Haridwar: Food and Accommodation

 Haridwar, the famous Hindu pilgrimage by the bank of the Ganga River and located at Gadwal Himalaya has been one of the prime destination for the people searching for eternal spirituality and the god. The visitors to this place are from several countries of the globe. This holy soil of Haridwar always has been shelter to the god devotees and elder people plans for spending rest of the life serving the god and living peacefully  by the scared Ganga River.

     But, ordinary visitors like you and me constitutes the majority portion of the number of visitors to Haridwar. It’s located very near to the Indian capital city, New Delhi. One easily reaches here from Delhi by overnight travelling. Haridwar is well connected with all the parts of the country. From Kolkata to Kanyakumari, from Mumbai to Assam all the ideal transportation facilities are available to reach Haridwar.

Reaching at Haridwar, you will get hotels according to your budget. But, keep in mind hotel fare scales to exorbitant in special festival like Depawali, Kumbh Mela etc. Recently, one of my friend and his family member had to visit Haridwar, but they were not aware about the ongoing Kumbh Mela festival. So, they had to book a hotel room at Rs. 3000 (US$75) per day. In normal course, the same hotel could have been rented at Rs. 500 (US$12) per day. If you have a plan to visit this place in the near future, check out the calendar to avoid the rush festive periods.

     Haridwar is an ideal Hindu pilgrimage and absolute vegetarianism is practiced throughout this holy place. As millions of devotees and normal tourists visit this place food is a major concern. The perfect Hindu vegetarian dishes prepared in the most hygienic manner are served to the people. Though there are hundreds of small and medium hotels and restaurants, but there are several established hotel/restaurant brands. Most of the pilgrim sites of Haridwar offer pure vegetarian recipes to the tourists. The restaurants in Haridwar are also known to serve authentic vegetarian palates to the pilgrims.

     The food offered to the tourists and pilgrims at Haridwar are pure and reflect the sacredness of this god’s place. The god’s temples, ashrams, Ghats, and the other sacred things in combination of the Himalayan nature have turned this place into heavenly place on the earth. Most of the tourists coming to Haridwar are pilgrims who seek the blessing of the gods and during the visits vegetarian dishes are the only choice. More often than not these devotees adhere to strict vegetarian dishes to keep their religious sanctity intact. This is one of the main reasons behind most of the eateries of Haridwar serves pure vegetarian foods to the visitors. 

      In the fifties there were some hand-picked numbers of hotels and eateries in Haridwar. But, in the recent dec
ades, for many influencing factors, the number of visitors to this place is increasing and the hospitality sector also grown very well. In the recent years couple of different variety food restaurants has been set up I Haridwar. They are offering Punjabi food to the Punjabi communities including the north Indian people fond of Punjabi dishes. The visitors from the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra have the option chose these restaurants and dine in their own manner. The big restaurants are well prepared with multi-cuisine recipes to the visitors. These food joints are known as food courts. But, irrespective of these food courts Haridwar is well glorious for its very Indian vegetarian delicacies.

Numerous small and big restaurants, food courts are available in Haridwar, but to name a few I must mention Mohan's Fast Food, Ahaar, Bestee, Bridge Mathura Walla and Chotiwala, Motel Rahi's restaurant, Dada Baudir Hotel etc. During your visits to this holy place take a taste of Indian pure vegetarian delicacies visiting these popular food corners. I am pretty sure; your experience of dining here will add spiritual satisfaction in your mind.