Srinagar, Kashmir is something that sounds so exotic to me mainly because I never knew anyone personally who have been to this place. This is mainly attributed to the very unstable political situation in Kashmir that makes the place unvisited for so many years in the past.
Luckily, in the past couple of years, there were no riots and the city has been relatively peaceful and flocks of tourists started pouring in.
Srinagar is famous for its gardens and of course the shikaras (water taxis) and houseboats on Dal Lake.
Most people flock here to experience what it’s like to live on the houseboats. Initially I thought that I’d like to try the same thing. But after seeing them I’ve decided to just stay in a regular hostel (Gulab Junaid Guesthouse at Dal Gate) instead. The houseboats in Srinagar unlike the ones in Kerala are stationary and does not cruise around the lake.
The lake itself is clean albeit of some few trashes that sadly some tourists just throw to the lake.
There are many small freshwater fishes that can be seen and also birds that feed on them. There’re eagles, kingfishers and some other birds that I’m not familiar with.
I was really fond of watching these kingfishers flying around looking for some fishes to eat.
Anyway, here are some pictures that I took in Srinagar:
View of the Fort from the lakeside boulevard
The Houseboats
The Shikaras
If you want to cruise around Dal Lake, the regular fare is 300 Rupees per hour as per their association’s published rate (as of the time of writing). If you want to stay in one of these houseboats, better negotiate once you’re there.
And for safety purposes, before you go to Srinagar, update yourself with the current situation.
Safe Travels!
We decided not to travel to Srinagar when we were in India because we heard it was very dangerous and all the scams going on, I’m not sure how true it is, but it did really put us off going.
hey, it is a myth that kashmir is dangerous, you must visit this beautiful place atleat once.you will definetely love it..
i did visit and it’s beautiful
Nice! It’s beautiful there isn’t it! I was lucky enough to end up there for a week by falling in to “the houseboat scam” wow… If I hadn’t fell for it, I would have never even went there so I am kinda happy that I did!