Kashmir Tourism Guides

A traveller to Kashmir saw many beautiful things, but it was a chance encounter with an elderly shopkeeper that upended him. When I stepped off the plane in Srinagar two years ago, I was eager to celebrate Kashmir’s attempts to revive itself after more than 20 years of brutal civil war. The Japanese, German and British governments had all recently lifted their travel advisories against visiting the area, and although more than half a million Indian soldiers remained – and more than 70,000 people had lost their lives in Indo-Pakistani violence there since 1989 – all official talk was of the future. That summer, 36 flights were touching down in Srinagar each day, bringing 1.3 million Indians, often on pilgrimage, to a jewelled valley that has long enchanted Mughals, British officers and backpackers. Everywhere I turned, there were stories of rebirth. My British tour guide on the trip, Jonny Bealby, had come to Srinagar 25 years before and gone through the traveller’s ultima...

Newfound peace comes to a divided paradise, where life’s pace is set by echoing calls to prayer and the gentle paddling of colourful canoes in glistening Dal Lake. India, miles of concrete dominate the crowded urban landscape. But in the remote northern region of Kashmir, the summer capital of Srinagar is dominated by Dal Lake, a glistening heart that gives the city its slow and steady pulse. Here, life’s pace is set by the spade-shaped paddles of the colourfully painted shikaras (canoe-like boats) rather than the chaotic movements of frenetic tuk-tuk drivers. For centuries, Kashmir has been one of the most highly coveted areas of the Asian continent, regarded as paradise on Earth by the Mughal kings who holidayed in the valley, nestled between the Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Mountains. But for much of the second half of the 20th Century, periodic war and political strife have kept visitors from heaven's gate. In 1947, the bloody partition of India freed the country...

I have always wanted to visit Kashmir and so when the opportunity arose I went. I knew it is a Muslim state, extremely beautiful, famous for its shawls, houseboats on Dal and Nigeen Lakes and long curfews and a history of violent clashes with the armed forces over Kashmir's desire for independence. I expected it to be flooded with tourists domestic and foreign like the rest of India. It wasn't . Some Indians came and fewer foreigners. In Kashmir people told me visitors think 100 times about going or not going to Kashmir. But I didn't think twice. I like risky destinations. I had seen and read all the reports of violent clashes. The media is full of images of stone pelting in Srinagar and dangerous militants justly killed by a brave Indian armed forces . But there is another side to this conflict and one the media never addresses. Kashmir is Muslim. India is not. India has a broadly common culture. Kashmir is Islamic. Kashmiri is a uniquely different language. The ...