Ananda in the Himalayas
Narendra Nagar, Tehri Garhwal · India
India’s first destination spa, on the Maharaja of Tehri Garhwal’s palace estate above the Ganga valley — and for twenty years the most decorated wellness address in Asia.
- Programmes from
- US$2,480
- Typical stay
- 7–21 nights
- Programmes here
- 2
- Nearest airport
- Dehradun (Jolly Grant) · DED
The short version
Who this house is for
Somebody who wants a serious, supervised programme and is not prepared to give up a properly made bed to get it. Ananda is the point where a five-star hotel and an Ayurvedic clinic genuinely meet, and it is the house we send people to when the medicine matters and so does the plumbing.
The signature
Programme-based stays of 7 to 21 nights combining Ayurveda, yoga and Vedanta with a Western spa infrastructure.
The setting
Rishikesh, and what is practised here
A still lake in the foothills A figure holding tree pose at sunrise A group practising together outdoors — Rishikesh Ayurveda, practised at this house Yoga, practised at this house
These photographs show Rishikesh and the disciplines practised at this house. They are not photographs of the property — we would rather show you the place honestly than dress a stock picture up as a room you have not been sold.
What it is known for
Why this house has the reputation it has
- Named the world’s number one destination spa by Condé Nast Traveler readers repeatedly between 2005 and 2020, and by Travel + Leisure in 2008 — a run of recognition no other property in this atlas matches.
- Roughly a hundred acres of palace estate at around 1,000 m, with a Viceregal Palace building added in the 1910s and views down the valley to Rishikesh.
- It runs genuine programme structures — Ayurveda, yoga, detox, weight, stress — with physicians and a consultation on arrival, rather than a spa menu.
- It is the property that made "wellness" a luxury category in India, and everything built since has been measured against it.
What we would tell you on the phone
It is a luxury hotel that does wellness extremely well, not a clinic. If you want a medically austere Panchakarma with nothing else in it, Palakkad is the more honest answer and costs a good deal less. What Ananda gives you that Palakkad cannot is comfort, a view and a properly run spa — and for many people that is what makes a three-week programme survivable.
What you can book here
2 programmes
Flagship
Ananda in the Himalayas · 14 nights
Ayurvedic rejuvenation
Rebuilding rather than purifying, on a palace estate above the Ganga — the gentlest serious programme in the Himalaya.
US$5,220gentleAnanda in the Himalayas · 7 nights
The Himalayan yoga week
Hatha and Vedanta on the estate above Rishikesh, without the ashram’s five-thirty start.
US$2,480gentle
Your accommodation
The rooms, and which one to ask for
- 01
Deluxe palace-view roomabout 45 sqm
In the Maharaja’s palace grounds, looking back at the building.
- 02
Deluxe valley-view roomabout 45 sqm
The Ganges valley and Rishikesh below. The room most programmes are quoted in and the one to take.
- 03
Deluxe suite
A separate sitting room and a larger terrace.
- 04
Garden and Ananda suites
The larger categories in the main building.
- 05
Viceregal suite
The palace’s grandest room, with the history to match.
- 06
Ananda villas
One and two bedrooms with private pools, in the sal forest.
Categories and names are as published by the property and are confirmed in writing at the quote. Where we would take a different room from the one the programme is quoted in, the note says so.
Wellness at Ananda in the Himalayas
Who is actually here
Ayurvedic physicians, yoga and Vedanta teachers, and a large treatment team across a spa of about 25,000 square feet with twenty-four treatment rooms. Every programme opens with a physician’s consultation and the prescription is revised through the stay.
We do not publish clinicians' names anywhere on this site. They move, which makes a named page quietly untrue, and naming one invites you to book a person no house can promise will be on shift — assignment is made on arrival, from your examination. What is worth knowing is how many there are and what they hold.
What the building contains
- A spa of about 25,000 sq ft with twenty-four treatment rooms
- Hydrotherapy pools and thermal suite
- Outdoor heated lap pool
- Two yoga pavilions
- Fitness centre
- Six-hole golf course
- Meditation pavilions in the sal forest
- A hundred acres of estate
At the table
Eating here
On a prescribed programme the food is part of the treatment rather than a choice — which is worth knowing before you arrive expecting a wine list.
- The Restaurant
Calorie-counted, dosha-appropriate wellness cuisine, with the prescription driving the plate. The kitchen will build to a programme rather than offer a menu.
- The Tea Lounge
Himalayan teas and the between-meal preparations, in the old palace drawing room.
Between treatments
How the days go
What there is to do here when you are not being treated, on site and within reach of it.
- Yoga, pranayama and Vedanta talks daily
- Guided treks in the sal forest
- Rafting on the Ganga in season
- Ganga aarti at Rishikesh
- Cookery demonstrations
- Golf
Where it is
Rishikesh, India
Where modern transnational yoga was institutionalised — and then, in 1968, handed global celebrity.
- Nearest airport
- Dehradun (Jolly Grant) DED
- Transfer
- About an hour by road, included
| Destination | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RishikeshIndia | Jan: perfectly good | Feb: book this | Mar: book this | Apr: book this | May: we would talk you out of it | Jun: we would talk you out of it | Jul: we would talk you out of it | Aug: we would talk you out of it | Sep: book this | Oct: book this | Nov: book this | Dec: perfectly good |
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