Kashmir travel guide

Travel to Kashmir between Apr – Oct. Those are the months the weather, the crowds and the airfare line up — outside them you trade one of the three.

Currency

Indian Rupee (INR)

Language

Kashmiri in the valley, Urdu and Hindi everywhere in the trade, English in hotels and with guides. Hindi carries you completely; you will not need a word of Kashmiri, though salaam and shukriya are noticed.

Time zone

IST (UTC+5:30)

Plug type

Type C / D / M

Flight time from India

3.5 hrs

Flying from

Ahmedabad · Mumbai · Delhi · Jammu · Chandigarh

• 

  Dal Lake at six in the morning

  The floating vegetable market at Rainawari trades between five and seven and is packed up before most visitors are awake. A shikara costs about ₹800 an hour whenever you take it — the same money at dawn shows you four times as much as the same money at five in the evening.

• 

  The Gulmarg gondola

  Phase 1 climbs to Kongdoori at 3,050 m, Phase 2 to Apharwat at 3,980 m. Phase 2 tickets sell out online days ahead in season, and the top station is cold enough for a proper jacket even in June. At 3,980 m altitude is real — do not go up on the morning you land.

• 

  Pahalgam and the Lidder valley

  Aru, Betaab and Chandanwari lie up a valley where only local union taxis may go — your Srinagar car stops at the town. Aru is the one to walk from. Avoid the fortnight around the start of the Amarnath yatra unless you actively want the crowd.

• The Mughal gardens and the old city

  Nishat, Shalimar and Chashme Shahi take one afternoon between them. The half nobody sells you is the old city: Jamia Masjid and its 378 deodar pillars, the shrine at Hazratbal, and the papier-mâché and khatamband workshops around Zaina Kadal.

• Saffron at Pampore, late October

  For about three weeks the karewa fields turn purple with crocus, and this is the only place in India where you can watch the stigmas being picked by hand. Buy from a GI-tagged Kashmir saffron co-operative with a lab certificate, not from a roadside stall — adulteration is the norm.

• Sonamarg and the Thajiwas glacier

  The glacier walk is short — about 3 km each way — or a pony that will be quoted at ₹2,000 and settle nearer ₹1,000. Sonamarg sits on the Leh highway and is shut by snow from around December to April, which is worth checking before you build a spring itinerary around it.

• WazwanVegetarian

  Kashmir's famous 36-course wedding feast, and it must be said plainly: it is entirely mutton, from rista to gushtaba, and there is no vegetarian wazwan. Do not build an evening around it for a vegetarian group — the trade will sell it to you anyway.

• Haak saagJain friendly

  The everyday Kashmiri green — a collard cooked with just water, mustard oil, green chilli and asafoetida. No onion, no garlic, no tomato, because Kashmiri Pandit cooking traditionally uses none of them. That makes haak one of the very few regional dishes in India a Jain traveller can eat as it is served.

• Nadru yakhni and dum alooJain friendly

  Lotus stem from the Dal itself in a yoghurt-and-fennel gravy, and the Kashmiri dum aloo, which is deep red from Kashmiri chilli and contains no onion in the traditional recipe. Note for Jain travellers: nadru is a root, and dum aloo is potato — both are usually avoided, so haak and rajma are the safer order.

• Modur pulao

  The sweet Kashmiri pulao — rice with saffron, milk, ghee, cinnamon and dry fruit, and no meat at all. It is served at Pandit functions and is the one thing on a Kashmiri table a Gujarati palate recognises immediately.

• Kahwa and girda

  Green tea with saffron, cardamom and crushed almond, drunk all day and offered the moment you sit down anywhere. Pair it with girda or lavasa from a kandur — the neighbourhood bakery — which bakes twice a day and sells out both times.

Set a meal preference — vegetarian, Jain or halal — when you book and we brief every hotel and restaurant on your itinerary.

• Pashmina — insist on the GI mark and the Craft Development Institute lab tag; a genuine hand-spun shawl is not a ₹3,000 item
• Kashmiri saffron with the GI tag and a lab certificate, from a Pampore co-operative
• Walnut wood carving from Srinagar — buy by weight and grain, and ask about export paperwork for anything large
• Papier-mâché boxes and khatamband panelling from the Zaina Kadal workshops
• Dry fruit — walnuts, almonds and dried apricot are cheaper here than anywhere in Gujarat
• Namda and gabba felted rugs, and crewel embroidery by the metre

Srinagar airport (SXR) is 12 km from the city and has a tight security regime — reach it three hours before departure and expect two baggage screenings. Inside the valley, local taxi unions hold a monopoly on the last leg into Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg: your Srinagar car will be stopped at the town boundary and you will change into a union vehicle, ₹2,000–3,500 for the day. Budget for it rather than arguing about it. Prepaid SIM cards issued outside J&K do not work in the Kashmir circle; postpaid does.

• Prepaid SIMs issued in any other circle simply will not register in Kashmir. Make sure at least one person in the group carries a postpaid number before you land.
• Roads to Gulmarg and Sonamarg close at short notice in heavy snow, and NH-44 through the Jammu ghats shuts for landslides several times a season. Keep a buffer day before any onward or international flight.
• Apharwat, at the top of the Gulmarg gondola, is 3,980 m — high enough for headache, nausea and breathlessness. Do it on day two or three, not on the morning you arrive from sea level.
• The valley trade runs on commission. A shawl shop that a driver, houseboat owner or guide takes you to is paying them 30–40 per cent, and carpet shops that offer to "ship it home" are the classic loss. Pay by card, never by bank transfer, and take the goods with you.
• Check the current advisory before ticketing, register your itinerary with your operator, and do not improvise side trips towards the LoC — the Gurez, Keran and Tangdhar valleys need permission and are checked.

Per person, per day, on the ground — meals, local transport and entry tickets. Flights and hotels sit in the package price, not here.