There are many ways to practice yoga in India, and it's not nearly as daunting as it may seem. The main thing you need to decide is whether you want the entire experience—chanting and all—or just to sweat out your sun salutations. Regardless of which you choose, the best season for being in India is October through March.

The country code for India is 91. A visa is required for U.S. citizens. Prices quoted are for October 2007 and are per person per day unless otherwise noted.

Hard-Core Yoga
Focused on spirituality, not sweat, old-fashioned ashrams are as authentic as yoga gets, and the Sivananda school is one of the best. In Kerala's Cardamom Hills, it has spread and grown and now runs multilingual and advanced teacher-training courses. Guests are welcome to stay for days, weeks, or months, and lodgings range from separate male and female dormitories to single rooms with private baths (471-227-3093; sivananda.org; $11–$15 requested donation, including all meals and courses). Sivananda also has ashrams in Madurai, in Tamil Nadu (944-219-0661; $124 requested donation per two-week course, including all meals), and in Uttarkashi, in the Himalayas (1374-222-624; $11–$15 requested donation, including all meals and courses).

The biggest of the Rishikesh ashrams, Parmarth Niketan has a few foreigners among hundreds of Indian devotees. It is run as a yoga community with daily asanas (yogic postures), meditation classes, and lectures. The evening aarti (prayer) ceremony on the ashram's Ganges River steps is one of those ineffable moments of water and light that the Subcontinent does so well. Pilgrims stay up to 15 days on a first visit (135-244-0088; parmarth.com; donations at guests' discretion).

Physical Yoga
More and more places are being run for Westerners—and indeed with Western teachers. Near Anjuna village, in Goa, at the renowned Purple Valley Yoga, some well-known European and American teachers lead retreat groups. The place closes from May through October (832-226-8364; yogagoa.com; two-week courses, $950–$1,140). Purple Valley has rooms, but better options range from beach huts ($3), to B&Bs ($50–$115, depending on the location and season), to two standouts: Siolim House, a beautifully restored colonial Portuguese home in the village of Siolim (832-227-2138; siolimhouse; suites, $78–$98); and in North Goa, Ku, two guest rooms attached to a simple restaurant set in the middle of rice paddies. Built by a European couple, it is an eclectic mix of Balinese and Japanese styles, part water garden, part outdoor living space (932-612-3570; ku.morjim@rediffmail.com; doubles, $110–$175). Farther south, Bhakti Kutir is a hippie-chic eco-resort under the palm trees, with a lot of wheatgrass shoots thrown in among the individually designed huts (832-264-3469; bhaktikutir.com; doubles, $50–$100).