Rishikesh Transportation

There are no private cars allowed in Rishikesh, only especially ordered tourist taxis and shared jeeps, which provide local transportation. There is an auto rickshaw stand at the foot of High Bank, about a fifteen-minute walk across the Lakshman Jhula Bridge. To get to Rishikesh we took the train to Haridwar, a small auto rickshaw to the edge of town and then a cross-country auto rickshaw to Rishikesh, about twenty-five minutes drive along the Ganga Valley. We then had to walk the last stretch into Lakshman Jhula, as the bridge only supports motorcycles. Bicycles and motorbikes can be hired locally but we wished that this holy town had a total motor vehicle ban, like Pushkar in Rajasthan.
We did hire an Ambassador car and driver for the day, which had to drive for well over an hour, across the hills just to get to the opposite river bank, to take us in the direction of Dehra Dun. Very few dare the fierce current of the Ganga, though a few boats do take some confident pilgrims onto the holy water.