I along with my 3 siblings, decided to go for river rafting in Rishikesh. But destiny had some other plans for us. So let's begin from the beginning. We left Delhi on 3rd May in the night. We took a state bus from kashmiri gate directly till rishikesh. The bus tickets cost us 280 bucks per head. It was scheduled for 9:30 pm and was destined to reach rishikesh by 4 or 4:40 am the next morning. Bus was right on time. It took one stop over a dhaba during the journey. So, we reached Rishikesh bus stop the next morning by 4:25 am. It was quite early and our check in time was 11:00 am. So we had no clue as what should we do till the checkin time. For those who do not have any prior booking and mde a plan all of a sudden, at Rishikesh bus stop, you will find the middleman on behalf of campsites or hotels they will offer you deals for stay icluding adventure sports. You can give them a chance. And keep your bargain game on. So, From there we took a sharing auto till laxman jhula which cost us 30rs per head, with the tought that we will spend time on the beachesin Rishikesh untill we get ourselves into the hotel. The auto will leave you some what 1 km before the laxman jhula, from there you have to walk till the jhula. As it was still dark and there was no one on the road till jhula, we enjoyed every bit of that. It was so calm there and we took many photos.
When we reach the jhula it was empty. And perfect for taking photos because once the son is up it will become so crowded that you will not get even a single photo without being photobombed.
Then we got doen to the the beach area and sat there waiting and enjoying the cool morning breeze and the Ganga.after that we checked ourselves in the hotel room which cost us 800rs for 4, 200rs per head. After raking shower and all we went out to have breakfast. We had dosas at a restaurant right opposite to laan jhula and spent 100rs per person. We dis not have any booking for river rafting so went to a booking office where we got to know that all tbe slots are full for next two days due to long weekend. And one very important thing i want to shate with you is that tje prices for river rafting has been revised after last years rafting ban. Now there is a union for this which fix prices. It starts from 600rs for the 9 km, 1000rs for the 14km nad so on .. just check the new prices before you book and they are the fixed prices so no scope for bargain. And one more thing kids below 14 yrs are not allowed at all.
However, we did not get any booking for the same day or the next so we were very disappointed. We decided to go for walks around rishikesh and haridwar. And the whole day spent wandering in rishikesh n haridwar . At night we had dinner at bhandari dhaba which is located in rishikesh 9n the same way from where you reach to laxman jhula from the main road. The food was very economical but super delicious. Definitely recommended.we spent 450 on dinner. And around 200per head on day tour.
In toatal we spent on Day 1
280 bus fair
30rs auto fair
200rs hotel
100rs. Breakfast
200rs day tour and lunch
125rs dinner per head
in total 935rs pr head in rishikesh.
The next day after checking out we had breakfast of chai and samosa in rishikesh for 20rs per head after that we went to rishikesh bus stop in auto for 30rs per head. From there we took bus till dehradun tickets cost 56rs per head and it droped us before dehradun bus stop from there we took an auto for 30rs per head till dehradun bus stop . From there we took a bus to mussoorie for 70 rs per head. It dropped us at library chowk in mussoorie. There are two bua stops in mussoorie both located at the opposute ends of mussoorie mall road. One is library chowk or kitabghar, another is picture palace. So we got down at library chowk and satright went to our hostel bunkotel which i booked on booking.com and got a very cheap deal. I booked it for somewaht around 500rs only for 4 of us which costed us 125rs per head. It is loca5ed right opposiye to the Gunhill ropeway. After landing into our room we relxaed for hrs. And then decided to trek to Gunhill. One can reach Gunhill by ropeway or by trekking. There is a hill from where canon used to be fired in British times which gave it the name but today it has many restaurants over there and the hill gives you fascinating view of musoorie and doon valeey.we decided to trek till Gunhill. Its a normal trek there is a well defined path along side the mall road. After reaching to the top we clicked so many photos. And the view was mesmerizing. It started raining suddenly. We took shelter in a restruant and ordered some coffee and thukpa which was so delicious and gone well along with the weather.after that ee got down and spent the evening roaming on the mall road and shopping. We spent in total 400 per head including dinner and other expenses stated above.
We have spent 1335 rs out of 2000. now we are left with 665rs.
On the third day of our trip we decided to explore mussoorie.we checked out from our hotel and deposited our luggage at the cloak room which is located at gandhi chowk near library chowk ask anyone at the booking point at library chowk for cloak room they will guide you. They charge 20 rs for a locker which quite spacious like till 6 pm the same day. Then We enquired about how to reach kempty fall and othr near by attractions in budget. We got to know that there are two options for the same. One is you can book a private taxi and that will take you to kempty fall, santura mata temple, monestry and if time allows, musoorie lake. All this will cost you 2000rs for a four seater alto . There are other packages also or you can customize and add or remove places of your choice. The second option is to take the bus. There are fixed bus tour every day. It will cover kempty, mussoorie lake and santura mata temple for 350rs per head. The bus and the taxi both have to be booked from library chowk at the earliest because in vacation period there is huge rush and the possibility to get a seat decreases 8f you are late. Anyway, we booked the bus tour as we were on a tight budget. It cost us 350rs per head for above-mentioned 3 places. The bus started at 10:00 am. And it reached back to the library chowk by 4:00 pm.
First, it took us to the mussoorie lake which is an artificial lake. I did not find it worth to visit as there was nothing but a small lake which had boating options and there was a zip lining as well but was very costly. Next we went to santura mata temple, which ws located at the top of a hill and e had to trek till there. You can have a 360°view of mussoorie from there and many peaks were visible from there. After that we reached kempty falls and they give you 2:30hrs to enjoy at kempty and after that you havr to report back to the bus.
At kempty you can go either to the upper part of the fall from where the fall actually originates or you can go to the lower part of the fall where mist people go. But we opted for the upper side as that area is less crowded and cleaner than the lower part. Thre are small pools of water at the upper area and kids can enjoy without fearing the water flow. There are changing rooms n lockers available. One can go and change after the taking bath in the falls and yeah they are chargeable like 50bucks per head. After enjoying the waters we got down and had tea as the water was super cold. Than we took the same bus and returned to the mall road. The same day we had our booking in a train to Delhi for 9:45 pm so we had to get back to dehradun to catch our train. Here, a very very important advice. If you want to go bacj to dehradun you have to take your ticket as early as possible because after 5:30 there is no bus from library chock available to dehradun and the last buses have few seats like 32 or 34 only and to get a ticket is a very difficult task. We did the sme mistake as we did not know about yhe secenario. But we were lucky enough that we got bus tickets from the picture palace bus stop as the last bus from there was scheduled for 6:30 pm and just so you know you have to stand in long queue to get your ticket do better start early. And my advise is that try to take your ticket fro. Picture palace bus stop as it is less crowded and chabces to get a ticket are higher than library chowk. After getting our tickets we left for dedradun and we reached there by 8:30 pm and then we boarded our train and got back to Reality as the dreamy journey of hills have come to an end. But tension not , i will soon be planning for aome other place . Till than Ciao.
Total expenditure on day 3
20rs locker
350 bus tour
10rs ftea at kempty
100rs lunch at library chock
70rs ticket to dun from mussoorie.
Total 550rs.
Total cost of the trip
Day 1 - 935rs
Day 2- 400rs
Day 3- 550rs
1885rs. + 190rs for return ticket from dehradun to delhi
Total 2075rs. The whole trip cost.
