vivekbairoliya
★★★★★5.0Wrote on 27 Dec 2023
A must do
A must do Shikara ride. Very safe and the markets is not for selling only. It’s a floating Reastarants. The Kashmiri Gawa is the best I’ve had in 8 days, hot chocolate for young son, crispy French fries. All amazing
jenniferdV587GN
★★★★★5.0Wrote on 19 Dec 2023
Shikaras and houseboats. On arrival to Lake Dal, met by a Shikara (like a gondola)and rowed to our houseboat.
This experience was amazing. To go to Kashmir, to spend 4 nights on a house boat opulently decked out and including delicious breakfasts, I couldn’t ask for more. I stayed on the Chicago Group of Houseboats. Very friendly and accommodating staff.
NSA398
★★★★4.0Wrote on 11 Nov 2023
Beautiful but polluted.
Dal lake is huge with natural beauty but very dirty and polluted. It is worth going for a Shikara ride only from ghat nos.14 to 17 to enjoy the nature’s beauty around 4 to 5pm (depending on season and length of the days) to enjoy the gorgeous sunset views . Some agents are charging a lot of money . Book through hotel or directly with Shikara owners. It should be Rs.1,000 to 1,200/- Rupees for one hour’s ride. Kashmiries should take pride in their province, keep it much, much, much cleaner and preserve it’s natural scenic beauty. Dal lake which is biggest attraction of Kashmir is dying from pollution. They should do massive campaigns for clean ups and preservation of it’s natural scenic beauty which is alluring and bountiful.but sadly neglected.
debashis77_12
★★★★★5.0Wrote on 24 Oct 2023
Huge Lake
The view of Dal Lake is mesmerising in the day time as well as in the night.In the night, when thousands of houseboat lit the view is very nice.In the day time many shikaras(small boats) roaming in the lake.There are many ghats(around 30) from where you can take shikaras for ride.Choose the starting point between 10-15 number ghats so that you can cover major attractions.Shikaras are available for 30 mins- 1 hour ride time with prices starting from Rs.2000/- and on heavy bargain they may come down to 700-900.It is better if you take ride from ghat for the minimum time and while travelling in the shikara ask the man for increase the time by paying him directly some more.At ghats, middlemans are there, who take a heavy amount as their cut.The lake has so many things to offer, so chose your spots wisely before riding.Do enjoy the beauty of Dal Lake.
Amelie9626
★★★3.0Wrote on 19 Oct 2023
Could be either good or bad
"Official rate" i.e. the union rate for shikara is Rs. 700 per hour, but we negotiated it to Rs. 500 an hour. We took it for 3 hours, so the guy was really slow in moving around as he didn't want to cover many places. There are shikaras which will sell kahwa (Rs 50), fruit chaat (Rs. 100 for a tiny plate), and kashmiri costumes, kashmiri handicrafts, saffron, photos, and even bbq kebabs that will keep rowing up to you. The best part we liked was a market where they take - we didn't visit any shops, but the market was bustling. There are over 1100 licenced houseboats on Dal Lake and over 10,000 shikaras (commercial and private) operating on it. 29 ghats support this vast eco-system. How much you enjoy the shikara ride depends very much on the person manning the shikara. One of the people who took us to the houseboat was a grumpy guy, so we tried to avoid taking him for the 2 hours ride even though he had a prettier shikara.
