Overall last year turned out to be pretty good to me as I travelled to distinct places with my family and friends. Starting from February to December, I travelled a lot and explored many places, and each of those trips brought different learning in terms of experience. Out all the places that I travelled, Jammu-Kashmir was the one that will remain the best.
I will be sharing the complete Jammu-Kashmir trip experience in three-part of the article as writing and completing in one will make it quite boring. The three-part will be covered in Gulmarg, Rest of Kashmir (Pahalgam, Sonmarg and Srinagar), and Jammu. This article will be completely focused on Gulmarg "The Paradise on Earth".
I generally feel that, whenever the term vacation pops out, we imagine places like Goa, Manali, Shimla, Ladakh and so on. And out of all these names, we often forget some places that are a gem and worth visiting for. Same is the case with Kashmir, just because of political issues and other stuff we often forget that our country is already blessed with a paradise. The place is doubtless one of the most elegant, beautiful, and fascinating one to visit. One thing is for sure, the surreal beauty and the aura of the place will leave you speechless.
Last year during April our family trip was already scheduled and booked. It was a 10-day trip to the magical land of Jammu-Kashmir. Our itinerary included places Jammu (Katra), Gulmarg, Sonmarg, Pahalgam and Srinagar.
Jammu (Katra) was the point of embarkation. We landed Jammu in the morning at around 11 AM and headed straight to Katra, the base camp to the shrine of Vaishno Devi temple. It took approximately one and a half-hour by road to reach Katra from Jammu. After reaching to the hotel, we had lunch and then, we went to our respective room to relax, as the day was bit tiring and we didn’t wanted to make things hectic for the next day which was scheduled for darshan.
So, next day we completed our darshan. Though we were engaged in with multiple obstacles, still, the entire journey was literally amazing. It is rightly said that nobody can change your destiny, you will get what it's written. I will be sharing my complete Vaishno Devi experience in my other article as this article is solely focused on Gulmarg Kashmir.
Kashmir: The Paradise on Earth
The Paradise on Earth that is what Kashmir is known for, the land is blessed with beautiful snow-clad mountains, floating market on lake, lush green landscape meadows, and lakes. The picturesque beauty will leave you in awe, one thing is for sure, no matter which place you travel nothing can match the elegance and beauty of Kashmir. It has something for everyone. If you are an adventure seeker, then you can go skiing in Gulmarg if you like camping, then there is Pahalgam for you. Another beautiful thing that is being offered by Kashmir is Shikara ride at Dal Lake, you can even book a houseboat to stay at night.
The beauty of Kashmir can be witnessed and embraced at any time of the year. One thing that took me by surprise on my trip was the amount of snow that I witnessed in Gulmarg and Sonmarg; to be very frank normally we don't expect snow at that time of the year because it's the phase when the summer starts. But the visuals left my eyes wide open.
The beautiful land of Kashmir includes some of the captivating and charming places to endure. During our stay, we visited Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonmarg, and Srinagar. Here I will only be covering Gulmarg.
Gulmarg: The Abode of Snow
Our journey to the magical land of Kashmir started with Gulmarg. It is a small hill station located in the Pir Panjal Range of the Western Himalayas. The nearest airport to Gulmarg is Srinagar, and from there you can hire a cab which takes two hours to reach Gulmarg. After landing to Srinagar at noon, we hopped on to our cabs and left for Gulmarg. By road, it takes two hours to reach. On our way to Gulmarg, we stopped at one of the restaurants by the roadside to have lunch as we were already starving. The location of the restaurant couldn't have been better, though it was on the side of the road still it looked beautiful as the background was covered with the mountain range. We resumed our journey after having those delicious meatballs, cottage cheese, butter naan, and chicken.
As the next day was scheduled for skiing and other activities, so our cab driver suggested us to rent the required gears from the local shop rather than opting to rent from the activity area due to the price difference. The driver took to one of his known shops, and from there we took all the necessary equipment like shoes, jackets, and gloves. One thing to note while you are in Gulmarg, hire the local guide from the shop itself to keep yourself away from waiting in the queue during Gondola ride and bargaining during skiing. If you don't hire, then you will end up paying a pretty penny. At first, we didn't know about this, so we were a bit sceptic when one of the shop guys asked for availing the guide service. We discussed this with our cab driver, and then he explained why guide service is required. And so we hired one of the guides for the next day.
After taking multiple breaks on our way to Gulmarg, we covered two hours journey in somewhere about four and a half hour. The first thing that popped up in my mind after reaching Gulmarg was whether it's April or December as the place was completely covered in snow. We reached our hotel and it was quite cool as it was completely wooden. We went to our respective room and took the day off. After resting for some time we had our dinner which was freshly cooked meal and trust me the taste of the food was really amazing.
The next morning our guide showed up and took us for Gondola ride, we reached the point from where our ride was supposed to start. One interesting fact about the Gondola ride is that it is the second-longest and second-highest cable car in the world.
The Gondola ride is a two-phase ride, at first, you will be transferred to the first phase and if the weather is good then only you will be allowed to ride to the second phase. I must say its quite a ride from base point to the first level, you will be sitting in the cable car and enjoying the view for like 10 minutes. We were only able to make it to the first level as the weather was not in a good mood.
After reaching phase 1, we spend some quality time by enjoying the view, playing with snow, skiing, and capturing the beautiful panoramic landscapes. Here are some of the moments that I captured. It was really one hell of a sight. For more pictures, you can visit my Instagram profile.
So after spending our quality time in phase 1, we decided to go back as the weather was changing drastically. You will be having three options for returning to the base, either you have to go back with the same cable car, or you can rent the locals to take you in the cart. And the last option is cycling down to the base from the top, yes you read that right..cycling down..!!! Trust me this was something which I never imagined.
We were eight people, including a small child. So after having some discussion, we decided to split our journey. Our guide took the baby in the cable car, and we rented three carts and five cycles. My mom, dad, and maternal grand mom went in the cart, and the rest of us took the adventurous path via cycle. The cycle didn't have any wheel, but instead, the lower part had a flat long base to slide in the snow. Trust me it was one hell of a experience.
You will be sliding down from the top of the snow-clad mountain in the cycle. The route will take you through the forest, which in times will have curvy edges, you will also be experiencing a bumpy ride as the path is not a swift one. One thing is for sure you would fall in love with what you will experience there. The ride is something that you will embrace and cheer for the rest of your life.
So after half an hour of a thrilling ride, we were at the base. And with that ride, our Gulmarg stay was over because as per our itinerary only one day was allocated to the place. We then left for Srinagar for overnight stay. The rest of the journey will be covered in my next article. So till then stay tuned to the blog.
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