Kashmir 

Overview: 

The land of Unimag­in­able Beau­ty, Kash­mir is a nature lovers par­adise, with ‘mead­ows of gold,’ stun­ning riv­er lakes and the unique snow-capped moun­tains of both the Himalayas and the Pir Pan­jals com­bin­ing to make this dis­put­ed region a place of immense nat­ur­al beau­ty and a true scenic won­der of the world.  

Although it’s geog­ra­phy – offi­cial­ly Kash­mir is divid­ed between the north­ern half of India and the west of Pak­istan and bor­ders chi­na to the east has unfor­tu­nate­ly led to repeat­ed con­flicts, the beau­ty of the val­ley and in par­tic­u­lar the key three states of Sri­na­gar, Pahal­gam and the skiers par­adise of Gul­marg remains in both its unique sim­plic­i­ty and the fas­ci­nat­ing and intrigu­ing cul­ture – with the region offer­ing some of the best treks on the plan­et, some of the world’s most unique wildlife, some of the great­est lakes and being con­sid­ered the home of roman­ti­cism, spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, nature and adven­ture. 

Where: 

Kash­mir is offi­cial­ly a land divid­ed between north­ern India (Jam­mu and Kash­mir) and the dis­trict of Kash­mir in Pak­istan – and is also bor­dered to the east by Chi­na which has unfor­tu­nate­ly result­ed in mul­ti­ple con­flicts.  

But in terms of acces­si­bil­i­ty and the high­lights, the main spot is the val­ley between the Himalayas and pir pan­jal moun­tain range – which is best accessed from inside India by road. 

Best time to Visit: 

Kash­mir is vis­i­ble all year round – although it’s advised to avoid the mon­soon sea­son (between July — Sep­tem­ber) if you’re not a fan of rain show­ers.  

For those who are a fan of snow and ski­ing or for the roman­tics then win­ter (Novem­ber to Feb­ru­ary) is the best option, with the ski­ing in par­tic­u­lar in the region of ski­ing in Gulm­rg known to be excep­tion­al, and the sin­gle dig­it tem­per­a­tures offer­ing a chilly but roman­tic expe­ri­ence. 

For those more inclined to a warmer set­ting, the sum­mer sea­son (March to June) – where the lakes are at their peak fed by the melt­ing snow and trekking is at a pre­mi­um  — is ide­al, although be warned that this is peak sea­son and book­ings are required well in advance and crowds are expect­ed.  

Explore:

Described as par­adise on earth as ear­ly as the 15th cen­tu­ry , for all the con­flict of Kash­mir its beau­ty some­times goes over­looked with the val­ley being home to an abun­dance of nat­ur­al beau­ty includ­ing lakes, moun­tains and glac­i­ers.  

For starters the most famous to vis­it in Kash­mir is the Alchi Monastery, which is believed to date back to 958 and is a sacred site for Bud­dhists the world over, with the elab­o­rate (albeit crum­bled) stat­ues of bud­dha, the texts and the ancient mak­ing this a spir­i­tu­al yet sig­nif­i­cant land­mark in Kash­mir.  

From here, it’s all about the beau­ty of nature with the Dal Lake and the beau­ty of Sri­na­gar – known as the Venice of the east offer­ing not just the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spend a day in a lux­u­ry house­boat but take in the beau­ty of the Pir Pan­jal Moun­tains and the val­leys and lakes of Kash­mir, with the near­by Mughal Gar­dens, Nishat Bagh Shankaracharya Tem­ple all adding to the beau­ty of this region.  

Along­side the lakes, nes­tled in the Pir Pan­jal Moun­tains llies the ski heav­en of Gul­marg, which is also home to the sec­ond biggest Gon­do­la Cable Car Ride to Khi­lan­marg which takes you over the moun­tain ranges to the pho­to hot spot of the low­er ridge of the Aphar­wat Peak – for stun­ning views.  

