Best time to visit Rishikesh

India · South Asia

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Rishikesh

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Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Oct–Feb — these months score within a whisker of each other; 30C max, 1 rainy day. Mar is the next best.

Plan this trip

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Flights

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Where to stay

Things to do

Car hire

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Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	19°	4d	78%	9.0h	sweet spot	19C max, 4 rainy days
Feb	23°	3d	71%	9.5h	sweet spot	23C max, 3 rainy days
Mar	28°	3d	61%	10.8h	goodbusy	busier than usual
Apr	33°	1d	48%	11.3h	avoid	extreme heat: 11 days over 35C
May	35°	2d	52%	11.5h	avoid	extreme heat: 17 days over 35C
Jun	36°	5d	63%	11.2h	avoid	extreme heat: 16 days over 35C
Jul	32°	17d	84%	8.5h	avoid	monsoon: 17 rainy days, 337mm
Aug	31°	18d	86%	8.3h	avoid	monsoon: 18 rainy days, 330mm
Sep	31°	8d	83%	9.6h	ok	31C max, 8 rainy days
Oct	30°	1d	74%	10.6h	sweet spot	30C max, 1 rainy day
Nov	25°	1d	74%	9.7h	sweet spot	25C max, 1 rainy day
Dec	20°	1d	77%	9.1h	sweet spot	20C max, 1 rainy day

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at the town: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in March and June; quietest in January and August.

Then and now

Rishikesh's August days now average 31.1°C, 0.8°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 1 of 12 months are clearly warmer, 1 clearly cooler.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	19.8°	21.9°	26.7°	32.5°	35.6°	36.0°	31.3°	30.3°	30.1°	28.9°	25.2°	21.3°
2017–26	18.7°	22.7°	28.0°	33.4°	35.3°	35.6°	31.8°	31.1°	30.7°	29.5°	24.8°	20.2°
Change	-1.1°	+0.8°	+1.4°	+0.9°	-0.3°	-0.3°	+0.5°	+0.8°	+0.6°	+0.6°	-0.4°	-1.2°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

Fly into New Delhi (DEL), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to New Delhi.

New Delhi (DEL)	the drive is not measured yet
Dehradun (Jauligrant) (DED)	the drive is not measured yet

The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.

How far Rishikesh is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type C and D plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Indian rupee. UK Foreign Office: avoid all travel to parts. Everything for India: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Cards are taken at larger hotels, chain stores and many restaurants; small shops and family-run businesses rarely take them, so carry some cash.
Tipping — Not traditional; up to 10% is usual only in smarter restaurants. Taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers do not expect a tip.

Getting around Rishikesh

Apps — Rides: Ola, Rapido, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp. The apps also book auto-rickshaws, and bike taxis where these are allowed.

The town's centre, where the bus and train stations are, is of little interest to most travellers. Northeast are three bridges spanning the Ganges, south to north: Janki Setu, Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Rishikesh, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — 112 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (29)

Rishikesh in pictures

Bags In Rishikesh — i

Satdeep Gill, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Masked wagtail near Rishikesh 03 — i

Satdeep Gill, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Star trail in Rishikesh — i

Navneet Sharma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Streets of Rishikesh 3 — i

Gannu03, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh — i

Yogasadhanaguru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Rishikesh is like

Rishikesh (Hindi: ऋषिकेश, pronounced RIH-shih-kaysh), a small town in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, is famously known as the "yoga capital" (or "Yog Nagari"). More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Bharat Mandir. One of the temples set up by 'Adiguru Shankaracharya' during the 12th century. This temple is a real tribute to Vishnu, the idol of which is carved from a sole piece of Saligram. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Rishikesh considers itself to be the yoga capital of the world. It's on offer everywhere, and most styles are represented. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: ISBT (north of Rishikesh center). From Delhi, Rishikesh is about 230 km away and is well connected with buses. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe: A holy city it may be, but Rishikesh draws more than its fair share of criminals and con men. Don't walk around alone at night and beware of the motives of sadhus offering one-on-one tutoring. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Rishikesh, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Rishikesh

Also in India

Nearby

Kind of place

Rishikesh is in India, South Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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