Alcohol and Non-Veg Rules in Rishikesh
What the town restricts, what that means for your camp, and how groups get this wrong.
Rishikesh and Haridwar are religious cities and both restrict the sale of alcohol and meat within their limits. This is not a guideline or a local preference that a tip resolves — it is a civic restriction, and it is the single thing group bookings most often fail to check.
In practice this means you should not plan on buying either in town, and you should not assume your camp can serve them. Many camps are explicitly dry, including camps whose listings mention a bonfire and music in the same paragraph.
None of this is hidden or awkward to ask about. It just has to be asked before the booking rather than discovered at the camp on a Friday night with twenty people.
A group whose weekend is built around drinking. Say so at enquiry and we will tell you honestly whether what you want exists here, rather than booking you into a dry camp and letting you find out.
Quick facts
What this means for a camp booking
Ask two direct questions: is the camp licensed for alcohol, and is the kitchen vegetarian. Both answers vary by camp and by exactly where it sits, and both are easy to confirm. We will tell you plainly for any camp we book, including when the answer is no.
Carrying your own into a dry camp is not a workaround — it is grounds for being asked to leave, and on a group booking that is an expensive way to find out.
Why college and corporate groups get caught
Because the trip is sold on bonfire-and-music photographs and the group assumes the rest. A bonfire night at a dry vegetarian camp is a genuinely good night; it is just a different night from the one some of the group pictured, and the gap between those two is where the complaints come from.
If drinking is central to what the group wants from the weekend, say so when you enquire. That changes which camps are even worth quoting, and it is a much better conversation to have at the enquiry stage.
The wider point about the town
The restrictions exist because a very large number of people come to Rishikesh for reasons that have nothing to do with adventure, and the town is organised around that first. The ghats at aarti time are the clearest illustration.
Visitors who get this are not inconvenienced by it for long. Visitors who treat it as an obstacle have a worse time than they needed to.
What to carry
Gallery
Frequently asked questions
Its sale is restricted within the city limits as a religious city, so do not plan on buying it in town. Whether your camp can serve it depends on the individual camp and its location — ask before booking.
Getting here and getting around
Arrival and local transport are run by Triveni Cabs. These pages carry the fares and journey times.
- Delhi to Rishikesh cabPublished fares by vehicle
- Distance and drive timeRoute, stops and timing
- Dehradun airport transferNearest airport, about 20 km
- Rishikesh cab servicesGetting around once you are here
- Rishikesh sightseeingTemples, ghats and bridges by cab
- Weekend getaways from DelhiIf Rishikesh is one option among several
Journeys are booked with Triveni Cabs; the activity is booked here. Confirm the activity first — its reporting time decides when you need to travel.
