How many days do you need in Kashmir?

The honest answer is that it depends on how much time you are willing to spend in the car. Kashmir looks compact on a map, but the valleys are separated by slow roads, and a trip that tries to do everything ends up being mostly driving. Here is what each trip length actually gets you.

Three to four days

Enough for Srinagar and one thing else. Two nights on the lake covers the shikara ride, the Mughal gardens and the old city. A third or fourth day lets you add a single day trip, usually Gulmarg or Sonmarg.

This works if Kashmir is a stop on a longer trip through the north, or if you only want a calm few days on the water. It is not enough to see the mountains properly.

Five to six days

The first length where a real trip is possible. You can do Srinagar plus two mountain valleys with a night in each, or you can go slow and spend most of the time in one place, like the Lidder valley around Pahalgam.

Five days suits people who would rather know one or two places well than glimpse four.

Seven days

The standard first trip. Srinagar, Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonmarg, with two nights in the mountains rather than day trips for all of them. There is one long drive, usually the crossing between Pahalgam and Sonmarg, but the rest are manageable.

If you want the well-known Kashmir without rushing, seven days is the number.

Eight to ten days

Seven days plus room to breathe. You can add a second night in the mountains, a quieter meadow like Doodhpathri, or simply more slow time on the lake. Nothing new is unlocked, but nothing has to be rushed.

Eleven to fourteen days

The length at which the offbeat valleys become sensible. You can do the four main valleys properly and still cross the Razdan pass to Gurez, or spend several days trekking, or drive on toward Ladakh.

This suits a once-in-a-while trip where you would rather see Kashmir thoroughly than come back for the parts you missed. It also means several long driving days, which not everyone wants.

The drives to plan around

• Srinagar to Gulmarg: under two hours, easy.
• Srinagar to Pahalgam: about two and a half hours.
• Pahalgam to Sonmarg: the long one, usually broken with a return toward Srinagar.
• Srinagar to Gurez: five to six hours over a high pass, best split with a night in Bandipora.

A good itinerary spaces the long drives out and never puts two back to back. If a quote has you changing hotels every night, it is trying to fit too much into too few days.

So, how many days?

• Short on time or adding to a bigger trip: three to four days, mostly in Srinagar.
• First proper trip: seven days for the four main valleys.
• Slow trip, one or two places: five to six days.
• Everything, including the offbeat valleys: eleven to fourteen days.

Tell us how long you have and how you feel about time in the car, and we will tell you honestly what fits and what to leave for next time.