Aishparth · Green meadows of Gulmarg.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Gulmarg
A high meadow above Srinagar with one of the world’s highest cable cars, and India’s best-known ski slopes.
Gulmarg
A meadow bowl at 2,650 m with a cable car running off the top of it — the one Kashmir day that is a set piece.
Explore Gulmarg on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
Beyond the temples
One cable car in two stages, and a meadow to spend the rest of the day on.
The gondola
- Stage one runs from the meadow to Kongdoori at about 3,050 m — the shorter leg, and where most of the summer crowd stops.
- Stage two continues to Apharwat at close to 3,980 m, which makes it one of the highest cable cars in the world. There is snow at the top in every month of the year.
- Tickets are sold by stage and by time slot, and they sell out. Booking ahead is the single practical thing that decides whether a Gulmarg day works.
On the ground
- The golf course is one of the highest in the world at about 2,650 m, and is open to visitors in summer.
- St Mary’s Church, a small stone Anglican church of 1902, sits alone in the middle of the meadow and is the one built thing worth walking to.
- Khilanmarg is a short uphill walk or pony ride from the bowl and gives the valley view without the cable car queue. Alpather lake, beyond Apharwat, stays frozen into June and is a full day on foot.
In winter
- The Apharwat face is the reason Gulmarg has an international reputation: long lift-served descents on open snow rather than groomed pistes.
- Equipment and instruction are available in the village, and the season runs roughly January to March. This is not a beginners’ resort, though the lower slopes are gentle enough to learn on.
How long to give it
From Srinagar
Leave early, ride both gondola stages before the cloud builds, walk the meadow and St Mary’s afterwards, and be back on the lake by evening. This is how most itineraries do it.
For the first cable car
Worth it to be at the gondola when it opens, and to see the meadow empty at either end of the day. Evenings are hotel-bound; there is nothing else here.
Three nights or more
Skiing needs a proper stay. A day trip in January buys you a snowbound meadow and a queue, not a mountain.
Arriving & getting around
Two hours from Srinagar, and on foot or by pony once you arrive.
Getting there
- About 50 km from Srinagar, two hours by road through Tangmarg. The last stretch climbs steadily and is the part that closes in heavy snow.
- In winter the road is usually cleared, but a day’s delay after a big fall is normal. Nothing about a Gulmarg day should be booked tight against a flight.
In the bowl
- Everything is walkable, and everything else is a pony at union rates. There is no local transport and no need for one.
- In winter, sledges replace ponies on the meadow, on the same fixed-rate basis.
- Most travellers visit Gulmarg as a long day from Srinagar. Staying a night is worth it only for skiing, or to get on the first gondola of the day.
When to visit
The only Kashmir destination where winter is a season rather than a closure.
The meadow at its best, wildflowers in July, and the gondola running both stages. Warm days, cold evenings, and the busiest months.
Deep snow on Apharwat and the reason serious skiers come to India. Book accommodation and lift access well ahead.
Quiet, cheap and unpredictable — patchy snow, thin grass and a gondola that may run one stage only. Fine if the view is enough.
Stage two of the gondola gains more than 1,300 m in minutes. Give yourself time at the top rather than rushing, and skip it if you are unwell.
How to be a good guest
A hill station the British built for the summer, and Kashmiris have used for the winter.
How it came to be here
- The meadow was a Mughal retreat long before it was a resort — Jahangir is said to have collected flowers here — and the British turned it into a hot-weather station in the nineteenth century, which is where the church and the golf course come from.
- Skiing arrived in the 1920s and 1930s with British officers, and Gulmarg has been India’s main ski ground ever since. The gondola, built with French engineering and opened in stages from 1998, is what made the upper mountain reachable without climbing it.
The people you will meet
- Pony handlers, sledge pullers in winter and ski guides are the local trades, and all of them work to fixed union rates that are posted rather than negotiated.
- There is very little to buy here and almost nowhere to eat outside the hotels. Gulmarg is a day, not an evening.
Insider tips
- Book the gondola before you travel. Slots sell out in both seasons, and a Gulmarg day without a ticket is a walk in a field.
- Take the first slot of the morning if you can. Cloud builds on Apharwat through the day and the view is a lottery by afternoon.
- Hire boots and a coat at the bottom rather than carrying them. It is cheap, and the meadow is wet even in summer.
- Pony and sledge rates are fixed and posted. Agree what you are paying for before you set off.
- Altitude is real here: 3,980 m is higher than most people have been. Move slowly at the top.
- Who should come: everyone doing the valley — this is the one big view. Who should skip it: travellers who cannot book a gondola slot, and anyone unwell at altitude.
Nearby
Where Gulmarg leads next.
Related to Gulmarg
Journeys that include Gulmarg — each one visits the city as part of its itinerary.
Common questions
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