Shri Neelkanth Mahadev Temple is situated in the south of the Janki Setu and Swag Ashram. It is around 18-20 kilometers away from these points through the pedestrian path. To be more precise, it took us somewhere around 4.5 hours to reach the temple premises on foot. On the way, we rested, ate, and stared at the beauty of nature too, instead of just keep walking. 

How to Reach Neelkanth Mahadev Temple

To reach Shri Neelkanth Mahadev temple, you first need to reach Hrishikesh. The connectivity to Hrishikesh is quite good from Delhi and other cities. If you wish to travel by train, your destination would be the Yog Nagari station (station code: YNRK) or Rishikesh station (station code: RKSH). The buses are also available from major cities. We took a government roadways bus from the Maharana Pratap ISBT Kashmiri Gate Delhi, reaching Hrishikesh in five hours. It was our first time so we alighted from the bus at Rishikesh Bus Stand. However, it would have been better to alight at the ‘Muni Ki Reti’ area near Janki Setu Road.

After reaching the bus stand, we had to come back to Janki Setu. We boarded a sharing auto rickshaw, to reach back to the Janki Bridge, which charged ₹30 per person. After that, we crossed over the Janki Setu and walked from beside the Swarg Ashram to the Neelkanth Temple. You can also take a four-wheeler from Swarg Ashram that charges around ₹200-300 per person and drops at the temple in 30 minutes.

Dipping in the Ganga River at Janki Setu

We reached Janki Setu at around 5:30 AM. We crossed it over and reached the other side. We decided to dip at the Ghat in front of the Vanpransth Ashram. After crossing over the bridge, take a left and walk a few minutes to reach there. If you walk a little more, you’ll find public toilets too which is a must-have convenience early in the morning. We reached the Ganga Ghat before 6:00 AM and it was a beautiful experience to be there then. The clean (unpolluted) water blended with the soil was a rare experience because most rivers in the country have been blackened due to industrial waste and human waste.

As it was the rainy season, the river was flowing rapidly. Staring at the flowing water and listening to its sound was a blessing for internal peace. I observed that feeling for some time and then took off my clothes, to take a few dips in the river. As I went in, I realized that the water was chilling cold. However, I took a couple of dips in the water of Ganga Maa and readied by 6:30 to move forward. We started our trek towards the Neelkanth Temple at 6:45 AM.

Trekking towards the Neelkanth Mahadev Temple

We started our hiking from the Vanaprastha Ashram Ghat with chants of “Har Har Mahadev”.

As we crossed behind the Swarg Ashram premises, we entered into a peaceful road surrounded by the woods.

We walked through that path but soon started panting as we generally don’t walk much. We again chanted “Har Har Mahadev” and prayed to God to make us reach the temple. After walking a couple of kilometres, we realized that the real trek would start from that point.

Sun Rise at Neelkanth Trek

The ambiance of the path was so relaxing and tranquil that we forgot the thought of tiredness. The rising sun was hiding behind the trees but its aura seemed like peeking at us, from behind the woods.

That radiance was so beautiful that we kept walking forward, without taking any rest in between. We knew that it was the scene of sun-rise and we wouldn’t be able to behold this view after some time. 

Waterfall at the Neelkanth Trek

Moving forward, we witnessed a small waterfall, passing through the road. We stood there for a few minutes, stared at the flowing water, and moved ahead.

While returning we spent some time at this place, to relax ourselves from heat and sweat. After walking for almost 8-10 hours, standing in this cold water felt like heaven. I found a stone there that could work like a small weapon, albeit I have placed it in my temple. A couple of feet away from the water, there was a group of butterflies. They seemed to have some important discussion, check out the video below.

Shiv Temple at the Neelkanth Trek

At around 08:00 AM, we reached a point where there was an open temple of Shiv Ji.

I like such temples which are open and have fewer people around. These temples are the best places to connect with God as they are full of tranquillity and a blissful natural environment. In such places, you can truly feel the presence of that supreme power by purely focusing on it and the ambiance of nature helps you in completing the task. We bestowed the holy Shiv-ling and other deities, and then, moved forward.

