Srinagar
From the minute you pass through the entryway under wooden butterfly wings, you know you are on a very different kind of houseboat. Each room is unique, hand painted in funky, fanciful, almost psychedelic indulgence. The four-poster bathtubs and peacock suite bed have to be seen to be believed.
Three other houseboats nestled close by are far more standard. The location can feel a little isolated.
2.32 MILES
Over 15km around, Dal Lake is Srinagar's jewel, a vast sheet of water reflecting the carved wooden balconies of the houseboats and the misty peaks of the…
2.76 MILES
This distinctively spired 1730s Muslim pilgrim hall is Srinagar’s most beautiful mosque. It was constructed without any nails, and both frontage and…
2.83 MILES
Of all Srinagar's Mughal gardens, Nishat Bagh is arguably the most appealing, with beautiful water features that frame a lovely lake panorama. It's on…
27.73 MILES
Five fingers of glacier descend from a fine array of Alpine peaks in the parallel valley behind Sonamarg. The scene is best appreciated from a small…
1.67 MILES
On the strategically and spiritually significant Koh-e-Maran hill, north of the city centre, is this powerful qila (fort), which dates to the 6th century…
3.41 MILES
On top of thickly forested Shankaracharya Hill, this small Shiva temple is built from hefty blocks of ancient grey stone. Previously known as Takht-i…
17.57 MILES
Naranag has two enigmatic 8th-century Shiva temple ruins in a beautiful valley setting that gives one the impression of having stumbled across a great…
2.3 MILES
Looking like the movie set for an imagined Central Asian castle, this mighty 1672 mosque (built on an earlier 1394 construction) forms a quadrangle around…
0.74 MILES
Backing onto Dal Lake north of the Old City, this large, white-domed 20th-century mosque enshrines Kashmir’s holiest Islamic relic, the Moi-e-Muqqadas,…
1.3 MILES
Created in the 16th century, then planted with almond (badam) trees in 1876, this quiet orchard garden fell apart during Kashmir's 1990s troubles but has…
1.67 MILES
On the strategically and spiritually significant Koh-e-Maran hill, north of the city centre, is this powerful qila (fort), which dates to the 6th century…
1.68 MILES
This stone gateway, directly north of the white-domed Chetipacha Gurdwara, is part of one of the last remnant sections of Srinagar's late 16th-century…
5. Mosque of Akhund Mullah Shah
1.78 MILES
Built in 1649 by Shah Jahan's son Dara Shikoh for his spiritual mentor, the mosque of Akhund Mullah Shah is only a chunky stone shell set amid plane trees…
1.82 MILES
On the southern flank of Hari Parbat, the large and ornately carved Makhdoom Sahib Shrine is dedicated to the Qadri-order Sufi saint who helped the spread…
7. Naagar-Nagar Interpretation Centre
1.84 MILES
Beside the Makhdoom Ropeway, this empty hall has a few boards explaining the Mughal history of the Hari Parbat ('Naagar-Nagar') walled city.
2.3 MILES
Looking like the movie set for an imagined Central Asian castle, this mighty 1672 mosque (built on an earlier 1394 construction) forms a quadrangle around…