What a Rishikesh trip actually costs for a group of 6
· 4 min read
Rishikesh is the cheapest of the standard Indian group destinations and the easiest to do on a long weekend. It is also the one where the usual budget shape inverts: the stay and food cost very little, and the activities cost more than everything else combined.
These are realistic 2026 numbers for six people, three nights, from Delhi.
The short answer
Per person, three nights, from Delhi:
| Budget | Mid-range | Comfortable | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Getting there and back | ₹1,200 | ₹2,400 | ₹6,000 |
| Stay | ₹1,500 | ₹3,600 | ₹9,000 |
| Food | ₹1,800 | ₹3,200 | ₹5,500 |
| Local transport | ₹500 | ₹1,000 | ₹2,500 |
| Activities | ₹2,500 | ₹5,500 | ₹11,000 |
| Buffer | ₹700 | ₹1,200 | ₹2,000 |
| Per head | ₹8,200 | ₹16,900 | ₹36,000 |
Note the shape. In the mid-range column the activities line is the largest single item, which is not true of Goa or Manali. Budget it first rather than last.
Where the money goes
Getting there
Delhi to Rishikesh is five to seven hours. A state bus is ₹400–600, a Volvo ₹700–1,100. The train to Haridwar is ₹200–800 depending on class, plus ₹500–800 for a taxi on to Rishikesh. A private cab for six is ₹5,000–7,000 one way, so ₹900–1,200 each, which for a group is often the sensible choice — you leave when you want and arrive together.
The overnight bus from Delhi is the classic move and gets you a full first day. It is also a poor night's sleep before a rafting morning, which is worth thinking about.
Stay
Very cheap by Indian tourist standards. Hostel beds in Tapovan or Laxman Jhula are ₹400–800. A guesthouse room is ₹800–1,800. A riverside camp including meals is ₹1,200–2,500 per person per night. A proper resort in the hills above town is ₹5,000–12,000 a room.
Tapovan is where most groups stay — walkable, cafes, close to the bridges. Camps across the river are quieter and usually include food, which simplifies the ledger considerably.
Food
The cheapest of any of these destinations. Cafe breakfast ₹120–250, a full meal ₹200–400, a nice dinner ₹400–700.
One thing that genuinely changes the budget: Rishikesh is a dry town in its core areas, and alcohol is restricted. For a lot of groups this removes the single largest and most argument-prone line item from the trip. If your group's Goa budget is usually destroyed by the bar tab, Rishikesh will feel implausibly cheap.
Activities — the main event
This is the real budget.
Rafting is ₹600–1,500 per person depending on the stretch — the 16km Shivpuri run is the standard. Bungee jumping at Jumpin Heights is ₹3,500–4,500. Giant swing is around ₹3,500. A flying fox is ₹2,000–2,500. Cliff jumping is usually bundled into a rafting package.
Bungee is the one that reshapes a budget. Six people all jumping is over ₹20,000 for the group, on one morning. Decide before the trip who is actually doing it — this is a classic case where three people commit, three do not, and the money rule was never agreed.
Free and good: the Beatles Ashram is a small entry fee, the Ganga aarti at Triveni Ghat, the walk up to Neer Garh waterfall, the bridges themselves.
Local transport
Barely a cost. Everything in central Rishikesh is walkable or a ₹30–60 auto. Rafting operators include transport to the put-in point. Budget a couple of hundred rupees a day and be done.
The three costs groups forget
The split activity problem. Rafting is for everyone; bungee is not. A group that agreed to split everything evenly and then has three people jump has a problem it did not plan for. Agree upfront that high-ticket individual activities are personal, not shared.
The camp package confusion. Riverside camps usually include meals and sometimes rafting. Half the group books a camp and half books a hostel and now the "shared food" rule means different things for different people. Pick one accommodation type for the whole group.
Gear and photos. Rafting operators charge ₹500–1,000 for photos and video, and every group buys them in the moment. Not large, universally unbudgeted.
Keeping the ledger straight
Rishikesh is unusually easy to track because so much of it is activity packages booked as a group — a handful of large payments rather than fifty small ones.
The one thing to get right is deciding which activities are shared and which are personal, and deciding it before anyone is standing on the bungee platform. Log the packages when they are paid rather than at the end, and settle on the last evening while everyone is still in the same place.