The fourth and last destination of my Kashmir trip was Srinagar. I have to admit Srinagar was THE most pleasant and favorable surprise of the trip, maybe because I had the least expectations from it amongst all the destinations . Going back to the days when I was planning my Kashmir trip, many people told me there’s not much to do in Srinagar and that I should stay there only a night, at the end of the trip, primarily because I need to fly out from there. In my earlier blog post, I had mentioned cutting down one night in Gurez and instead staying two in Srinagar. And I have to say this was a blessing in disguise! Staying two nights in Srinagar meant I got two complete days here compared to just one day per the originally planned itinerary. And my mother and I were quite happy about this as we really enjoyed our stay and sight-seeing in this charming city!

After the long drive from Gurez, we reached Srinagar late evening, checked-in into The Vintage, a decent property wherein our room had a lovely view of the Dal Lake. We enjoyed these views with a nice dinner in our room itself. We had a good night’s sleep and were fresh in the morning, ready to explore Srinagar! However, it was a rainy morning, so our venturing out got a little delayed. We decided to enjoy a leisurely buffet breakfast at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant, that offered great views of the Dal lake and the city. As the rain subsided, we started our day by a visit to the Shankaracharya Temple, apparently the oldest Hindu temple of Kashmir. Perched on a hilltop, the drive up to the car parking area was nice and green. Post that, one needs to climb about 250 steep stairs to reach this Shiv temple and it offers a bird’s eye view of the Srinagar city. It was cloudy and the mist added to the splendid views. The Jhelum looked stunning and the multiple bridges over the river reminded me of Paris!

The Vintage and Views from It:

After the temple, we decided to visit all the lovely parks of Srinagar. We started with the Chashme Shahi, one of the many Mughal Gardens, named after the spring around which it is built. The garden has typical Mughal architecture and is very well maintained. The garden has three terraces, many different colorful flowers, and some old and majestic chinar trees. Water from the spring flows through the central terrace of the garden.

Next, we headed to the Pari Mahal, which technically is just a 5 minute drive from Chashme Shahi, but it took us very long as we got stuck in traffic. It is a hilly circular road and the garden has a common entry and exit to the parking. Rain added to these traffic woes. Once there, we loved walking around this seven terraced garden and enjoyed the views from each.

After this, it was the turn of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Botanical garden, which was also in the same area. Once again, a very nicely maintained garden, very green and with benches to sit and relax beside the river body. Post this, we took a break and decided to visit the Lalit Hotel for coffee – a sprawling and luxurious property!

We then had to move on, visit the Nishat Bagh and the Shalimar Bagh. The former was a great garden – had lovely Dal Lake view on one side, and the Mountain view on the other, and in between was the well maintained green garden, bed of flowers, little streams of water, and the cover of clouds. Ofcourse this is a touristy place and the weather being so pleasant, we noticed alot of locals enjoying a day out. The Shalimar Bagh wasn’t great to be honest – seemed like it was going through some renovation and the upkeep wasn’t too good. If you are short on time and would like to prioritize, in my mind, the top 3 gardens would be Chashme Shahi, Nishat Bagh, and Pari Mahal.

Next on my agenda was the Shikara Ride at Dal Lake. To be honest, I thought it might be too touristy and perhaps I should skip it. Mom and I were walking at the Dal Lake Boulevard Road Dal and it was sunset time. The shikara ride was so tempting that we couldn’t resist ourselves, so we negotiated and hopped on for a half hour quick ride. While on it, we again couldn’t resist and converted our ride into a full one hour ride. And I think it was the best decision I took. I truly enjoyed this ride – the Lake was peaceful and calm and the views from it – gorgeous (the mountains, the many houseboats, and the Shankaracharya hill and temple). More than the views, I felt the overall experience was unique, entertaining and memorable. At this point, I have to call out some highlights –

1. While on our shikara, we got a glimpse of several houseboats and they looked pretty; had fancy chandeliers and sweet little verandahs – perfect setting for your morning tea or evening coffee. I didn’t plan for a night at a houseboat because I had heard their quality wasn’t great and there might be too many mosquitoes given the standing water, but having seen these, I felt perhaps we could have tried it
2. Some houseboats had fun and interesting names like Buckingham Palace and Chicago. And there was a SBI ATM on a houseboat – how enterprising was that! Some other highlights were the lotus garden in the middle of the Lake, a houseboat selling fast food from McCain and ofcourse Meena Bazar, where one could hop off the shikara, shop, and hop back – so fun!
3. There were lot of eating and shopping options while on the shikara, which made it such a fun experience – there were other shikaras like ours that would come right next to ours, selling kesar, qahwa, paneer tikka, fruit chat, and even pashmina shawls & silver jewelry

According to me, please do not miss the shikara ride! I have many pictures and videos of this ride, but honestly I don’t think they do justice to the experience! It truly was a memorable one!

We ended our day with dinner at a restaurant opposite the Dal Lake, called Stream. Ofcourse, the server was very disappointed to know that we weren’t non-vegetarians. He warned us of limited veg options, but honestly, the food was quite good, we enjoyed it!

After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast the next morning, we headed to the most instagrammable tea room in Srinagar or maybe in Kashmir or maybe in India, called Chai Jaai. When in Kashmir, one must try the noon chai or pink tea – it’s salty and contains baking soda. Very unique! First time, I had heard of and seen this! Check out pictures of Chai Jaai below – they do complete justice to this tea cafe!

Next, it was time for some shopping! So, we headed to the Kashmir Government Arts Emporium. This was a shopping paradise – suits, shawls, paper mache decor items, carpets and rugs, and much more! We also visited and walked around the traditional bazaar of Lal Chowk as well as the Polo View Market (a new/latest addition to Srinagar, thanks to the G20 summit in the city). The former was crowded and very busy, better suited to the locals and I believe the latter would have had a nice charm in the evening when lights came on. For lunch, we went to Hotel Ahdoos, and loved it. Even on a weekday afternoon, the restaurant was fairly occupied with corporate folks, kitty party groups, some families and tourists like us. Great food and great service. We thoroughly enjoyed eating Kashmiri Naans and Nadru Yakhni. We also visited the hotel’s cafe and bakery called Creme and got chocolate walnut cookies packed, to take back home.

Before heading to the airport for our flight back to Delhi, we made one last stop – this was the Jhelum riverfront, such a nice place for a walk and for pictures!

Few things I wanted to do but couldn’t on this trip were –

1. The SPS Museum: always good to see some culture and history of the city you are visiting
2. Nigeen Lake: less commercial than the Dal Lake
3. Grab a meal or a coffee at the Taj Srinagar (Taj is always a great experience!)

And this completes my two days stay in Srinagar and my 7 day Kashmir trip. I enjoyed it so much and I am ready and willing to visit it again! Hope you enjoyed reading about this experience of mine. I’ll be back with a next series of blogs soon, so stay tuned!