Kashmir — Heaven on Earth
The night before we started for Srinagar was spent roaming the bylanes of Amritsar and we wondered that perhaps this may be last time we spent late nights outside in this trip. I recollected my last 2 day work-trip to Jammu & Srinagar in 2017 when I had & heard some harrowing experiences.
To our pleasant surprise, the experience was complete contrast to what we perceived. We got support from complete strangers who went out of their way to help us. There were some beautiful conversations over kahwa, noon-chai, bakarkhanis and sheerwal. The hospitality at the hotel stays was amazing.
A quick overview of our iterinary is as below:
Day 1 - Srinagar city tour
Day 2 - Day trip to Gulmarg to enjoy the Gondola rides and some snow; overnight stay at Srinagar
Day 3 - 7 hour on road to Kargil via the scenic Zojila Pass & Zero Point (some more snow time enroute 😊)
Day 4 - 4 hour road trip from Kargil to Sonamarg, overnight at Sonmarg
Day 5 - a trek up the Thajiwas glacier early morning and head back to Srinagar for overnight stay in a Houseboat & Shikara ride
Day 6 - 3-4 hour drive to Pahalgam (time would vary depending on the stops one want to take, multiple options available enroute - Sangam for Cricket bats, Pampore for Saffron and Apple Valley for apple orchards)
Day 7 - Head back to Srinagar, explore the vegetable/ dry fruit markets & relax.
Day 8 - Bye Bye Kashmir
The iterinary was customised by us keeping in mind the 6 senior citizens and 2 children in our group, to keep it less adventure and more relaxing experience. The trip could be modified depending on the traveller's preference...and there are lot of options on the menu to chose from in this true Heaven on the earth !!!
Instead of going into specifics of our day-wise iterinary, I am putting in few highlights across the towns that made up the 7 days memorable (and also adding possible suggestions which we missed).
Srinagar
On top of the list would be the capital city of Srinagar, a city famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats.
These trio combination will take most of your time in the city as you could roam inside superbly curated well-maintained Shalimar gardens/ Mughal Gardens/ Nishad gardens or you could spend time in a shikara floating aimlessly in the Dal Lake or adjoining Nigheen Lake or stay in a beautiful houseboat.
We stayed at Rajbagh area which was about 2 km walk to Lal Chowk & the adjoining markets (for some shopping). Sharing a picture of the lovely footpath enroute, on the banks of Jhelum river.
We went to these 2 interesting & recommended eateries on either side of Jhelum river -
- 14th Avenue cafe & grill (we went for coffee, pastries and hummus-pita)
- Chai Jaai (Try some tasty Mughal chai & kahwa with sheerwal in this beautiful ambience)
This whole place/ experience could very well have been any other European city with cute little cafes on banks of the river.
The other location for eating out is near Ghat no 9 of Dal Lake where one has multiple good vegetarian options as well as Le Delice (french pastry shop 🤤).
Another must-visit attraction in Srinagar is age-old Lord Shiva temple situated on top of Shankaracharya hill (aptly named after the revered Adi Shankaracharya who visited the temple long back). The base of the temple is 1.8 km walk/drive from the ground level and further you have to climb 250 steps up to reach the temple. We get an excellent 360° aerial view of Srinagar city from the top.
One overnight stay at a houseboat would definitely be on every first-time tourist visit, but it may tend to get boring late evenings, as your movements are restricted outside and also most houseboats appear to be in need of repairs & maintenance.
While we covered the above attractions, we had to miss on below places, which one can try depending on time/ interest:
1) Char Chinar island on Dal Lake - offering a perfect setting to watch the sunset amidst beautiful Chinar trees.
2) Hazratbal Shrine (but it closes at 5:30 pm so we missed it)
3) Nigheen Lake (which was more serene and calming compared to busy Dal Lake, but we didn't get time to do a shikara ride there)
4) Try some authentic Kashmiri non-veg food
Gulmarg
While the best time to visit would be the winters for lots of snow, May-visitors would have to ensure prior booking of gondola tickets to have any chance to see/feel some snow here. For the uninformed, there are 2 phases, first one takes you to Kongdori (elevation 8500 ft) and Phase 2 goes all way up to Apharwat peak (elevation 12300 ft). Phase 1 gives us a chance to play in the snow by walking up/ hiring a mule for about 600-700 metres. There are skiing or snowboarding options which can be chosen according to your interest. Also you get a chance to make a snowman, have Maggie and hot kahwa!
