Four Days in Kashmir

Your driver meets you at the airport — no waiting, no confusion. After settling in, the Mughal Gardens: Nishat Bagh and Shalimar Bagh, 400-year-old terraced landscapes above the lake. Then a Shikara ride as the sun drops. Your boatman rows you through floating gardens, past carved wooden houseboats. The mountains behind Dal turn pink. This is the first of many moments on this trip that will stay with you.

Ninety minutes through pine forests and the meadow opens up at 2,650 metres. In summer, wildflowers everywhere. In winter, Asia's best ski slopes. The Gondola takes you to 3,980 metres — views of Nanga Parbat and the Pir Panjal that make you forget you were ever looking at a phone. Walk the meadows at your own pace. Back in Srinagar by early evening.

Two and a half hours through saffron fields and walnut orchards to the Lidder River valley. Betaab Valley, a meadow so green it looks painted. Aru Valley, quieter and more remote, where nomadic families camp with their horses in summer. The evening by the river in Pahalgam, with a silence at night you won't find anywhere else.

Breakfast at the hotel. Time for last purchases — saffron, dry fruits, pashmina — and then the airport. The flight back always feels too short. Most people who leave Kashmir after four days spend the journey home thinking about what they would do with ten.