Srinagar

Kashmir's summer capital and where most trips start: shikara rides on Dal Lake, the Mughal gardens, the old city and a night on a houseboat.

Srinagar is the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and nearly every trip to the valley starts and ends here because this is where the airport is. Plan on two or three nights in total, often split between the start and the end of your trip, with at least one of them on a houseboat.

The shikara ride on Dal Lake is the thing everyone does, and it is far nicer early in the morning or around sunset than in the midday sun. The Mughal gardens at Nishat and Shalimar sit along the lake's eastern shore and fill a relaxed half day. If you can face a 5 am start, the floating vegetable market is the part of Srinagar people still talk about when they get home.

The old city gets skipped more often than it should. A slow walk through the lanes around Jamia Masjid, with its wooden pillars and quiet courtyard, shows you a side of Srinagar the lakefront does not. The floating shops that pull up beside your shikara are fine for a look, but you are under no obligation to buy.

Come between March and October. Spring brings almond blossom and the tulip garden, summer is the busiest stretch, and by late October the chinar trees in the gardens have turned rust and gold.