Dal Lake
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Nearby attractions
Nishat Bagh
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
The 'garden of joy' — twelve zodiac terraces of roses and fountains stepping straight down to Dal's shore, framed by Zabarwan crags.
Srinagar Houseboat & Shikara Experience
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Sleeping on carved-cedar Victorian houseboats and waking to the floating vegetable market — the definitive Kashmir ritual on Dal and Nigeen.
Char Chinar Island, Dal Lake
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
A tiny Mughal island of four sentinel chinar trees mid-lake — Murad Baksh's 17th-century folly, reached only by shikara.
Shalimar Bagh
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Jahangir's 1619 garden of love for Nur Jahan — four chinar-shaded terraces of fountains climbing from Dal Lake toward the Zabarwan mountains.
Chashme Shahi & Pari Mahal
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
The 'royal spring' garden of famed digestive waters, and above it Dara Shikoh's seven-terraced Pari Mahal — a Sufi school glowing over Dal at dusk.
Hazratbal Shrine
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
The white-marble lakeside dargah holding the Moi-e-Muqqadas — the Prophet's sacred hair relic — Kashmir's holiest Muslim shrine, mirrored in Dal's waters.
Autumn Chinar Season, Kashmir
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
October's crimson-gold fortnight when giant chinars torch the Mughal gardens, Naseem Bagh's university groves and every village square.
Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Asia's largest tulip garden — 1.7 million blooms in ribbons of colour under the Zabarwan hills for three dazzling spring weeks.
Harwan Garden & Buddhist Site
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
A canal-cooled terraced garden at Dachigam's gate, above 4th-century Buddhist terraces whose patterned tiles are Kashmir's oldest art.
Astanmarg Viewpoint & Paragliding
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
The Zabarwan shelf above Dal where tandem pilots launch into the sunset — Srinagar, its lakes and the Pir Panjal in one slow spiral.
Nigeen Lake
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Dal's quieter twin — a deep blue lagoon ringed by willows and poplars, where houseboats sit far apart and shikaras glide without the crowds.
Shankaracharya Temple
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
A 9th-century stone Shiva shrine on the 1,100-ft Takht-e-Suleiman hill — the oldest surviving temple in Kashmir, with the whole valley at its feet.