Pahalgam, Shrinagar, Dal Lake

On 29th Dec 21 at 9 AM we started from Hotel Taranant, Katra, parked our car at Hotel Jagdamba as asked by our tour operator Suhana Safar and by desire car of Suhana Safar travel (driver Ajay Sharma) at 10 AM went to Pahalgam. Distance is @ 230 KM.  On the way had lunch, coffee and reached Valley Resort, Pahalgam by 5 PM. Resort was beautiful, backside there was river, we saw a beautiful sunset with a cup of coffee at the river side. Enjoyed beauty of nature. It was too cold but as we are provided beds with heating coils, it was bearable. Also we received awesome food (veg and nonveg for dinner).

On 30th Dec 21 morning at 9 we received fantastic Parathas and boiled eggs for breakfast and at 10 AM Mr. Ajay Sharma took us for sightseeing of Pahalgam.  Driver first took us at the point where horse rides are available for sightseeing, but as we rided horses to Mata Vaishno Devi on 28th Dec 21 for 13 km and my Mom, Dad for 26 km, we all having backache and they were quoting rates to high, we decided to go by vehicle.  There are fixed rates for fixed view points for particular vehicles.  We choose Aru valley, Chandanwadi and betab valley by Omni car. Rate Rs 1800/- (Your own or private cars are not allowed for these points) Omni driver first took us to Aru Valley. Aru Valley is 12 km from Pahalgam, 11 km upstream from the Lidder River located in Anantnag district and is known for peaceful environment and scenic beauty. You can do trekking, hiking, horse riding, sightseeing and photography. We spent 1 hour here, enjoyed beautiful nature and went to Chandanwadi. This is the place where AMARNATH YATRA starts.  The scenic view on the way to chandanwari is beautiful which we normally see all around Pahalgam. It is 5 km to reach us to Chandanwadi, some people stopped our omni and asked driver to park car aside and told us that this vehicle won't go ahead, you have to take vehicle which doesn't skid. We refused and decided to play and take photographs in snow over there ( we saw many people are doing same).  You can saw beautiful Lidder river flowing through. We spent 1 hour with this beautiful environment. If you are visiting Gulmarg and Sonmarg, it is not nescessary for anybody to visit chandanwadi... This is totally commercial place, local vendors charge whatever they want for vehicles and snow jackets & shoes... which can be negotiable at just Rs 150.... but again I will recomend if you are going to Sonmarg... dont waste your time here. On returning way we didn't went down to Betab valley but experienced scenic beauty of Betab valley from the road, took beautiful pics and then Omni driver dropped us from where he picked up us and then by our hired car we went to Dal Lake which is at the distance of 90 Km.  On the way we had lunch (fried rice, chole Bhature) and reached Dal Lake by 5.30 PM. You have to take Shikara to reach to houseboat from ghat. This ride is included in our package. Suhana Safar Tour operator made all arrangements well for stay and food. Dinner provided to us is veg and nonveg. We had halt at CZara house boat which was awesome. Good experience to stay here. Houseboat is well furnished. Staff is cooperative (Firdaus).  Overall it was a nice stay.
Dal is a lake in Shrinagar, the summer capital of  Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is an urban lake, which is the second largest in the U.T. of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the most visited place in Srinagar by tourists and locals. View of Dal Lake are completely different in 4 seasons. It is integral to tourism and recreation in Kashmir and is named the "Lake of Flowers", "Jewel in the crown of Kashmir"[or "Srinagar's Jewel". The lake is also an important source for commercial operations in fishing and water plant harvesting.

On 31st Dec 2021 after breakfast (uppit, bread butter, tea)  at 12 noon we checked out houseboat CZara and hired a Shikara at Rs. 1500/- to have a ride in Dal Lake upto Mina Bazar which is a floating market in Dal Lake. Mina bazar is accessible by shikara. As rates are high, better to avoid shopping.  Just enjoy the shikara ride in dal lake. It was totally new experience. Lovely market in the Dal Lake of Shrinagar.  You can find so many things to purchase and eateries as well. We didn't purchase anything but enjoyed drinking Kaua and ate roasted corn (Bhutta) on Shikara ride. After one and half hour Shikara wala dropped us on the bank of Dal Lake and then by desire car we went to Shankaracharya Temple. There is strict checking of your car, luggage at entry point. Mobile, camera, purse not allowed upstairs.  A must visit place. Nice temple managed by Indian Army. Place of JagadGuru Shankaracharya and Temple of Lord Shiva.   The entire structure is built of rocks.  
This temple is also known as the Jyeshteshwara Temple.  The temple is at a height of 1,000 feet (300 m) above the valley floor and overlooks the city of  Srinagar. We saw some people dropping out midway as it can leave you breathless. You have to climb about 250 steps but when you reach on the top, you can view the entire Srinagar atop this temple and nice panoramic view of the dal lake. A very sacred place.
Then car driver took us to The Jawaharlal Nehru Botanical Garden. It is a botanical garden in Shrinagar, India, set up in 1969 in memory of India's first prime minister. It contains many types of plants and vegetation. This garden has a collection of about 150,00 ornamental plants and a huge collection of oak varieties. It also has a rare collection of Kashmiri tropical plants.  Many people from various areas of world visit this place. It has four main divisions -  the Plant Introduction Centre, the Research Section, the Recreational Garden and the Botanical Garden.[ Entrance ticket is Rs  25/- per person.  Here we hired a kashmiri dress at Rs.100/- for my daughter and clicked her  photographs. Botanical garden is huge with a  beautiful layout and a small lake. There are many locations to click pictures. When we visited not too many flowers, but has a patch of long shady trees upto which one can take a leisure walk. worth a visit to enjoy a peaceful afternoon/evening.  It's nicely maintained and planned garden to spent good time with family  with kids and friends.
We visited in early Jan but if you visit during flower season you would love this place.  We weren't lucky to see the beauty of this garden due to weather. Then we checked in hotel Al Samad, Shrinagar which was ok ok. We served nonveg dinner late night as it was 31st.Dec. 21.