Trip to Heavenly Kashmir on end of November

Hi All IMers, I am a new IMer. I will travel Heaven of the earth on last week of November from Dhaka. It's my dream tour with my spouse. Without guidance of you IMer it will be so tough for me. Please check my itinerary and guide me.

Plan 1:

day 1 23-Nov-12 Leave Dhaka
day 2 24-Nov-12 Kolkata Arrival & Evening Start journey to Delhi by Rajdhani
day 3 25-Nov-12 Arrived Delhi , sightseeing & Start journey to Jammu at evening
day 4 26-Nov-12 Arrived Jammu & Jammu sightseeing
day 5 27-Nov-12 Start Journey to Srinagar and on the way visit Patnitop
day 6 28-Nov-12 Mughal Garden, Cheshma Shahi, Nishat Bagh, Shalimar Bagh, Shankaracharya temple , Dal Lake, River Jilum, Sikara ride
day 7 29-Nov-12 Leave for Gulmarg & Skiing & Gondula Cable car Phase I & night stay
day 8 30-Nov-12 Leave for Sonmarg and Visit surrounding, visit Aijwas glacir Leave for Pahalgam
day 9 1-Dec-12 Leave for Pahalgam and visit Betab valley, Aru, Chandanwari, Dabiun valley, Kashmir valley, Mini Switzerland, Baisaran valley. Evening back to Srinagar
day 10 2-Dec-12 Fly to Delhi & Delhi night stay
day 11 3-Dec-12 Delhi Sightseeing(Kutub minar, Diplomatic area, India gate, Red Fort etc) & night journey to Kolkata by Rajdhani
day 12 4-Dec-12 Arrived Kolkata and check in hotel & Shopping
day 13 5-Dec-12 At Afternoon Start journey to Dhaka


Plan : 2
Only one change in Day:3 Fly to Srinagar from Delhi by which i can save 2/3 days.

Your Valuable suggestion required:

1. What should be approx cost/budget for plan 1 & 2 as I am a standard traveller not delux?
2. Am i drop any major attraction?
3. Can i get rail & Air ticket upon arrival India. As i dont want to do any advance booking. If yes then from where?
4. Is Sonamarg is reachable at that time?
5. Is it off season for Kashmir? What advantage can i get for this?
6. If i implement plan 2 then is there any cost benifit?
7. What is the air fare of Delhi-Srinagar-Delhi if i buy ticket one day before travel.
8. Suggest me some hotel tarrif upto Rs.1000-1500 at Jammu, Srinagar, Gulmarg, Pahalgam,?

Thanks in advance for your your valued response

Its better to fly from Kolkata to Jammu and visit Delhi at the end of your trip.

Thanks Indizen, I agreed about Delhi visit at end of journey. Should i have to make any advance booking for flight & rail? i want to book one day in advance? I heard the fare become less before flight departure. Is it true?

Dear Valued member of IM,

I know we have SunnyKashmir, asishdas, paban rahman, prakant etc like good blogger but i can't get any help except Indizen. Please guide me upon my thread.

I think they will guide you shortly.(maybe by today evening)

@ Raatul!

Thank you for considering me a "good blogger", which I know, I'm not. Nevertheless, it gives a nice feeling though! Coming back to your trip....honestly I will not be of great help to you as of now. I am now trying hard to formulate a viable trip plan on a budget and am gathering all relevant information piece by piece. As per my tentative plan I shall be leaving Kolkata for Kashmir trip on 18th of Septemebr, which is exactly 2 months off from today. So far I have done advance railway booking only. No pre booking of cab, hotel etc. Therefore, till I complete my trip and come back to my base, I think I will not be able to guide you much. But surely, when I will be back, you can expect lot of info/feedback on Kashmir. Hope, you understand....

@ Asissdas dada,

Thanks a lot for your response. I wish you will having a very good experience of travelling heaven.
Give me One suggestion >> Is it possible to buy ticket on same day or one day before of travelling to rajdhani. I am really worry about rail ticket purchase. What you suggest?

Technically it's possible, but from practical point of view, in all probability, you won't get the ticket as all thickets would get sold well in advance. Specially, Rajdhani tickets are very high in demand. You must book the tickets well in advance. Indian Rail opens advance booking of tickets 120 days prior to journey date. Since you stay in Bangladesh, you can either take the help of cleartrip.com or some such website for booking the tickets. Otherwise, if you have some relatives or known person in India, you can request him/her to book the ticket on your behalf.

Dear Raatul, as you were getting good guidance from Indizen and Asishda, I didn't chip in!

Your plan seems good to me except Patnitop break! Patnitop is short trailer of Srinagar. I do not prefer stopping at Srinagar while going to Srinagar.

You may also make Srinagar as base and you may do day trip from there to Sonmarg, Yousmarg and Gulmarg.

There No Match if you compare Railway Fare With Air Fare so on a safe side Book your Rail Ticket 3 months from your journey because Later on you have to get Rail Ticket from Some Agent which will charge you around 800 per ticket up & down ...
And Later on If you wish to Go by Air then you can cancel your ticket with less loss...
See this http://www.indianrail.gov.in/refund_Rules.html
Book your Airfare from Cleartrip It's simple, But dont book Kingfisher airline at any cost because it is going Down and can be cancel at final moments leaving you no where then at time you have to book tickets at whatever price quoted by other airlines

Just in case... The booking opens 120 days prior to travel date.

Dear Raatul

It would not be wise to tell me a good blogger…because my tour report ‘Back from heaven(Winter Kashmir)’ is still pending for 5 months! I could not share the pics and details on Gulmarg,Patnitop with IMers friends. Actually I am passing my time with full business, but will come back soon…anyway, your tour plan which is air based is not clear to me. But you can think of train route to make it cheaper. You can follow the suggestions of Prakant. You may get enough hotels in Srinagar within your reach. But please make it sure that electric blanket is available there. You will not get any hotels in Pahalgam by this costs. At the end of November most of the hotels remain closed due to heavy snow fall. Only a few, 5 or 4 star rated hotels are open there.
You can buy Train ticket in advance in Bangladesh near different Travel agency beside Indian High commission at Gulshan.

Cheers!

p@b@n

Ooooooops!
Sorry for the typo ... Noticed today...

Please read the sentence as "I do not prefer stopping at Patnitop while going to Srinagar."

your plan 1 is good but requires some modifications. you can not get to shrinagar via patnitop and see all the gardens & shankaracharya temple in 01 day. Similarly all around pahalgam can not be covered in just 01 day. you require to sty there for at least 02 days. As far as airlines are concerned, the ticket becomes costlier near the journey day. so, i would suggest you to book your train tickets well in advance i.e.120 days before the date of journey.

@asishdas dada,
I agree with your openion. I am trying to buy Rajdhani tickets from Dhaka.