Jammu and Kashmir

Kashmir is famously known as paradise on Earth and Srinagar is one of the most beautiful city a tourist must visit in Kashmir. When you land on Sheikh-ul-Alam Airport Srinagar and come out of your flight, you will understand why Mughal emperors, British officers, and Bollywood directors have all reached for that same word. Srinagar — the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, located at the height of 1,585 metres above sea level offers various beautiful places to explore near by. Located between the Zabarwan Range to the east and the Pir Panjal range to the south, threaded through by the Jhelum River and anchored by Dal Lake, one of the most recognisable bodies of water in all of Asia.

Srinagar is famous for Shikara rise in Dal lake to its famous Mughal gardens and beautiful snow peaks which attracts thousands of tourist every year . No other place in India looks like this, moves like this, or tastes like this. That is not poetry. That is a practical observation.

From Ashoka to Akbar — How Srinagar Became What It Is

Srinagar is not a recent creation. Its origins trace back to the Maurya emperor Ashoka, who is credited with founding an early settlement called Srinagari near present-day Pandrethan, roughly 3.5 km south-east of the modern city, around the 3rd century BCE. A second founding — effectively the start of today's city — came in the 6th century CE when King Pravarasena II moved the capital to the banks of the Jhelum River, near the base of Hari Parbat hill. That hill still dominates the skyline to the north.

The Mughals arrived in 1586 when Emperor Akbar annexed the Kashmir Valley. Jahangir and Shah Jahan built the great terraced gardens that define the eastern shore of Dal Lake: Shalimar Bagh, completed around 1619, and Nishat Bagh in 1633. Both still stand. Their stone water channels still flow. Jahangir's last words, according to some accounts, were simply: Kashmir.

The British period added its own layer. Barred from owning land in Kashmir by the Maharaja's court, British officers had wooden houseboats built on Dal Lake — floating residences that were technically not "land" at all. Those hand-carved walnut boats, with their Khatamband ceilings and intricately panelled interiors, became the city's most enduring image. Many remain in the same families today.

Why Srinagar Feels Different From Every Other Indian City

Most Indian hill stations are retreats — places you escape to from a hot plains city. Srinagar is something else entirely. It is a working city of roughly 13 lakh people, with a real commercial centre at Lal Chowk, craft workshops producing the finest hand-knotted carpets and wood-carved furniture in the country, and a political weight that no other city in the region carries. The combination of extraordinary natural setting and genuine urban life is what sets it apart.

If you really want to experience the Srinagar, spend a morning at Dal lake and you will feel it immediately. The floating vegetable market on Dal Lake opens before 6 a.m. — vendors paddle their shikaras through the early mist, boats loaded with lotus roots, chillies, and leafy greens. By 9 a.m., the same lake is carrying tourists in rented shikaras. By late afternoon, you can be walking through Nishat Bagh's 12 terraces, with the lake below you and the Zabarwan peaks behind you. There is nowhere else in India where a natural setting, 400 years of Mughal history, and the noise of a working city are this tightly layered onto each other.

Then there is the craft tradition. Kashmiri artisans have been weaving pashmina for over 600 years — the original material, woven from the undercoat of the Changthangi goat, which survives at high altitude. A genuine hand-woven pashmina shawl takes a skilled craftsman 70 to 180 hours to complete. The same traditions produce hand-knotted carpets that take years to finish and hand-painted papier-mâché filling the old bazaars around Lal Chowk. If you care about Indian craft at the highest level, Srinagar is the place to spend serious time — and serious money.