Dal Lake

Dal Lake is the reason Srinagar exists. This 18-square-kilometre body of water in the heart of the city functions simultaneously as a neighbourhood, a highway, a market, and a garden. The houseboats along its shore range from modest wooden rooms to elaborately carved Victorian-era floating palaces. The shikaras that cross it carry everything from tourists on sunset rides to LPG cylinders and wedding guests. The floating gardens on the lake's surface are farmed by families who have worked the same plots for generations.

A shikara ride is the standard introduction, and rightly so — hiring a boat for two hours gives a ground-level view of the lake that no amount of lakefront walking can replicate. The vegetable market on the water operates from around 6am and is the best reason to be up early. For the full houseboat experience, at least one night moored on the lake is worth the premium; you fall asleep to the sound of water against the hull and wake up to mist and birdsong. The lake is also a serious birdwatching destination — great crested grebes, bar-headed geese, and numerous ducks winter here in large numbers.

things to do sight dal lake area
A story
The floating gardens on Dal Lake — called "rad" locally — are not simply rafts. They are constructed over centuries from layers of aquatic vegetation and mud, anchored loosely to the lake bed, and can actually drift with strong winds. Families have farmed them for generations, growing tomatoes, cucumbers, lotus roots, and spinach. Each morning the vegetable market convenes on the water: shikara after shikara loaded with produce, the sellers poling through the early mist to reach buyers before the tourists wake up.

Other places in Dal Lake Area