The Ashram in India Where the Beatles Stayed in 1968 Is Now Open to the Public

Beatles fans no longer have to wonder what their time in India in the late 1960s — where they learned to meditate and reportedly wrote around 48 songs — was like, as the ashram in the country’s north where they stayed has been opened to the public.

The spiritual complex, located on the outskirts of a tiger reserve in India’s northern city of Rishikesh, was reopened Tuesday for paying visitors, the BBC reported.

The ashram, where the iconic British band spent time in 1968, was run by self-proclaimed Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who abandoned it a few years later. It was taken over by the local forest authorities in 2003, five years before the Maharishi’s death.

Intrigued Beatles fans over the years have made their way into the retreat by climbing its outer fence or bribing a security guard, but will now be able to roam freely for between about $2 (for Indians) and $10 (for foreign nationals), respectively.

[BBC]