Classic Kashmir — Srinagar, Gulmarg & Pahalgam in Five Nights

Met at the airport and taken to the lakeside, half an hour or so, with nothing asked of the rest of the day beyond the included hour of shikara. The boat goes out among the floating gardens — beds of matted weed and silt that genuinely float and on which vegetables are grown — and past the lines of houseboats, which is the introduction the city deserves before anything is driven to.

The eastern shore in the morning: Chashme Shahi of 1632 built around a spring, Nishat Bagh of 1633 in twelve terraces, and Shalimar, made by Jahangir in 1619 for Nur Jahan and the garden every later one imitates. Pari Mahal above them for the view. The afternoon crosses into the old city — Jama Masjid on its three hundred deodar columns, Shah-e-Hamdan's nail-free painted woodwork, and the craft lanes between the two.

West and up through Tangmarg, about two hours, to a bowl of meadow at around 2,650 m ringed with fir — in summer it is entirely wildflower, which is what the name means. The Gondola runs in two stages, the first to Kongdoori at about 3,080 m and the second to Apharwat at close to 3,980 m, where snow lies through most of the year. Tickets are bought from the Cable Car Corporation and are not included; phase two stops running in wind, which is frequent.

The full traverse of the valley, around four hours, dropping off the Gulmarg road and crossing south-east past the Pampore saffron fields and the ninth-century ruins at Awantipora. Pahalgam at about 2,200 m in the afternoon, where the Lidder runs through the town. The riverside walk upstream is the right way to spend what is left of the day, and it is free and unscheduled precisely because the drive was long.

The upper valleys in the morning by local union taxi — the only vehicles permitted above the town, hired at the stand and paid on the spot. Betaab is closest and Aru higher and quieter; Chandanwari, where the Amarnath route begins, is the third if time holds. Back to Srinagar in the afternoon and aboard a houseboat for the last night, with dinner served on the water and the lake going quiet around it.

The floating vegetable market before five for anyone willing — an hour of trading boat to boat and then it disperses. Breakfast aboard, and then the transfer. Srinagar airport wants three hours rather than two: there are vehicle checks on the approach road, a screening before the terminal building and another inside it, and none of it can be shortened.