After a lull of nearly one-and-a-half years, Kashmir was again abuzz with tourists as thousands of people from different parts of the country descended on the picturesque Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other areas of the valley for the New Year. As tourist arrivals spiked, the region witnessed huge traffic jams. The situation was such in the popular skiing destination Gulmarg that some tourists had to ring in the New Year from their vehicles stuck in traffic. Tourists at Gulmarg. Photo: Waseem Andrabi/Twitter "One needs to understand that global destinations are ruled out due to the pandemic and Kashmir became an obvious choice for domestic travellers," says Nighat Shah, the reservation manager with a prominent hotel chain in Srinagar and Gulmarg. Hotels and resorts organised various e...
Read MoreCategory: जम्मू-कश्मीर
travel articles and news about Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir
A white blanket covered Kashmir on Saturday as all parts of the valley received moderate to heavy snowfall, leading to the closure of roads, officials here said. It was first snowfall of the season for Srinagar, although higher reaches of Kashmir valley had received first snowfall on November 15, almost a month ago. That was the first fall in the inhabited areas of the valley, including Gulmarg and Sonmarg tourist resorts. Hills around Dal lake in Srinagar covered in snow on Saturday. Photo Waseem Andrabi/Twitter It's time for the people of Kashmir to bring out their traditional Pheren (tweed over garment) Kangris (fire-pot oven in a basket of willow wicker) wishing each other Sheen Mubarak (Happy Snowfall). Snowfall began late on Friday night in most parts of Kashmir and just after...
Read MoreThe Patnitop ropeway in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday started weekend commercial operations after being closed for over six months due to coronavirus pandemic. The Empyrean Skyview Project is India's highest ropeway in terms of ground clearance of over 65 meters and the largest Indo-French collaboration in mountain infrastructure development. It was built in a record time of 2.4 years under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, officials said. The ropeway started its commercial operations on July 20 last year. Empyrean's vision of creating a world-class integrated mountain tourism infrastructure destination is now open once again to welcome visitors. Skyview Patnitop is sure to drive tourism to this unexplored paradise with its clean air, unique lan...
Read MoreThe Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday decided to reopen the second phase of the Gulmarg cable car between Kongdoori and Apharwat for commercial operation from October 10. "The second phase of Gulmarg Gondola shall be operational only on weekends -- Saturdays and Sundays -- for the time being, while the operation of Gondola for the first phase, that is Gulmarg to Kongdoori, will continue to remain functional on daily basis," an official spokesman said here. He said all necessary preventive protocols and SOPs regarding COVID-19 like social distancing, sanitisation of cabins before and after boarding and deboarding of passengers, wearing of masks and temperature checking are being strictly adhered to. (PTI) ...
Read MoreWhen Kashmir went into a coronavirus lockdown in March, tourism in the Indian-administered territory had already been hobbled by eight months of tight security restrictions that New Delhi imposed after revoking the region’s semi-autonomous status. Now hoteliers, taxi drivers and others relying on tourism in the region say the pandemic has compounded the financial shock to the industry and they fear it could take years to recover. The state of tourism in Kashmir is “a typical case of out of the frying pan into the fire,” said Faiz Bakhshi, a prominent businessman and former secretary general of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCC&I). Fall season is almost gone in Kashmir “I don’t see any resumption of tourism in Kashmir until there is zero incidence of COVID-1...
Read MoreGlaciers in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are melting at a "significant" rate, according to a first-of-its-kind study which used satellite data to find that over 1,200 glaciers in the Himalayan region saw an annual reduction in mass of 35 centimetres (cm) on average between 2000 and 2012. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was carried over the Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh region, including areas across the Line of Control (LoC) and Line of Actual Control (LAC), and in all 12,243 glaciers were studied for thickness and mass changes. "In general, it was observed that the glaciers in the Pir Panjal range are melting at the higher rate—more than one metre per year—while as the glaciers in the Karakoram range are melting relatively at slower rate, around 10 cms per yea...
Read MoreKhushvinder Singh is part of a 12-member group from Jammu who reached Katra before dawn to pay obeisance at the famous Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine atop Trikuta hills in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.The shrine along with other religious places across the Union Territory reopened for devotees on Sunday morning after remaining closed for almost five months due to the COVID-19 outbreak. "I used to come to the shrine at least once every month to offer my prayers. I feel blessed to be back on the first day of the reopening of the shrine," the 48-year-old Singh said. Singh had reached Katra, the base camp for the pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi shrine, around 4 am and was among the first batch to offer prayers at the sanctum sanctorum - the holy cave which is the ultimate destination of th...
