The word can be as appealing as it is intimidating. An ashram is first and foremost a place where people live, organised around a spiritual practice, not a hotel with yoga classes. Before booking a flight to Delhi, here’s what you need to know: what you really experience there, what it costs, and how to distinguish authentic places from marketing products.
An ashram, what’s that exactly?
Traditionally, an ashram is a community gathered around a teaching and often a master. Concretely, for a Western visitor, this means simple accommodation, a simply furnished room, sometimes shared, days structured around practice (yoga, meditation, chanting, sometimes participation in the tasks of the place) and vegetarian meals taken in common.
The essential nuance, the one that avoids most disappointments: an ashram is not something to be consumed. You adapt to a rhythm that is not your own, waking up before dawn, fixed schedules, early curfew, and it’s precisely this displacement that makes the stay interesting. If you prefer to choose your activities à la carte and have dinner with a glass of wine on the terrace, you need a yoga retreat in India, not an ashram. It’s a very good project too; just a different project.
As for rules of life: phones are tolerated but their use naturally decreases; alcohol, meat, and sometimes coffee have no place. No one will force you to do anything, but coming to stay in your room doesn’t make much sense.
How much does a stay in an ashram cost?
Here is a welcome surprise: an authentic ashram is one of the least expensive travel experiences. Allow €15 to €40 per day in full board in most ashrams in Rishikesh, sometimes less in historic institutions operating on donations. At this price, everything is included: accommodation, three meals and the entire programme.
Be wary, however, of “ashrams” charging €150 per night with an infinity pool: these are hotels that have spotted a market. There is nothing wrong with choosing a lovely hotel with yoga classes, but it is better to know what you are booking and avoid paying extra for spiritual marketing.
The real budget for the trip is not the stay. It’s the flight, €600 to €900 for a Paris-Delhi trip according to the season, and time. Below a week on site, the stay loses much of its meaning: between the time difference and adapting to the rhythm, it takes at least three days before something settles. The ideal for a first time: ten days to two weeks.
Rishikesh, and then? Where to go
Rishikesh, on the Ganges and at the foot of the Himalayas, remains the world capital of yoga and the simplest entry point. The town is entirely vegetarian and alcohol-free, accessible from Delhi, and the ashrams are numerous, from the most institutional to the most discreet. It is also, on the flip side, the place where spiritual tourist traps are most numerous: hence the importance of the questions in the last part of this article.
For an approach through care rather than discipline, southern India offers another entry point: Kerala and its Ayurvedic wellness programmes, where the day is organised around treatments rather than collective discipline. I discuss this in detail in the guide to Ayurvedic wellness programmes in Kerala. And to explore other formats of stays in the country, the retreats in India page provides an overview.
How to choose: the questions to ask
Before booking, five questions help you clarify what matters most.
Are you looking for discipline or regeneration? The traditional ashram transforms through its demanding setting; the wellness programme or retreat offers care and rest. Both are legitimate, but they do not resemble each other, and many disappointing stays come from this confusion.
Are you comfortable with very basic conditions? Sometimes cold showers, hard beds, power outages: this is the daily life of most authentic ashrams. It’s best to know beforehand.
Does the venue publish its exact daily schedule? A genuine ashram has nothing to hide about its timings. If the website talks a lot about "energy" but remains vague about the daily routine, beware.
Are classes taught by identifiable teachers trained on site, or a rotating group of visiting freelancers?
Finally, what do recent reviews say about food and hygiene? These are the two points that derail stays, long before the quality of classes.
And if you are still hesitating between India and Europe, the best test before the big leap is closer than you think: a few days of silence in France will tell you a lot about your relationship with simplicity. I explain what really happens during a silent retreat in another article.