North India · Lake
Houseboats on Dal Lake, Mughal gardens and chinar-shaded autumn light
Photo: Abdars · CC BY-SA 3.0
Best: Apr–Nov
Kalhana's Rajatarangini records a city here in the sixth century, and Srinagar has been the seat of Kashmir ever since, passing from Hindu kings to the Shah Mir sultans, the Mughals, the Afghans, the Sikhs and the Dogras. Each left something. Sultan Sikandar's Jama Masjid at Nowhatta rests on 378 deodar columns; Jahangir laid out Shalimar Bagh in 1619 and Asaf Khan followed with the twelve terraces of Nishat Bagh, both stepping down to the Dal with the Zabarwan range behind.
The British, forbidden by the Dogra maharajas from owning land, answered with houseboats, and their carved cedar descendants still moor along the Boulevard and on quieter Nigeen Lake. A day here begins before sunrise, when a shikara takes you to the floating vegetable market where farmers trade lotus stems and haak from boat to boat. Mornings suit the old city: the papier-mache workshops of Zaina Kadal, the Khanqah-e-Moula shrine with its painted wooden interiors, the bakeries pulling girda and lavasa from tandoors.
Afternoons belong to Chashme Shahi's spring, Pari Mahal's ruined terraces and the climb to Shankaracharya Temple for the view over the whole valley. In late March the Tulip Garden opens below the hills; in late October the chinars turn the colour of embers. Srinagar matters because Kashmir's whole story, from Sufi saints to saffron, is legible in its streets and its water.
Best Apr–Nov
April to October for gardens and lakes; late October to November for chinar autumn; December to February for snow.
Give Srinagar 3 days and it repays the time; with fewer you are choosing between Shikara ride on Dal Lake at dawn and Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh Mughal gardens. We build the hours around the weather — early starts when it is hot, long afternoons when it is not.
On the ground
The days we would actually plan for you, in the order that suits the light.
At the table
Non-vegJammu & Kashmir
Kashmiri mutton braised slowly with dried Kashmiri chillies, fennel, dry ginger and ratanjot root, which gives the gravy its red colour without heat. The Pandit version uses no onion or garlic. It arrives midway through a wazwan feast, eaten with plain rice, and is best in Srinagar in the cold months.
DrinkJammu & Kashmir
Green tea brewed in a copper samovar with saffron, cinnamon bark and green cardamom, poured over crushed almonds and sweetened lightly with honey or sugar. Kashmiris drink it all day and press it on every guest. On a houseboat at Dal Lake or in a Gulmarg guesthouse it does the work of a fire.
Getting there
Srinagar (Sheikh ul-Alam) airport is 12 km from Lal Chowk; Srinagar station is now linked to Katra and Jammu by rail; Jammu is 265 km by NH44.
Airport pickups, station transfers and the driver for the days here are all part of what we arrange — including the hour you should leave, which is usually earlier than you think.
Next door
Places that join Srinagar without a long drive — the way a real week is built.
Hill stationJammu & Kashmir
A bowl-shaped meadow, one of the world's highest gondolas, Himalayan powder
ValleyJammu & Kashmir
Lidder river, pine valleys and the road to Amarnath
ValleyJammu & Kashmir
Golden meadow at the foot of Zoji La and the Thajiwas glacier
TempleJammu & Kashmir
Trikuta hills pilgrimage to the Mother Goddess in a cave
CityLadakh
Ladakh's high desert capital of palaces, gompas and prayer flags
3 journeys
7 days · 6 nightsEasy · Best Apr–Oct
Seven days of Dal Lake, Gulmarg meadows, Lidder pines and Sindh valley snow
Route: Srinagar → Gulmarg → Pahalgam → Sonamarg
10 days · 9 nightsChallenging · Best Jun–Sep
Ten days over Zoji La and Khardung La to Pangong Tso
Route: Srinagar → Sonamarg → Lamayuru → Leh +2 more
18 days · 17 nightsModerate · Best Oct–Nov
Eighteen days up the spine of India, from the cape to the valley
Route: Kanyakumari → Madurai → Hampi → Hyderabad +6 more
From the journal
· Itinerary · 5 min
Everything that decides whether a Ladakh drive works: which highway to enter on, how many days to give altitude before Khardung La, what permits cost, when the passes open and close, and a tested twelve-day loop from Leh to Tso Moriri.
Before you ask
Photograph of Srinagar: Abdars · CC BY-SA 3.0
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