Read Moreहिंदुस्तान में पतझड़ का रंग अगर कहीं अपने पूरे शबाब पर दिखता है तो वह कश्मीर है। अब मौजूदा माहौल में कश्मीर जाने की बात करना थोड़ा अखरता है, हालांकि कश्मीरी कभी अपने मेहमान सैलानियों पर आंच नहीं आने देते। लेकिन बात पतझड़ के रंगों की हो तो कश्मीर का जिक्र किए बिना रहा भी तो नहीं जाता। कश्मीर की बात ही कुछ ऐसी है। कश्मीर में पतझड़ के मौसम को हारुद कहते हैं (याद है न, आमिर बशीर की बनाई चर्चित फिल्म इसी नाम की थी)। हारुद का मौसम यूं तो कई खासियतें लेकर आता है, लेकिन इसका सबसे अलहदा, खास रंग चिनार की पत्तियों से आता है। वादी के चारों तरफ खड़े पहाड़ भी मानो चिनार के रंग में खुद को रंगने के लिए भूरे हो जाते हैं, बस इससे पहले कि वे बर्फ से सफेद हो जाएं। दरअसल कश्मीर में दोनों ओर कतार में खड़े चिनार के पेड़ और बीच में नीचे बिखरी हुई सुनहरे या सुर्ख लाल रंग की चिनार की पत्तियों की तस्वीर हमेशा स...
Read Moreगुरु पूर्णिमा (व्यास पूर्णिमा) के दिन अमरनाथ यात्रा के लिए छड़ी मुबारक यात्रा रविवार को सवेरे श्रीनगर से पहलगाम के लिए रवाना हुई, और इसके साथ ही इस साल की यात्रा की विधिवत शुरुआत हो गई। कोविड-19 के कारण इस बार यात्रा की अवधि भी छोटी होगी और श्रद्धालुओं की संख्या भी कम ही रखी जाएगी। आम श्रद्धालुओं के लिए यात्रा 21 जुलाई से ही शुरू होगी और 3 अगस्त को रक्षाबंधन के दिन संपन्न होगी। एक दिन में अधिकतम 500 यात्रियों को ही जाने की इजाजत रहेगी। रविवार सवेरे ही जम्मू-कश्मीर के उप राज्यपाल गिरीश चंद्र मुर्मू ने अपने परिजनों के साथ हेलिकॉप्टर से अमरनाथ पहुंचकर गुफा में पूजा-अर्चना की। रविवार सवेरे छह बजे करीब सौ साधु-संतों और अन्य लोगों के साथ श्रीनगर के दशनामी अखाड़े से पहलगाम के लिए छड़ी मुबारक रवाना हुई। रविवार को ही पहलगाम में अमरनाथ छड़ी मुबारक का भूमि पूजन, नवग्रह पूजन और ध्वजारोहण की रस...
Read Moreकश्मीर में पश्चिमी सीमा पर कामन चौकी से लौटते हुए हम गढ़वाल के उत्तरकाशी में अपने घर जाने के लिए वादियों को पार करने के इरादे से पूर्व की तरफ बढ़ लिए। लेकिन श्रीनगर को पार करने के बाद हम बनिहाल और जवाहर टनल पार करके जम्मू की तरफ जाने के बजाय अनंतनाग और किश्तवाड़ की तरफ मुड़ लिए। अछबल में हम चिनार के पेड़ों के साये तले बने उस शानदार बगीचे में थोड़ा ठहरे जो कभी नूरजहां की सैरगाह हुआ करता था। अछबल का खूबसूरत नजारा रात में हम कोकरनाग में सीआरपीएफ के कैंप में रुके। कोकरनाग अपने पानी के सोतों के लिए बहुत प्रसिद्ध है। इन्हीं का पानी वहां बने शानदार बोटैनिकल गार्डन को सींचता है। अगले दिन अल्लसुबह रवाना होकर हमने राष्ट्रीय राजमार्ग 1बी पकड़ लिया। उसी से हम 3748 मीटर की ऊंचाई पर स्थित सिंथन टॉप पहुंचे। सिथंन टॉप तक का रास्ता बहुत बढिय़ा था, काली पक्की सड़क। टॉप के बाद जाकर दूसरी तरफ नीचे उतरत...
Read More
You must be logged in to post a comment.