Sapt Rishi Ashram

Five kilometres north of Har Ki Pauri the Ganga stops behaving like one river and braids into channels across white sand. Legend accounts for it: the seven sages (Kashyapa, Vashishtha, Atri, Vishwamitra, Jamadagni, Bharadwaja, Gautama) were meditating on this bank, and the river divided herself into seven streams so that her roar would not disturb them. The ashram founded here by Goswami Ganesh Dutt is a low-key, leafy campus, and the morning bathing has none of the pressure of the main ghat. Free, and best before the day heats up.

Seven strands of Ganga over white sand, and a morning bathing scene without the crush