Places to visit in Kashmir
These are the places Kashmir trips are built from. Each trip page lists exactly which of them it covers, and a private trip can swap one for another.
- Dal Lake: Srinagar's lake of houseboats, floating gardens and shikaras; every trip here includes a one-hour shikara ride, and many add a night on a houseboat.
- The Mughal gardens: Nishat Bagh, Shalimar Bagh and Chashme Shahi, terraced gardens with water channels facing the lake, with Pari Mahal on the hill above.
- Shankaracharya Temple and Hazratbal: The hilltop temple with a view over Srinagar and the lake, and the white marble shrine on Dal Lake's northern shore.
- Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden: Terraced tulip beds below the Zabarwan hills in Srinagar, open for a few weeks each spring.
- Gulmarg: The meadow town about 50 km from Srinagar, with the two-stage gondola towards Apharwat peak, the Drung waterfall, and skiing and sledging in winter.
- Pahalgam: The Valley of Shepherds on the Lidder river, about 95 km from Srinagar through the saffron fields of Pampore, with the old Mamleshwar temple in town.
- Aru, Betaab and Chandanwari (the ABC valleys): The three valleys around Pahalgam, reached by local union cab: Aru's meadows and village, Betaab Valley named after the film shot there, and Chandanwari, where the snow lingers into summer.
- Sonmarg and Thajiwas Glacier: The Meadow of Gold on the Sindh river, about 80 km from Srinagar, with a pony ride up to the Thajiwas glacier.
- Doodhpathri: A quiet meadow valley about an hour and a half from Srinagar, with the white, frothing Shaliganga stream running through it.
- Pampore and Awantipora: The saffron fields and the ruins of the ninth-century Avantiswami temple on the road from Srinagar to Pahalgam.
- Gurez Valley: The remote Kishanganga valley over the Razdan pass, with the Habba Khatoon peak, wooden villages and the Tulail valley beyond Dawar.
- Vaishno Devi from Katra: The cave shrine reached by a 13 km climb from Katra, with ponies, palkis and battery cars on parts of the way; the Vaishno Devi plans spend a night or two in Katra before Kashmir.