Kashmir - Majestic but Serene and Calm

Kashmir was in my bucket list for a long time and we finally made it. This was such a nice and memorable trip for me as it had so many first times in it like first long vacation with my 2 year old son, first snow experience, first snowfall, first pony ride experience and finally such a nice, serene, close to nature experience. I was surprised to see the majestic side of the nature and still the calmness in it.

Best Time to Visit: March to April, to experience the snow and the beauty. But have to plan in Advance and book your tickets and hotels as this is the peak season in Kashmir.

My Recommendations:

Srinagar: Shikara ride in Dal Lake, Tulip Garden, Floating Post Office

Pahalgam: River Rafting, Baisaran Valley, Aru Valley, Beta Valley, Chandanwari

Gulmarg: Local Sightseeing, DrangWaterfall, Gandola Cable Car Rides, Activities (Skiing, sledging, snow biking)

Sonmarg: Thajiwas Glacier (Activities: Skiing, sledging), Zero Point

Food: Kashmiri Pulao Non Veg (Pine View Restaurant in Tangmarg), Khewa, Chicken BBQ in Floating market @Dal Lake

Shopping: Berries, Dry Fruits, Wooden handicrafts, Kashmiri clothing like sarees, stoles or shawls

We were quite excited about the trip travelling from South (Pondicherry) to the Northernmost point of India. We started our trip from Chennai --> Mumbai --> Srinagar and our trip was for 7 days (April 15, 2022 - April 21, 2022). We boarded the flight from Chennai around 6:30 am in the morning. The flight journey itself was a mesmerizing one, we were able to see the take off from Mumbai across the sea and the landing in Srinagar with snow clad peaks. It covered both the mountain view and beach view like both the sides of the coin. We reached Srinagar around 12:15 pm and checked in to the house boat and refreshed ourselves and quite excited for the journey ahead.

We took a relaxing Shikara ride (Rs.2000 for the ride) for two hours had our lunch in the floating market of Dal Lake and it was a quite refreshing experience, the view of the mountains, sunset and water all around. Since we stayed in house boat, we were able to take the Shikara in the morning, afternoon, evening and night and out of all the evening ride in Shikara was nice. We then headed to Tulip Garden, the garden had a scenic view surrounded by mountains. However, the tulips were less in number. The Tulip festival is celebrated in the month of March where the garden is covered with different colors of tulips.

We checked out from House boat at around 8 am and started to Pahalgam. On the way we covered Avantipura Ruins, its a rock cut Temple with lots of carvings in it. This place was nice to cover and good to take a break in between for a hour long journey from Srinagar to Pahalgam. We checked in to the hotel Castle Rock at Pahalgam. The hotel was good with a nice river and a mountain view point from the balcony. Also the river rafting point starts just in front of the hotel. The river rafting is a good experience for the beginner. We spent the evening by the side of the Lidder River and the water flowing through the river were heard in the night as well and it was a close to nature experience.

We took a pony ride to Baisaran valley (mini Switzerland), the view points during the pony ride were awesome and it uncovered a valley on the top surrounded by snow capped mountains. It was rightly named as mini Switzerland. We must use our bargaining skills while hiring a pony (price quoted for the ride was 7.5k per pony and they came down to 2.5k per pony for us). The to and fro pony ride takes half a day. Post that we finished our lunch and took a local union taxi to roam around the view points of Pahalgam (Aru Valley, Beta Valley and Chandanwari). To our surprise we experienced the first snow in Chandanwari. We spent some time in these view points. One point to note, In Kashmir, they operate local union taxi in each place, the same taxi cannot be taken everywhere, we need to hire separate taxi to see the view points in that location.

We started our day at 8 am to enroute to Gulmarg from Pahalgam and we reached Gulmarg around 1.30 pm having our breakfast and lunch break in between and had some shopping experience as well. We had a nice sight seeing experience in Gulmarg, A Golf Club, A church with a lush greenery around, and different meadows with snow clad peaks behind had a scenic view to have a walk and enjoy around.

We spent our day in Gandola Cable car point. The tickets for Gandola cable car ride has to be booked in advance for both phase 1 and phase 2 through the online website only (www.jammukashmircablecar.com) and phase 2 gets sold out very soon as they accommodate only 600 pax per day for phase 2 and 1500 pax per day for phase 1. Point to be noted is that, if the weather conditions are bad then the authorities have the right to cancel the cable car ride to phase 2 and the money wont be refunded as of now. We got chance to visit just the phase 1. Once you get down from cable car, you will be able to see the snow if you are travelling around March but since we travelled in the late April, we had to walk some distance or take a pony to see the snow. If you are fit enough, there is no need to take a pony but you can walk as the route is not steep, it just a rocky and sloppy terrain. But if you are taking a pony then again you need to use your bargaining skills (we paid Rs.800 per pony). Gulmarg has lot of activities in the phase 1 like skiing, sledging, snow biking, if you have ticket for phase 2 finish that first, get back and then you can do these activities. If you are planning to visit Sonmarg then skiing and sledging can be done there because Gulmarg is slightly overpriced as it is commercialized because of these cable car. However, if you wanna do snow biking try it here as Sonmarg did not have that facility yet. Again if you wanna do these activities, you need to bargain on the prices they quote for these activities. We spent our day there till 4pm and we started to Srinagar the same day.

We started from Srinagar to Sonmarg around 8.30 am and we reached there around 11.30 am. The route from Srinagar to Sonmarg itself was rejuvenating with Sindh river passing by the sides and snow clad peaks around. We had our breakfast in the river side while travelling. Once we reached Sonmarg we felt surreal, the view was breathtaking with the snow clad peaks, glaciers and sindh rivers. Each and every day of the trip was getting better for us Pahalgam being fully of valley, gulmarg being a combination of meadow and mountains and Sonmarg with glaciers and rivers passing side by side. We had to take a pony ride to Thajiwas glacier and the pony costed us Rs.1600 per person with shoes and jacket rented. This pony ride is different from that of the ride taken in Pahalgam, The pony crossed a lot of water streams and meadows by the side to reach the Glacier. Once we reached the Glacier we spent some time there enjoying the clean snow. This place is not so commercialized as Gulmarg and it was serene. The skiing and sledging activities are available here and cheaper compared to Gulmarg.

Once we got back from the Glacier we hired a cab to Zero Point, they charged us around Rs.5500 for the taxi but the journey was so awesome and that cant be described by words, it is just magical. I personally felt I don't want to spend time in taking photographs but to enjoy that views. So, we took minimal photos and enjoyed the view and journey. We were lucky enough to experience the snowfall in the zeropoint. It was my first snowfall experience as well. This zeropoint journey was the ultimate of our trip and we ended our trip with a nice experience. We got back to Srinagar the same day

We didn't have any itinerary for Day 7 but the flight back to Chennai (Srinagar --> Delhi --> Chennai) and then to Pondicherry. This was a wholesome nice trip for us and we enjoyed it thoroughly with the nice view of snow, mountains, meadows, valleys, snowfall, rivers and what else we could ask for.