Kashmir in Full Bloom

You land at Srinagar Airport. Your driver is waiting outside with a sign and a smile. The drive to your hotel takes you along the Boulevard road beside Dal Lake, and even from the car you can see the cherry trees in bloom along the water's edge. Pink and white blossoms reflected in still water. It is the kind of thing you stop the car for. After check-in and a cup of kahwa, the traditional Kashmiri green tea with saffron and almonds, you head to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden. This is Asia's largest tulip garden. Over 1.5 million tulips spread across a terraced hillside, with the Zabarwan mountains rising behind and Dal Lake visible below. There are 68 varieties. Reds that look like they are glowing. Deep purples and bright yellows. Whites so clean they look lit from inside. The garden is arranged in colour bands along the slope, and when you stand at the top and look down the effect is staggering. Your guide knows which sections peak when and takes you through the best routes. In the late afternoon, a Shikara ride on Dal Lake. The cherry blossoms line the shore. The mountains are turning gold in the evening light. Dinner at your hotel.

This is the day you understand why emperors built gardens here. You start at Nishat Bagh, the Garden of Joy, built in 1633 with twelve terraces representing the twelve signs of the zodiac. In spring, every terrace is alive. Roses, irises, jasmine, and flowering trees surround the central water channel, and the view across Dal Lake to the Pir Panjal range is one of the most photographed in India. Then Shalimar Bagh, built by Emperor Jahangir for his wife Nur Jahan. The garden is older and quieter, with grand chinar trees that are centuries old, their leaves just emerging in that fresh spring green. The fountains run, the flowers bloom, and you walk through history. After the gardens, a walk along the Bund, the promenade that runs along the edge of Dal Lake. In spring, the chinar and cherry trees that line it are in full blossom. Local families are out walking. Street vendors sell corn and kahwa. It feels like a festival no one announced. The afternoon is an extended Shikara ride, this time deeper into Dal Lake. Through the floating vegetable gardens where farmers grow tomatoes and cucumbers on the water. Through narrow channels lined with lotus leaves. Past houseboats with carved wooden windows and flower boxes. Your Shikara-man paddles slowly and points out herons and kingfishers.

The drive to Gulmarg takes about ninety minutes. Jamsheed, our senior driver, handles this road like he was born on it. Which, in a way, he was. The route climbs through apple orchards that are just beginning to blossom, and villages where women spread saffron flowers on rooftops to dry. Gulmarg in spring is one of Kashmir's most dramatic sights. The meadows are in transition. The lower slopes are turning green, dotted with wildflowers. Crocuses and daisies push through the last patches of melting snow. Higher up, the snow is still thick, and the Pir Panjal peaks are white against a blue sky. The Gulmarg Gondola takes you to Phase 1 at 3,980 metres. From the top, you see this transition laid out below you. Green at the bottom. White at the top. The line between winter and spring drawn across the mountain. If weather permits, Phase 2 goes to 4,267 metres, where it is still full winter. Snow and rock and silence. The contrast with the flowers at the bottom is extraordinary. Back in the meadow, you can walk through the wildflowers, have a picnic lunch that your hotel has packed, and watch ponies graze on the edges of the snow line. The air is cool and clean. The mountains are close. The drive back to Srinagar in the golden evening light, through orchards and rice paddies, is one of the most peaceful hours on this trip.

Pahalgam is about two and a half hours from Srinagar. The highway follows the Jhelum river for the first half, then turns into the mountains. In spring, the landscape changes every fifteen minutes. Flat rice paddies give way to pine forests. The air gets cooler. The river alongside the road gets faster and clearer. Then the valley opens up and Pahalgam appears, a small town at the confluence of two rivers, with mountains on every side. Your first stop is Betaab Valley, named after a Bollywood film but famous for something far better. In spring, it is a wide green meadow framed by pine forests and snow-capped peaks, with a clear stream running through the middle. The grass is that deep, saturated green that only happens when winter snow melts and spring rain arrives together. You can walk the entire meadow in about twenty minutes. Then Aru Valley, further up and even quieter. Aru is where the trekkers go, but in spring it is gentle enough for anyone. Nomadic Gujjar huts sit at the edges of the meadow. The Lidder River runs through, cold and clear and fast. Horse riding is available if you want it, through pine forests where the trees are so tall the sunlight comes through in shafts. Lunch is at a local spot in Pahalgam town. The trout from the Lidder is some of the best freshwater fish in India. The drive back to Srinagar arrives with the last light.

Sonamarg means Meadow of Gold. In spring, you understand why. The drive is about three hours from Srinagar, through the Sindh Valley, following the river as it cuts through increasingly dramatic scenery. Pine forests give way to rocky gorges. Waterfalls appear on every cliff face, fed by melting snow from above. The air gets thinner and colder. Sonamarg in spring is a place of dramatic transition. Snow still covers the higher ground. The meadows at the base are turning green. Streams run everywhere. The Thajiwas Glacier is visible from the main road, a wall of blue-white ice at the end of a short valley. You can walk to a viewpoint or take a pony. The scale of the glacier against the green meadow is something you do not forget. On the drive back, you stop at local Kashmiri markets. Saffron from Pampore, the only place in India where it grows. Dry fruits. Walnut wood carvings. Papier-mache boxes painted with intricate floral designs. Your guide knows which shops are genuine and which are tourist traps. Ubaid, who runs our operations, has relationships with the best artisan families. Back in Srinagar for your last evening. Shopping at Polo View Market or Lal Chowk for Pashmina shawls and spices. Farewell dinner at your hotel. The cook makes wazwan, the traditional Kashmiri feast of many courses, and the warmth of the food matches the warmth of the goodbye.

Your last morning in spring Kashmir. Breakfast at the hotel. Kashmiri bread, honey, and strong tea. If you want a last walk, there is time. The garden at your hotel is in bloom. The air smells of flowers and fresh rain. Check-out is relaxed. Your driver takes you to Srinagar Airport. The road passes the tulip garden one last time, and you see it from a distance now, a hillside of colour against the mountains. Most of our spring guests tell us the same thing. They came for the tulips. They are leaving because of everything else. The light, the food, the lake, the conversations with their driver and their guide. Spring Kashmir is not just a season. It is a feeling. The tulips will bloom again next March. We will be here.