Srinagar

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, sits at 1,585 m on the banks of the Jhelum river and around the famous Dal Lake. The city is shaped by layers of history — the medieval old town and bazaars; the Mughal-era pleasure gardens laid out by Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan on the lake's eastern shore (Shalimar Bagh, Nishat Bagh, Chashme Shahi); and the British-era boulevards and Dal Lake houseboats introduced in the 19th century when the Maharaja banned outsiders from owning land and the British responded by living on water. The classic Srinagar experience is a sunrise shikara ride through the floating vegetable market on the lake (the world's only one of its kind), followed by a houseboat-stay night and a Mughal-garden afternoon. For vegetarian travellers, the Kashmiri Pandit community's vegetarian tradition is a Persian-influenced revelation — dum aloo (slow-cooked baby potatoes in fennel-yogurt gravy), nadru yakhni (lotus stem in cardamom-yogurt sauce), haakh (the local collard greens), chaman (cottage cheese in turmeric gravy), tamatar paneer, and the fragrant kahwa (saffron-cardamom green tea served all day). Travellers should dress modestly throughout the city as a sign of respect for local customs and avoid photographing security personnel. The city is reached by direct flights from Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru to Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport (SXR), 14 km south. The best season is April to October — April-May for the tulip garden bloom, June-August for alpine meadows of nearby Gulmarg and Sonamarg, and September-October for the celebrated chinar autumn when the city's 700-year-old Mughal-planted chinar trees turn crimson.