Shikara Ride on Dal Lake

Srinagar is Largest City in Jammu and Kashmir that is lie on Kashmir Valley and on the bank of Jhelum River.  The arc of Green Mountain and soothing climate surrounds the city. The city is famous for its natural beauty, Shikara ride on Dal Lake, landscape gardens and most beautiful handicrafts items. I loved about the city is that constantly a green, snowy mountains follows you wherever you go and Jhelum river is with you across all the streets. The water fountains on the Dal Lake and all sky touching slanted tress are like a painting.   No wonder, from this place only the artist get the inspiration for the nature painting. Srinagar is the place where you can seat with your love one for hour and hour without whispering a single world. It is like soaking the beautiful moments where Mother Nature has gives out plenty of blessing to you.

pic source : google

You should go with your loved one; either it is your boyfriend, girlfriend or else your spouse. The Romantic climate called out to be a mesmerized with the nature by forgetting the real world. It is like a meditation on Himalayas lap. I will not stop to describe the beauty…so let’s jump into today’s post i.e. Shikara ride on Dal Lake.

Dal is the longest lake in Srinagar, which is also known as Jewel in the crown of Kashmir. The shoreline of the Dal Lake is encompassed by Mughal Gardens, parks, houseboats and hotels.  The Mughal gardens are like Nishat Bag, Shalimar bag, Chasmeshahi garden which all built by Mughals Emperor Jahangir, which is Char Chand of the Srinagar.

pic source : Google

Shikara are nothing but small Oak wood boat that is floating on the lake in which you can see the reflection of Snow Mountain.  While on shikara ride, you get to see the 8 points that is all built on water. The main beauty of this Dal Lake is everything including daily lives too is floating on the water.  We saw the normal houses where actual people live other than tourist. We use auto or bus to travel from one place to another, but these people are using small boats. Not only male but female also sail the boat very well. You can see the doctors, museum, shops, stores, garden, fishing, etc. all in one floating on this lake.

pic source : google

Choose your boat as per your preference, lay down back on the Shikara with your family and enjoy the beauty. Cost of Shikara ride per person is Rs. 100/- to 150/-. Yes ….you need to bargain…we bargain almost for 30 minutes. To have a romantic and soothing view of Shikara ride please check out the video on my FB page, the link is :

Important tip: Do not waste your time in taking tons of photographs, ☺instead seat with a peace with your loved one to enjoy the paradise of the earth. I have enjoyed a lot with my family and friends. Hence not able to take photographs. That is the reason you see many pics from google. I took a very few photographs but yes shoots lot of videos. If you want to see, the video just let me know in the comment section below so that I will post a link on my FB page.

Dal Lake is another floating city of Srinagar. Whatever you want to buy, the boat will landed at your favorite shop so that you can get it down and buys the product. You can get many things like shawl, handicraft items, carpet, sweets, kashmiri salwar suits, gift items, medicine, milk, bread, fruits, even grocery. Yes, this is the floating market. Just have a look….

Another interesting thing is while your Shikara floating on a lake, most of the seller selling the fruit salad, kabab, handicraft items in a boat and convince you to buy them.

Looking funny na….!!!

I like this Kashmiri girl photoshoot. Yes…..the photographer sail his boat with kashmiri suits for Raja Rani with ornaments and flower bucket. He can take a multiple photos and give the hard copy until you finished your ride on the seashore. One copy cost around Rs. 140/-

Floating garden

This is one of the floating gardens, which is cultivated in the season. Right now, it is in this condition. You can see many birds floating on this lake that you never saw before. We saw the various types of plants, which are under this water. The people continuously clean this flesh. Lake is also known for fishing. We saw a variety of fisherman seating on seashore and some of them fishing while sailing on the boat.

plants /flesh under the water

So How was your ride guys….enjoy na ….!!!! Let me know in the comment section.

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