Rishikesh to Devprayag by Bike
- Distance
- ~70 km each way
- Riding time
- ~2 hours each way
- Time needed
- Half day, or a relaxed full day
- Devprayag altitude
- ~830 m
- Season
- Year-round
- Road
- Excellent. Wide, sealed, sweeping
- Bike we'd recommend
- Guerrilla 450 or Classic 350
Seventy kilometres of the best-surfaced, best-sighted, most consistently enjoyable road in Uttarakhand — and at the end of it, the confluence where the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda meet and become the Ganga.
Every long ride from Rishikesh starts on this road. It’s also worth doing entirely for its own sake, as a half day, with nothing at the end but a good lunch and a ride back.
The Ride
Out of Rishikesh on NH-7 (the Badrinath highway), climbing above the river almost immediately. The road runs along the gorge with the Ganga a long way below — wide, well surfaced, long sweeping curves with good visibility, and enough elevation change to keep it interesting for the full two hours.
Stops worth making:
Shivpuri (~16 km). Rafting country. A row of cafés on the river with the put-in points below.
Vashishta Gufa (~22 km). A meditation cave by the river, and one of the quietest places within easy reach of Rishikesh. Ten minutes off the highway.
Byasi (~35 km). The best breakfast stop on the route. Several cafés with river views.
Devprayag (~70 km). Park above the town and walk down. The two rivers arrive visibly different — the Bhagirathi clear and green, the Alaknanda grey with silt — and they run side by side, unmixed, for a few hundred metres before becoming one river. It’s the sort of thing that sounds better as a fact than it looks in a photograph and better in person than either.
Which Bike
This is the one route in Uttarakhand where the road bikes win.
Guerrilla 450 — ₹1,800/day. Fast sweeping curves on good tarmac is precisely what this bike is for, and this is the best road in the region for it. If you rent one thing for one day, rent this and ride this.
Classic 350 — ₹1,300/day. Cruising at 70 with the engine thumping under you above a river gorge is a very good use of an afternoon.
Hunter 350 — ₹1,200/day. Perfectly good and the cheapest Royal Enfield way to do it.
Activa 125 will get there. It’s a highway, and the Activa is not really a highway vehicle. Fine if it’s what you have.
Extending It
Continue to Srinagar Garhwal (+35 km). Wider, faster, less scenic. Makes it a full day.
Turn it into an overnight to Tehri Lake. Devprayag connects up to the Tehri road.
Use it as day one of something bigger. Kedarnath, Chopta, Badrinath and the full Chardham all start on this road.
Practical
Fuel: fill in Rishikesh. There’s a pump at Devprayag, generally reliable.
Traffic: heaviest 8–11 AM in yatra season with pilgrim buses heading north. Leave by 7 and you’ll have it largely to yourself.
Best light: early morning going out, late afternoon coming back. The gorge is at its best in low sun.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is the ride from Rishikesh to Devprayag?
Is the road good?
Can I do it on a scooty?
What's there when I arrive?
Can I swim at the confluence?
· Guerrilla 450 · Rates