Jun 03, 2017 07:46 PM
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I have just returned from Srinagar. I had traveled from Mumbai to Srinagar by car and can give you first hand information of May 2017 last week.
It took 4 days to reach Srinagar after overnight stops in Chittorgarh, Panipat and Jammu.
The road just after the new tunnel as soon as you come out of udhampur is the worst of its kind till Verinag, which is beyond Banihal. After Verinag the road is good till Srinagar.
As far as safety is concerned, I should clearly and forcefully tell you that you will not be safe when traveling on road to and out of Srinagar. Anything can happen as also happened to few of my friends who also traveled by car. There is stone pelting and abuses. There are slogans written on the walls like…”Hum Pakistani”, “15 Aug is black day”, India Go Back, etc etc.
If you are at Dal lake and in gardens, which are tourist places, then you have no problems as the incidence of stone pelting is rare in those areas. But still my advice is that avoid visiting Kashmir with family and kids, the situation is not good there.
If you have already made bookings till Jammu, then better go to Vaishnav Devi instead of Srinagar.
In case you are still planning to visit Srinagar and adjoining spots, here are guidelines that will be helpful to you….
Shikara ride costs Rs 200 for 4 persons. It is one hour ride with more focus on making you buy things from floating market where the shikara pilot gets 30% commission on sales made to you.
House boats cost from Rs 700 onwards to Rs 10,000 per day. House boats near ghat no 3 and 4 are cheaper, while those at ghat no 14 to 17 are highly priced. One ride from house boat to shore and return is free per day if you book a houseboat, else it will be Rs 50 to Rs 100 per ride.
Entry fee to all the gardens is Rs 20 for adults. Chashme shahi garden is a must visit where you should without fail taste the water from natural spring. It’s the best tasting water I ever had in my life. Other gardens are Shalimar Baug and Nishat Baug. You can avoid Harwan garden and other gardens.
For shopping the best prices are at the shops opposite the Shalimar Garden. Akhroat from Rs 150 to Rs 350 per Kg. Akhroat without shell is Rs 800 per Kg.
Please be careful when you buy saffron. It is Rs 150 per gram. But plenty of duplicates being sold.
Autos and sharing Tata Sumos are available for commuting inter city. You need to negotiate rates with autos. They quote almost double.
There is no need to book hotel or houseboat in advance as plenty of them are empty due to lack of tourists. You can visit few houseboats and finalize after seeing few of them. Rates are negotiable for hotels as well as houseboats.
Avoid taking houseboat at Nageen lake as it is bearing a deserted look and there is no activity there. It is far from all other paces. Staying at Dal lake and near Dal lake is helpful as all places are nearby. Prefer to stay somewhere near ghat no 3 to 8. Then you will be near shops, restaurants and other activities.
You can plan to visit the Shankaracharya temple located at the top of a hill and required 300 steps to climb. But the 360 degrees aerial view of Srinagar town is worth the climb. If you want to avoid climbing 300 steps, just take a mud path on the right of the road, walk for 100 meters on plain narrow path and you will be rewarded with the same aerial view. From here you can even take photographs whereas bags, cameras and mobile phones are not allowed inside the temple. So make it a point to walk this path to get the view.
The road to Pahalgam is good but if you are traveling to Aru Valley, then the road is bad for 20 Kms. There is entry fee for betab valley and its not worth going there as you can see the same thing from the top before reaching the valley below.
Road to Sonmarg is good and you can even try to go a little further towards Kargil to view the untouched beauty of snow mountains. Horses rates are not more than Rs 100 so negotiate well.
Gulmarg has lot of green meadows down and plenty of snow at the peak than can be reached by Gondolas. Booking gondola cable car through internet is advisable. Cost is Rs 700 for first stage and another Rs 900 for second stage. You have to show the printed Internet ticket to obtain a pass from the ticket window. Unfortunately due to less tourists they do not have separate queue for the internet bookers, and you will have to be in the same queue as the common ticket buyers. Try to reach the window by 9:30 am. There is no need to hire gum boots(Rs 50 a pair) and snow clothes(Rs 100 a pair) as one full sweater, gloves and muffler is enough. The taxis and touts will tell you its very cold and will try to take you to such shops selling boots and clothes. They get commission on every sale.
There is nothing much to do in Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Pahalgam, so it is not advisable to stay there. Stay in Srinagar near Dal lake and visit all these places as one day tour. Sonmarg will take 2.5 hours to reach, Pahalgam will take 3 hours and Gulmarg 2 hours maximum one way. The road to Gulmarg is very sensitive and most of the stone pelting happens there.
Same way Awantipora and Anantnag areas should be avoided.
If you are planning to travel from Banihal to Srinagar by train, then my advise to you is just avoid that. The stations are locates at not so easily reachable localities. Instead of that, travel by bus or car from Jammu to Srinagar directly. Avoid Udhampur too as options are less from there.
Again I wish to inform you that the situation is not good in Kashmir and if you can avoid your visit, please do so. Go to any place but avoid going beyond Udhampur. You will see heavy presence of army all over the Srinagar route, which is itself an indication of tension.
None of the prepaid mobile phones work in Kashmir. Only post paid services will work. BSNL services were pathetic with lot of problems in data, but voice calls worked well. Post paid Airtel worked flawlessly for voice and data. Whatsapp may not work most of the time.
I had interacted with plenty of local people and all were very nice, polite and very helpful. It appeared that girls are living a suppressed life, fully covered, and none seen in modern dresses. The locals are in favour of India and it appears that there are only handful of miscreants who are creating problems. It can be assumed that even the innocent join the mobs for any untoward incident because they are being forced, and also because of the fear of being harmed. It appears that most of the Kashmires are living in fear. As the number of tourists has declined, the business is suffering. Shopkeepers were also unhappy.
As there is too much harassment and cheating faced by the tourists at every step through the pony walas, shikaras, houseboats, travel agents, agents, touts, shops, etc. there are hardly any returning tourists because there are many better places to go then to travel back to Srinagar.
I would personally never visit again.
