesh which is just 26 KM. Within 1.5 hours we reached Rishikesh.
This finished our Haridwar visit. It was pleasant experience altogether.
Epilogue
There is not so much to see in Haridwar so one and half day is enough. There are just very few temples and Patanjali Ashram, and two more prominent temples- Chandika Devi and Mansa Devi. Going to Chandika and Mansa Devi is interesting as there is ropeway and scenic Haridwar is visible from top. Mainly Haridwar is famous for aarti and bathing in Ganges.
In this trip we missed seeing Crystal World, Sapt Rishi Ashram, Rajaji National Park and Pawan Dham.
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