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Vaishno Devi (Katra)

Vaishno Devi (Katra)

The shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi stands at 1,585 metres in the Trikuta Mountains of Jammu. Katra is the base town, and from there millions of pilgrims walk 12 km uphill on a well-built mountain path to reach the cave temple, the Bhawan. Inside the natural rock cave there is no idol. The goddess is worshipped as three natural rock Pindis — Maha Kali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati, the creating, sustaining and transforming aspects of Shakti. The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) runs the whole operation around the clock, with automated crowd-tracking lanes and shelters along the route.

Srinagar (Dal Lake)

Srinagar (Dal Lake)

Srinagar is a lake city, and the difference between a good stay and a mediocre one is which part of the lake you sleep on. Take a houseboat, but ask where it is moored. The boats near the Boulevard are convenient and noisy with traffic; the ones further out towards Nagin lake are quieter and give you the mornings the place is famous for. Shikara rides are priced by the hour and by negotiation — agree the route and the price before you get in, or you will be taken to a floating handicraft shop instead. The Mughal gardens — Shalimar, Nishat, Chashme Shahi — are terraced up the eastern hillside and are best in the first hour after opening. The vegetable market on the water at dawn is the real thing, and it means being up before five. Papier-mâché and Kashmiri walnut wood are genuine crafts here and worth buying properly rather than roadside. Check current advisories before you book, and do that close to your travel date rather than months out. April and May for the blossom, and June to August is the season most Indians come. Winter is cold, beautiful and quiet.

Amarnath

Amarnath

Mahamaya is the name the Goddess carries here, and Trisandhyeshwar is the Bhairava who guards her. The cave opens for only a few weeks around Shravan, in July and August, and you will need a registration and a medical certificate before you set out — from Pahalgam it is three or four days in, while Baltal is fourteen kilometres and very steep. Neither way in is a stroll.

Dal Lake

Dal Lake

Dal Lake is an urban lake in Srinagar covering about 18 square kilometres (21.2 sq km including floating gardens), with a maximum depth of 6 metres and average depth of 1.42 metres, at an elevation of 1,583 metres. Known as the "Jewel in the crown of Kashmir," it is ringed by Mughal gardens and houseboats.

Top cities in Jammu & Kashmir

Where to base yourself.

Jammu & Kashmir

Srinagar (Dal Lake)

Srinagar is a lake city, and the difference between a good stay and a mediocre one is which part of the lake you sleep on.

Browse Jammu & Kashmir by theme

The same places, sorted the way you might be thinking about the trip.

HeritageSpiritual & PilgrimageHill StationsWildlife & Safari

Heritage

Forts, temples and old towns.

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Akhnoor Fort

Akhnoor Fort

Akhnoor Fort is a two-storeyed fortification on the eastern bank of the Chenab river in Jammu district, featuring corner watchtowers and river-side access, protected by the Archaeological Survey of…

Bahu Fort

Bahu Fort

Bahu Fort stands on a rock overlooking the Tawi river opposite Jammu's old town — by tradition the oldest surviving structure in the city, first raised by Raja Bahulochan and rebuilt by the Dogra r…

Basohli Fort

Basohli Fort

Basohli Fort refers to the now largely ruined palace fortifications of Basohli town in Kathua district, founded alongside the town itself and historically linked to the distinctive Basohli school o…

Bhimgarh Fort

Bhimgarh Fort

Bhimgarh Fort is a hilltop fortress in Reasi town, originally built in clay in the 8th century AD by Raja Bhimdev Rasyal and later rebuilt in stone, with major renovation under the Dogra Maharajas …

Hari Parbat Fort

Hari Parbat Fort

Hari Parbat rises at the heart of Srinagar, ringed by a wall Akbar began in 1590 and crowned by the fort the Afghan governor Atta Mohammad Khan completed in the early 19th century. The hill is sacr…

Hazratbal Shrine (Srinagar)

Hazratbal Shrine (Srinagar)

The Hazratbal Shrine, set on the western shore of Srinagar's Dal Lake, is Kashmir's holiest Muslim shrine, revered for housing a relic believed to be a hair of Prophet Muhammad. Its gleaming white …

