Gateway to the Gods
Just downstream from Rishikesh, Haridwar is intense, raw, and traditionally Hindu. It is one of the four sites of the massive Kumbh Mela. Unlike the yoga-focused Rishikesh, Haridwar is about rituals, priesthood, and the washing away of sins at Har Ki Pauri ghat. It is crowded and chaotic, but the energy at the evening Aarti is electric.
A primary site for immersion of ashes and ancestral rites. The Ganges here is fast-flowing and icy cold.