The pris­tine hill sta­tion of Son­marg is also on any won­ders buck­et list, affec­tion­ate­ly dubbed the ‘Mead­ows of Flow­ers’ this unique van­tage point allows for a panoram­ic view of all of Kashmir’s beau­ty, with the glac­i­ers forests, and snow-capped peaks all vis­i­ble and the near­by Bal­tal Val­ley and the Tha­ji­was Glac­i­er mak­ing for per­fect places to explore Kash­mir.  

Final­ly the val­leys of Pahal­gam, which is home to the lush val­leys of Chan­dan­wa­di he start­ing point of Amar­nath Yatra, Betab val­ley and Aru val­ley, is an ide­al spot for trekkers – with the base camp for trekking to the Kola­hoi Glac­i­er and Tarsar Lake lying a few kilo­me­ters out­side the hill sta­tion.  

In fact for those who aren’t keen on a ski and soak­ing in the val­ley and fan­cy a trek, any­one of the treks at Ganga­bal Lake, Vis­hansar Lake, Kris­hansar Lake and Gad­sar Lake will keep you hap­py or peaks in Ladakh which offers the treks of the Kun­lun Moun­tain range, the Gul­marg Trek and the chal­leng­ing Amar­nath Yatra Trek which fin­ish­es at the site of a nat­ur­al Bud­dhist pil­grim­age – mak­ing Kash­mir not just a unique and beau­ti­ful wion­der, but also with some­thing for every wan­der­lus­ter to expe­ri­ence.  

Cost:

As with the rest of India, Kash­mir is not just acces­si­ble but is also incred­i­bly afford­able – with trav­ellers able to get by on as lit­tle as $15 a day – for those want­i­ng to upgrade to a lux­u­ry house­boat on the lake Dal, spend some time ski­ing and go deep in to the val­ley you can expect to bud­get slight­ly high­er – but as won­ders go Kash­mir is cer­tain­ly afford­able for all trav­el­ers.

How long to stay:

It’s advised to bud­get for a min­i­mum of 5 days in Kash­mir – with more time allowed based on a desire to hike and / or ski. 

Top Tip:

While of course advis­ing to be care­ful and only trav­el when there’s no ongo­ing con­flict and keep a sharp eye on your belong­ings – a trav­el tip is mak­ing sure you expe­ri­ence stay­ing ona house­boat on the Dal Lake.  

These house­boats – which are all moored to reas­sure any­one who sug­gest from sea­sick­ness – are ‘lux­u­ry on water’ – and give a chance for you to take in the seren­i­ty of the lake while view­ing the Pir Pan­jal Moun­tains in com­plete pri­va­cy and when out of sea­son seclu­sion – for an expe­ri­ence not to be missed 

Getting there:

Despite the ongo­ing con­flict in the region, Kash­mir and Jam­mu remain very acces­si­ble – with the option of air, coach or dri­ve.  

For those pre­fer­ring a direct flight in both the Jam­mu Air­port and the Sheikh ul-Alam Inter­na­tion­al Air­port in Sri­na­gar have fre­quent direct flights in from many Indi­an cities.  

But where’s the fun in fly­ing in when you can expe­ri­ence arriv­ing in Kash­mir by tra­di­tion­al Indi­an train through the Pir Pan­jal moun­tains by the Ban­i­hal rail or by coach from most major cities in India, which take you through the famous Jawa­har Tun­nel and across the stun­ning sites of the val­ley.  

For those fan­cy­ing even more of an adven­ture to reach the won­der, a self dri­ve trip to the won­der is the way to go, with a road trip from Jam­mu at the ear­li­est tak­ing you not just through the Jah­war tun­nel but across numer­ous bumps and turns that dot the well paved road and take you through the beau­ty of the val­ley and the Pir Pan­jal moun­tains. 

Best photo spot:

While it’s a close run com­pe­ti­tion, the peaks of Son­marg make for stun­ning views of mead­ows, moun­tains, lakes and snow cov­ered Glac­i­ers.