Srinagar - January Itinerary

prasantc

My first post on this forum! I have spent the last couple of days reading the entire contents of J&K section here. I am going to be in Srinagar from Jan 5 - Jan 9. Here is what I have planned:

Saturday - Land in Srinagar before noon. Find accommodation on a houseboat on Nagin with hot water. How much should I be prepared to pay for a comfortable stay?

Have lunch and go around Srinagar. Shikara ride around Dal. Visit Mughal Gardens (worth visiting in winter?), Hazratbal, Shankaracharya temple etc.

Sunday - Watch the sun rise and head out to Gulmarg. Hit the slopes immediately (I am an intermediate skier). Do they have snow boarding in Gulmarg? Enjoy the serenity and stay overnight.

Monday - Some more sking and may be head out to Sonamarg. I cant decide between Sonamarg and Pahalgam. Please help. Possible to stay overnight in Sonamarg?

Tuesday - Return to Srinagar around noon. Get some shopping done. What are the must-buy items? I dont think I will get the chance to go back to Kashmir very soon. One more shikara ride around sunset.

Wednesday - Enjoy the morning and head out to the airport. Catch the flight to delhi at 1. Back from Paradise

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I will definitely post a trip review later that may help others.

maypacheco

with news of Dal Lake freezing over the last few days, you may try ice skating instead....

oneheart

I jus came back from India last week.. i think u might not have enough time.. We took 2-3 hours to travel to Gulmarg from Srinagar.. This was my itinerary..

Day 1: Touch down at Srinagar
Day 2: Pahalgam (We did some trekking and it was steep.. Hard to breath in winter.. The snow reached our shins! I bet it'll be higher by Jan)
Day 3: Travel to Gulmarg. (We reached at 3 plus in the afternoon and took a walk at the town, visited the mosque.. In winter, by 6pm, there are no one on the street because the sun sets at 5.30pm and it became freezing cold.. So we felt pretty bored in our hotel in the night..)
Day 4: Gulmarg, skiing for a day
Day 5: Morning take a walk at Gulmarg, visited the st mary's church etc..) Travel back to Srinagar and reached houseboat at 6pm.
Day 6: Sonamarg (Takes about 2 hours to travel from srinagar.. It is gorgeous! Must go! It has got a trail along a crystal blue river where u can enjoy the scenery of snow-peaked mountains)
Day 7: Fly back to delhi.

oneheart

How much should I be prepared to pay for a comfortable stay?
- I paid about Rs 2300 for a day with the houseboat owner which includes everything like 3 meals and excursion (driver, good jeep, guide).. Did u manage to find a good houseboat? I would advise you to find one before u reach because there are plenty of touts at the airport and most of the time, u will not get a good deal..

Visit Mughal Gardens (worth visiting in winter?)
- all the flowers are not visible when i went but it's still pretty nice and serene to hang around in the park as it wasnt crowded at all.. There are plenty of fallen red leaves on the floor which gives u an autumn feeling..

solesouljoy

Hi!

I'm not sure if you can rent snowboards in Gulmarg. But when I went, I did see a snowboarder practising. And I also saw a European couple bringing along their own snowboards. I think there should be snowboards for rent? You can ask the people at kashmiralpine.com.

Between sonamarg and pahalgam, i'd definetly pick sonamarg. I don't think you can stay overnight in sonamarg. When I went, i didnt see any hotels or hostels, only village houses. And the road all the way up to the mountain is closed cos of snow. You can do a one day trip there. Reach the foot of the mountain, rent a horse and ride up to a little cottage for a hot cup of chai. Sonamarg and pahalgam are both beautiful but beautiful differently. You can do more trekking and walking in pahalgam if you enjoy climbing up a moountain. The road to sonamarg is beautiful because of the river - it's a river with stones of all shapes and sizes.

I think Cashmere is a must-buy item in Kashmir. Get some real cashmere pullovers (about 1500 rupees for a pullover made from wool from the sheep's neck/belly) and shawls (900 rupees for embrodied ones). If you have money, get the kashmir carpets! i think they are lovely, just too much for my shoestring budget.

Well, i think srinagar will be very cold in jan so be prepared! lots of warm clothes! It was a little foggy when I was there and quite cold so the shikara ride we took in the evening wasnt fantastic cos of the fog.

correction:

you can rent snowboards in gulmarg. asked my friend in kashmir.

maypacheco

On the topic of Kasmir carpets, just curious to know how much a carpet would cost in one of the showrooms in kashmir. on our trip to srinagar around sept last year, our car driver took us to one of the carpet showrooms that also had an attached workshop..he showed us how carpets are drawn up and made and explained the concept of knots to us... we later went to the showroom and was enamoured with all the different carpets... i tell you... he was an excellent salesman and with all the beautiful carpets around and based on our little understanding of how they were made, we were tempted to buy one. in fact we purchased a 6 x 4 which had around 800 knots (if i remember clearly) and after a little bargaining we paid rs. 15k for it... i keep wondering if we were ripped off as this has been the most expensive purchase i've ever made in life...any ideas on how much carpets should costs in kashmir and is there a marked difference if you want to buy one in say mumbai?

oneheart

6 x 4? metres? if it's metres, it is really huge.. cant possibly be inches.. like a 3R photo..

i think the price depends on the size.. we saw those smaller carpets where u put outside ur toilet, it cost around USD 30 if i dont remember wrongly.

maypacheco

6 x 4 feet...