NeelKanth Temple Trek – The Environment at and from the Top

As we moved ahead, we witnessed an even more peaceful and beautiful ambiance.

The chattering of birds, the rustling of tree leaves, and the brown sunlight coming from behind the trees were well-energizing.

I was tired physically but fresh mentally. I stood on the path to look up and down many times, as these were beautiful views. Looking at the Rishikesh City and Ganga Ji from the hills was a scenic view.

The far-situated green hills, covered by a thin layer of fog, were not letting me take my eyes off them.

The zigzag hilly path was looking even more beautiful. All these parts of nature made me stop for a while to capture them in my camera as well as in my eyes. As I trekked higher, the tranquillity, in the surroundings, started to increase.

We continued walking, and shortly, we reached the place from where we had to climb down. It was a bit more difficult than trekking up, but because we were approaching the temple, we continued moving. We reached the temple at around 11-11:30 AM. 

NeelKanth Mahadev Darshan (Sighting Neelkanth Mahadev)

After I reached the outer entry gate of the temple, the strong will to visit the temple forced me to move faster. There was another reason too, which forced me to walk faster. It was the downward steepness of the path ahead. I shortly reached the main entrance of the temple and queued behind the devotees already present there. The chanting of ‘Bol Bam’ was making the surroundings spiritual as well as energized.

We soon got a sight of the Shiv-ling which looked beautiful in the shape of an ‘Anjali’ (Close-up hands). I kept looking at the Shiv-ling (Symbol of Shiv) for a few minutes and then came out of the temple. I clicked a couple of pictures outside the main temple and even took a bath in the waterfall. As we had not eaten food since morning but snacks only, we sat in a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, we started our journey to trek down to Hrishikesh.

NeelKanth Temple Trek – Monkeys and Mangoes

As we started walking downwards, we saw that there was a Jamun (Java Plum) tree. A couple was trying to get the fruits from it; we also attempted but failed. We moved ahead and saw that there were a couple of mango trees. We also saw that there were mangoes kept on the ground; I don’t know who kept them there. My wife became greedy and wanted to get those mangoes but I was afraid that the owner of the mangoes wouldn’t like it. We waited for a few minutes but no one came, so we picked up the mangoes and kept them in my bag. On the way, my wife got some curry-tree leaves to use in the kitchen. In all that process, we forgot that we had mangoes in the bag. As we were trekking down, we were moving faster due to the downforce of the inclination. On the way, we saw a bunch of langur monkeys asking for food or water from the travelers. They stopped my wife too and their conversation was very beautiful and blissful. It was like, the money asked for the water and my wife handed the bottle over to him. He tried to open the bottle but couldn’t, so my wife snatched it from him to open it.

She could take off only one lid and the money snatched it from her again but could not open the second lid. My wife again snatched it from him saying, “Give it to me, I’ll open it.”  The monkey handed over the bottle to her and as she opened the second lid, he again snatched it from her. He drank the water and returned the bottle to her. As I was a bit ahead of her, I stopped to look at her and I loved this scene. While I was looking back, another monkey came to me and started climbing over me. Initially, I thought that it was a kid but, as I turned back, I was shocked to see the monkey holding my hands. I tried to get rid of him saying that I had nothing to eat. I had forgotten that I had mangoes in the bottle pocket of my bag but they had seen it. My wife shouted at me, “He has come for mangoes, they are there in your bag’s bottle pocket.” I made myself a bit comfortable and gave him a mango. After him, many monkeys came and I gave a mango to each of them and they went away with the mangoes.

In the end, when I was left with no mangoes, I told it to the last monkey and he went away as if he understood my language. It was a wonderful experience to see animals being so friendly and understanding. We continued moving and reached the same waterfall about which we crossed while trekking up.

Returning Home

We spent some time there and moved forward to reach the Janki Setu at 04:30 PM. We again took a bath in the Ganga River, witnessed the Ganga Aarti, and moved towards the bus station. We boarded the bus at around 10:00 PM which dropped us in Delhi at 04:00 AM, the next morning.