Mubarak Mandi Palace

Mubarak Mandi Palace

Mubarak Mandi is a 25-building royal palace complex across 12 acres overlooking the Tawi River in Jammu, blending Gothic, Rajput, Mughal, and European architectural styles, and today housing the Do…

Poonch Fort

Poonch Fort

Poonch Fort is a roughly 7,500 sq metre fortified palace complex in Poonch town, combining Mughal, Sikh, Dogra, and European architectural influences, with red brick masonry, circular bastions, and…

Ramnagar Fort

Ramnagar Fort

Ramnagar Fort in Udhampur district is a square-plan fort with polygonal corner bastions rising three storeys, decorated with battlements and surrounded by a moat, accessed via a narrow southeastern…

Dhanidhar Fort

Dhanidhar Fort overlooks the Rajouri valley, built using materials salvaged from buildings destroyed in earlier conflicts, offering a vantage point over the whole Valley of Rajouri.

Spiritual & Pilgrimage

Places people come to pray.

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Kheer Bhawani (Tulmulla)

Kheer Bhawani (Tulmulla)

In a spring-fed pool at Tulmulla, shaded by great chinars, sits the marble shrine of Ragnya Devi — Kheer Bhawani, named for the rice-pudding offered to her. She is the beloved guardian goddess of t…

Hill Stations

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Doodhpathri

Doodhpathri

Doodhpathri is a meadow about forty kilometres out of Srinagar in Budgam district, with almost nothing built on it — no hotels, a handful of stalls. That is the whole appeal, and it also makes this…

Gulmarg

Gulmarg

Gulmarg is a bowl of meadow at 2,650 metres in the Pir Panjal, and it does two completely different jobs depending on the month. December to March it is the only serious ski resort in India. The A…

Pahalgam

Pahalgam

Pahalgam is a valley settlement at 2,130 metres in the Anantnag district of Kashmir, where the fast Lidder River meets the Sheshnag stream. Steep hills of old-growth pine and cedar close in on all …

Patnitop

Patnitop

Patnitop is a plateau at 2,024 metres above the Chenab on the Jammu–Srinagar highway, and almost everyone who stops there was on the way somewhere else. As a stop it works well. Deodar forest, ope…

Sonamarg

Sonamarg

Sonamarg is eighty kilometres up from Srinagar and the last town before Zoji La and Ladakh. The road in is shut by snow from roughly December to April, so this is a summer place whether you like it…

Wildlife & Safari

Parks and reserves.

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Dachigam National Park

Dachigam National Park

Dachigam National Park, in the mountains just outside Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, is the last stronghold of the endangered Kashmir stag, or hangul, the state animal. Rising from riverine valley …

All places in Jammu & Kashmir

Every published place, across 7 themes — pick a theme, or browse them all.

29 places

Jammu & Kashmir

Akhnoor Fort

Akhnoor Fort is a two-storeyed fortification on the eastern bank of the Chenab river in Jammu district, featuring corner watchtowers and river-side access…

Jammu & Kashmir

Amarnath

Mahamaya is the name the Goddess carries here, and Trisandhyeshwar is the Bhairava who guards her.

Jammu & Kashmir

Anchar Lake

Anchar Lake is located in Soura, Srinagar district, connected to Dal Lake via the Amir Khan Nallah channel that passes through Gilsar and Khushal Sar; excess…

Jammu & Kashmir

Bahu Fort

Bahu Fort stands on a rock overlooking the Tawi river opposite Jammu's old town — by tradition the oldest surviving structure in the city, first raised by…

Jammu & Kashmir

Basohli Fort

Basohli Fort refers to the now largely ruined palace fortifications of Basohli town in Kathua district, founded alongside the town itself and historically…

Jammu & Kashmir

Bhimgarh Fort

Bhimgarh Fort is a hilltop fortress in Reasi town, originally built in clay in the 8th century AD by Raja Bhimdev Rasyal and later rebuilt in stone, with…

Jammu & Kashmir

Dachigam National Park

Dachigam National Park, in the mountains just outside Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, is the last stronghold of the endangered Kashmir stag, or hangul, the…

Jammu & Kashmir

Dal Lake

Dal Lake is an urban lake in Srinagar covering about 18 square kilometres (21.2 sq km including floating gardens), with a maximum depth of 6 metres and…

Jammu & Kashmir

Doodhpathri

Doodhpathri is a meadow about forty kilometres out of Srinagar in Budgam district, with almost nothing built on it — no hotels, a handful of stalls.