Phase 2 is just snow all over and with the altitude, oxygen levels are low, so you would want to come down to Phase 1 quickly after few mandatory pics like this.
Given it was a day trip, we didn’t explore any other attractions in Gulmarg. The highlight of Gulmarg trip has to be 15-20 min scenic views as you climb up the mountain on the gondola rides. That’s also the time when you are alone with your family, because once you are out of the gondola, you may get a feel of chilly Mumbai if it snows here ! The muleowners, guides & snow game operators negotiating with the tourists, the hawkers selling bhelpuri,biscuits etc, few people fighting over someone jumping the gondola queue etc etc.. in short, anything but serene (the above picture is edited for effect, thanks to AI Magic Eraser 😜).
Sonamarg (Meadow of the Golden Light)
While most tourists do Sonamarg as a day-trip from Srinagar, truth be told, if you really want to experience this beauty of a landscape, you got to spend atleast a night here. Day trip would mean you reach by 10/11am, have lunch, take a pony ride up to Thajivas glacier, take pictures at some spots where Bollywood movies were shot (which the guides will point out) and then return back to Srinagar. Luckily this is NOT what we did !!
First we zipped past Sonmarg via the NH1 connecting Srinagar to Ladakh via Kargil. About an hour drive after leaving Srinagar, you get the company of a gushing Sindh river on the right side on the meandering road as you approach Sonamarg.
Instead of stopping at Sonamarg, we started our ascent towards Kargil via Zojila Pass, one of India’s treacherous passes and faint-hearted may not sit on the window seat ! But the drive offers spectacular views of the valley and the snow capped mountains.
We stopped midway at Zero Point to play in snow (One of the happy moments of the trip!! 😊 😊)
After the Zojila pass, we continued all the way up to Kargil. There is a beautiful memorial maintained by the Indian Army to honour those 500+ bravehearts who gave their lives fighting the war. These are the places where the respect towards the Indian defence forces increase manifold and heart swell proudly of being an Indian. We stayed overnight at Kargil.
The next day, we retraced our way back via Zero Point, Zojila to reach Sonamarg by noon. The mountains were calling and we just couldn't resist the temptation ! After lunch, we went out for a short hike.
The next morning, myself and brother-in-law started out at 6 am on a hike up to Thajivas glacier in pursuit of the "Golden Meadows or Sona Marg" - the snowy mountain exude a golden hue when the sunrays fall on them!
It’s a 3 km hike one-way, amidst lush green forests, rocky terrain, gushing stream, cold breeze (8-9°) and some 100+ horses/mules grazing. It was truly an enchanting experience.
So the main advice - Don’t hurry up Sonmarg, take your time to relax and soak in the beauty & serenity !
Pahalgam
Unlike the snow-filled road experience to Sonamarg, the picturesque journey from Srinagar to Pahalgam passes through green paddy fields, saffron plantations eventually merging into a scenary with walnut trees and Lidder river fiercely flowing on side of the road. There were many moments in our drive when we felt like stopping and setting up a camp by the river!
A typical touristy trip to Pahalgam would mean hiring the local union-run car to see ABC (Aru Valley, Betaab Valley and Chandanwari). The taxi rides between of these 3 spots will be approx 30-40 mins, and the driver gives you exactly an hour at each spot to get down and click photographs. Unfortunately, unlike Sonamarg, we ended up doing the touristy thing 😔
While the experiences in that hour each were beautiful but we left with a feeling of having experienced only 1% of what Pahalgam beauty truly is. It's a trekkers & hikers heaven. We also didn't spend enough/ any time at Pahalgam market which had an amazing old-world charm with retro-style street lamps and wooden nameplates for the shops and restaurants.
Something's for next time, right?.. Our son infact expressed a desire to set up a summer home in Pahalgam!! 😊
So with hopes and dreams of coming back to Pahalgam & other such unexplored beautiful places like Gurez valley added to the bucket list, we returned to Srinagar base to start packing.
Like all good things, holidays are also meant to end and these 7 days spent in Kashmir were absolutely refreshing.
I hope you liked reading the blog and a feedback (both positive or constuctive) would be much appreciated.
Cheers
SP