Astanmarg, Srinagar – Kashmir

Astanmarg, a lush green meadow on top of the Zabarwan range is one of the best offbeat places to visit in Srinagar, Kashmir. What sets this place apart from the rest of the places is that it remains unknown to most of the locals of Srinagar city and the tourists visiting Kashmir.  Located just 20 kilometers away from the heart of Srinagar city – Lal Chowk, this place provides an array of scenic views with Dal Lake, Golf Course, Hari Parbat fort and many other tourist places visible to the naked eye from the top. Astanmarg provides a panoramic view of the whole city with the mountains of Zabarwan range caressing from all the sides.

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Mamnet, Srinagar – Kashmir

Mamnet, a heavenly meadow in the lap of the Zabarwan range of mountains in Kashmir remains a fairly unexplored gem situated just a few kilometers away from the heart of srinagar city. The trek starts from Scholar’s School dhara, harwan. So, when I started this trek with some of my friends, this region of the Zabarwan range was quite unfamiliar to me & considering we decided to have this trek amidst winter made the task much more challenging. We started at around 7 in the morning. The cold chilly breeze of a winter morning welcomed us as we got off our car. We had never experienced a snow trek before so there was both a rush of excitement & a bit of fear of the unknown. One of the locals even went on to say that at this time of the year in the early morning, the bears descend to the lower reaches so it’s very unsafe but because we had proper gear with us, we decided to go ahead with the trek.

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Shikara Ride, Dal Lake.


Dal lake, situated in the heart of the city of srinagar, Kashmir cradled by the snow clad zabarwan range is one of the main tourist attractions of the beautiful kashmir Valley. What sets this lake apart though is the famous shikara ride. For all those not familiar with what a shikara is, it is a boat with a canopy which is painted with bright attractive colors.
The shikara ride often stands out for both the people of kashmir & tourists for a number of reasons as the first thing a person notices as he starts the ride is the serenity of the beautiful lake. It’s quite, composed waters waving their way back & forth takes a person into a state of trance.

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