I had been to rishikesh in March 2006; this is about the last 2 months of rafting possible in Ganga. After May Ganga swells with water as the ice melts with summer heat and most of the water sports operators shut shop. I had done rafting in Yamuna(in Tons river 6-7 hours from Dehradun in the Rohru direction) and in Zanskar(J&K, a 6 day river expedition) apart from Dandeli(Karnataka, this was my first brush with rafting, though a tame one on the Kali river which can be run only when the dam shutters are opened).
So this time I opted for Kayaking, rather learning it. Its more like riding a bike compared to driving a Jeep while in a raft. Kayaking not only is strenuous and unstable, it requires you to be able to ’read’ the river and paddle according to the rapids and flows of the river section(unlike in a raft where the captain/guide shouts commands and you paddle accordingly, here the Guide reads the river for you). It was a satisfying experience, not to mention the innumerable dips I had to take in the Ganga while trying to learn the ’’rolls’’(or the technique which lets you resurface after the kayak overturns in the river).
You have many operators upstream of Rishikesh but M/s.Aquaterra is one of the best and professional among them, they also have a camp 25 km upstream of Rishikesh. The camps in the beaches of Rishikesh is ideal for a quite family outing(whoever wants to raft can raft, whoever wants to laze around at the Ganga beach sands can do that, you can trek to the near by villages, you can Trek the more serious Kunjapuri Hills which would take around 4 hours uphill if you are fit, of course you can Kayak. NO fishing since its illegal in Ganga).
The other options are a trip to Chila where you have a Elephant safari option(this is in the direction of Haridwar, ask for Chila Reservoir/Barrage. I forgot the wild life sanctuary’s name), or a Trip to Dev Prayag where Alaknanda meets Bhagirathi river to form Ganga(around 75 km from Rishikesh) or even explore further to the 4 Dhams which will be open after May.
Rishikesh as a spiritual place did not excite me much since I saw a lot of commercial fares, and in fact didnt explore much(Haridwar was even worse and dirty). May be there are some places which are good, but they didnt meet my eye this time
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