Jammu & Kashmir

Gangabal Lake

Gangabal Lake is a high-altitude glacial lake at the base of Mount Harmukh in the Himalayas, measuring up to 2.5 km long and 1 km wide, feeding into Nundkol…

Jammu & Kashmir

Gulmarg

Gulmarg is a bowl of meadow at 2,650 metres in the Pir Panjal, and it does two completely different jobs depending on the month.

Jammu & Kashmir

Hari Parbat Fort

Hari Parbat rises at the heart of Srinagar, ringed by a wall Akbar began in 1590 and crowned by the fort the Afghan governor Atta Mohammad Khan completed in…

Jammu & Kashmir

Hazratbal Shrine (Srinagar)

The Hazratbal Shrine, set on the western shore of Srinagar's Dal Lake, is Kashmir's holiest Muslim shrine, revered for housing a relic believed to be a hair…

Jammu & Kashmir

Kheer Bhawani (Tulmulla)

In a spring-fed pool at Tulmulla, shaded by great chinars, sits the marble shrine of Ragnya Devi — Kheer Bhawani, named for the rice-pudding offered to her.

Jammu & Kashmir

Krishnasar Lake

Krishnasar (Krishansar) Lake is a glacier-fed alpine lake at about 3,700-3,710 metres elevation in Ganderbal district, positioned north of its sister lake…

Jammu & Kashmir

Manasbal Lake

Manasbal Lake, in Ganderbal district, is regarded as the deepest freshwater lake in the Safapora area of Kashmir, with a drainage basin of about 10 sq km fed…

Jammu & Kashmir

Mubarak Mandi Palace

Mubarak Mandi is a 25-building royal palace complex across 12 acres overlooking the Tawi River in Jammu, blending Gothic, Rajput, Mughal, and European…

Jammu & Kashmir

Nigeen Lake

Nigeen Lake lies in Srinagar adjacent to the Hari Parbat hillock, west of Dal Lake, and is sometimes considered part of Dal Lake, to which it connects via a…

Jammu & Kashmir

Pahalgam

Pahalgam is a valley settlement at 2,130 metres in the Anantnag district of Kashmir, where the fast Lidder River meets the Sheshnag stream.

Jammu & Kashmir

Patnitop

Patnitop is a plateau at 2,024 metres above the Chenab on the Jammu–Srinagar highway, and almost everyone who stops there was on the way somewhere else.

Jammu & Kashmir

Poonch Fort

Poonch Fort is a roughly 7,500 sq metre fortified palace complex in Poonch town, combining Mughal, Sikh, Dogra, and European architectural influences, with…

Jammu & Kashmir

Ramnagar Fort

Ramnagar Fort in Udhampur district is a square-plan fort with polygonal corner bastions rising three storeys, decorated with battlements and surrounded by a…

Jammu & Kashmir

Sheshnag Lake

Sheshnag Lake is a high-altitude alpine lake at 3,590 metres elevation in Anantnag district, about 77 km from Anantnag city and 23 km from Pahalgam, on the…

Jammu & Kashmir

Sonamarg

Sonamarg is eighty kilometres up from Srinagar and the last town before Zoji La and Ladakh.

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Rajasthan
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Haryana

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Punjab

Delhi
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Delhi

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Kargil

Kargil is Ladakh's second-largest urban centre after Leh and its joint capital, 204 km east of Srinagar and 234 km west of Leh.

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Indian Astronomical Observatory

The observatory stands at Hanle at 4,500 metres, which makes it one of the world's highest sites for optical, infrared and gamma-ray telescopes, and the…

Jharkhand

Lodh Falls

The Burha River falls through mid-forest inside Palamau Tiger Reserve, and what it makes is the highest waterfall in Jharkhand, and the 21st highest in India.