Asia's largest tulip garden occupies a terraced hillside on the lower slopes of the Zabarwan Hills above Dal Lake, between Nishat Bagh and the Chashme Shahi road. The garden covers about 30 hectares and holds over a million tulip bulbs in more than 60 varieties, planted in long colour-banded rows that cascade down the slope. The blooming period is short — typically late March to mid-April, depending on the year — and coincides with the official spring Tulip Festival.
The garden was established in 2007 and is deliberately designed to extend the tourist season into spring, before the summer peak. Outside the flowering period it is an ordinary park and not particularly interesting. During bloom, however, it is a genuine spectacle: the scale of the planting, the range of colours from deep purple to pale yellow, and the backdrop of the snow-capped Zabarwan Hills make it unlike anything comparable in India. The festival adds folk performances and handicraft stalls. If your travel dates allow any flexibility, timing a Srinagar visit for early April to catch both the tulips and the Mughal garden flowers is worth it.