Kashmir - The Heaven on Earth - My Experience

Thanks Meavin.

Pahalgam is a bit far off from a travel time perspective and points to be seen as well. Staying there is recommended.

I think day trips should be sufficient for Gulmarg and Sonamarg. Sonamarg is the starting point of some treks as well. So in case it interests you it might be two more days worth trekking to Nichanai Pass and the Vishnasar – Krishansar lakes. Otherwise if you plan includes going ahead to Ladakh then the Thajiwas glacier, which is the main attraction in Sonamarg, can be covered in half a day with a jeep. You will have to hire one locally since the outside vehicles are not allowed there. You can proceed to Kargil from here rather than returning to Srinagar.

For Gulmarg the primary attraction is the Gondola ride up to level 1 and level 2. I think there might be some snow in level 2 but I am just guessing here. If you book tickets at the TRC in Srinagar that will save some time and this can be comfortably covered in a day.

Hope this addresses your queries. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Thanks Chetan. How far is Thajiwas glacier from Sonamarg (town)? Can we go till Thajiwas glacier by Jeep / Taxi from Sonamarg and how much time it takes? I understand may be we would have to hire Ponies to climb up but is the base of Glacier reachable by motorable road? My main doubt is whether we need to take any detour for visiting Thajiwas glacier from the Main Highway (Srinagar - Leh) or will it be on the route itself?


Out of all Excursions / Trekking places at Pahalgam, which one did you like the most? Aru Valley or Betaab Valley?

Hi Chetan,
The pics are simply superb. I do have a queries: Which camera? Whre did you book the package?

Ponywala told us this is thajiwa glacier. dnt know whether it is that or not but place is realy beautiful

Thanks Gautam. I have used a Canon EOS 7D and Canon 17-40 f/4L and Canon 100-400L lenses.

I booked my trip through http://www.snapstartours.com/

Mods: If the link is not permitted kindly delete the same.


Thajiwas is accessible by jeep from Sonamarg and it probably takes around 15-20 minutes to reach the base. It is a slight detour but not a huge one. You could walk to the snow easily last month(there was snow everywhere) but I cannot be too sure if the case will be the same in August. The glacier may have shrunk a bit but I don't feel ponies will be necessary. By walking up the mountain for a short distance it should be possible to access the glacier. In any case if ponies are necessary you will find them at the base

This is a tough one but as a spot I think Chandanwari was the best. But if you ask me what I enjoyed the most, it was the drive from Chandanwari to Aru Valley. Mind you I have not seen Baisaran and by the time you go the Sheshnag lake will also be accessible. So you will be spoilt for choices

Chetan have you seen these huts?? our ponywala said us it was built for military during kargil war & but some tourist said ponywala generaly stays here.....

I have read that all thse hut were devastated due to massive avalanche in Srinagar few days back

I don't recall seeing them Bipasha In fact the entire place looks very different in your images.

Same here also Chetan

I am trying to give you glimpse view of surrounding. If something comes in common between your & my trip

Will post more shortly..

How can we reach Aru Valley from Srinagar directly? I mean is the route from Srinagar to Aru Valley passes through Pahalgam? Also if we want to stay at Aru Valley, will the Taxi hired from Aru Valley be allowed to drop us till our Hotel?

How much time it takes to reach Chandanwari from Aru Valley? I believe Betaab Valley is on the way to Chandanwari.. Can we cover Chandanwari and Betaab Valley in 3-4 hours and then return back to Aru/Pahalgam?

Looks like we found something in common Bipasha


Sonmarg by C . h . e . t . a . n, on Flickr

Hi Meavin,

Aru Valley is on one side and Chandanwari/Betaab Valley are on the opposite side. You can stay in Pahalgam and hire a cab which can cover Chandanwari/Betaab Valley/Aru Valley and drop you back to your hotel. 3-4 hours would be a bit of a rush in my opinion but I tend to spend more time at places due to my addiction with photography A couple of hours more would make it comfortable. I think the travel time between Chandanwari to Aru Valley would be an hour or so. We needed around 6 hours to cover these three places. If you are really hard pressed for time, you can give Betaab Valley a miss.

Thanks Chetan.. Any specific reason you did not visit Baisaran? I understand that you were late when you arrived Pahalgam on 1st day however still you had some time (4-6 PM) that day or may be some time next day also? Am I missing something?

We are planning to cover Baisaran/Chandanwari/Aru Valley for sure. However we are not very keen on Pony rides so would prefer places which are accessible without these rides.. Do you think this limitation would rule out few places from our targeted list?

There were two reasons why we did not visit Baisaran. Firstly by the time we reached there it was pretty late and it was becoming cloudy. It rained later that evening so it was a good choice. Secondly I had fractured my hip bone 6 months ago. So horse/pony were a total no for me as well. Given a choice I would have made the trip but walked all the way. I thought of that the second day as well but we returned from Aru Valley pretty late as well.

If you have to visit Baisaran then ponies are the best way next to walking. The distance is about 5 kms so walking will take some effort. If neither seems interesting then that rules out Baisaran for you. The remaining two are accessible by car/jeep.

Chetan, Ive logged in after a long time especially to say what a wonderful report this is, with superb pics as well.

Thank you synonymous. That means a lot to me.

Thanks Chetan. Yeah I read in your earlier posts that you did not want to go for Pony rides. Even we are not very interested in Ponies..

If we want to buy / shop any items (Kashmiri wool / Winter Jackets / Dry Fruits), would you recommend Pahalgam or Srinagar? Is there a decent market in Pahalgam to buy these items in addition to Saffron?

When you visited Gulmarg, it was raining and views were not clear.. I am little skeptical now whether to visit Gulmarg or not.. As August is peak monsoon month so chances of rains and missing the views from Gandola are high.. As we have limited time so at this time I am thinking of keeping Gulmarg as a last resort after visiting other places. I guess other than Gandola ride there is nothing much in Gulmarg.. Right?