Gardens and flowers have been the best refreshing and relaxing things since time unknown. The numerous Mughal Gardens of Kashmir, the beautiful gardens inside the forts & palaces of Rajasthan like Amer Fort, Udaipur Palace and Nahargarh Fort and numerous Gardens of South India including those we visited on our trip to Ooty and Kodaikanal, that we have visited so far are just a few testimony to this fact. And amongst all these, there is something magical about the Tulip Gardens. Filled with beautiful colorful tulips all over when the season comes, these gardens look nothing less than big bouquets of Tulips created by nature’s magic.
Our first experience visiting a Tulip Garden was back in 2017. Wherein we visited the Tulip Gardens of Keukenhof near Amsterdam. And that was during our trip to Europe. Not to mention, we spent a good half day there, clicking all around. And still couldn’t get enough of the beauty. So, this time around, as our trip to Kashmir materialised, I planned it to coincide with the season when Tulips are in full bloom in Kashmir. And the largest Tulip Gardens of Asia are open to the tourists right in the heart of Srinagar. If you are a lover of flowers and tulips and manicured gardens, look no further. You can treat this post as your mini guide to visit the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir.
When to visit the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir
While in Europe, the Tulips bloom through the month of April, in India, they start blooming in mid march. And remain at their prime for 2-3 weeks max. So, from mid of March till the first week of April is the best time to visit the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir. This timeline might vary a little year on year depending on the temperature changes. But more or less, it is in this range. Although you can witness the Tulips even in the second and third week of April, but most of the varieties would have crossed their prime by 20th April. And many will be harvested by then. If you visit before March mid the tulips will still be buds. When we visited in 2022, the Tulip Gardens were open from March 16th and remained open till almost the third week of April.
When we visited at the beginning of April second week, there were over 1.5 million Tulips in full bloom in the gardens, that included 48 different varieties, ready to greet us. So, timing is the key when it comes to visiting the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir. Or, for that matter, any Tulip Gardens. Since the blooming period is so limited.
How to reach the Tulip Gardens in Srinagar
The Tulip Gardens of Kashmir are located right in the heart of Srinagar, on the way towards Pari Mahal and Chashme Shahi. You can either book a cab, or take a packaged tour that includes the visit to Tulip Gardens. When we visited Kashmir, we were sure that we wanted to visit the Tulip gardens on the first or second day itself. Since it was on it’s prime. So, when our flight arrived early in the morning and our hotel rooms were not yet ready for checkin, we requested the cab driver who dropped us to the hotel, to take us to the Tulip Gardens. And he happily agreed. So, the Tulip Gardens in Srinagar were literally the first place that we visited there. You can as well take an auto-rickshaw from near Dal Lake. And it will drop you to the Tulip Gardens.
There is also a huge parking space besides the Garden. So, your vehicle can wait there. If you are just taking a drop to the garden gates, you can easily take an auto or any other cab on your way back. This parking space gets quiet abuzz as the day progresses. And is lined up with several “dhabas” (small restaurants) that provide breakfast, fast food, packaged food and refreshment.
What is the entry fee to the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir
The entry fee to the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir, also called the Indira Gandhi Tulip Gardens, is INR 50/- per head at the time of this writing. Children are charged half the ticket and entry is free for 3 years and below.
What are the timings of the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir
The Tulip Gardens are open from 8:00 am in the morning till 7:00 pm in the evening on all 7 days of the week. However, we read somewhere that they are closed on Sundays. So, we didn’t want to take the risk. And we visited them on Saturday itself, as soon as we arrived in Srinagar. But, when we were doing the Srinagar Sight Seeing the next day, we saw that the Tulip Gardens were very much open to the public. Even though it was a Sunday. So, definitely they are open on all the 7 days of the week.
How was our experience visiting the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir
We visited the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir early in the morning. Right after we landed in Srinagar. The parking lot, the street and the Tulip Garden were all almost empty at this time. So, that way we really enjoyed here. Overall, we spent around 2 hours in the Tulip Gardens of Srinagar. Exploring all around. And taking endless snaps. To be honest with you, the dramatic backdrop of the Himalayan mountain range behind the gardens makes it all the more picture perfect. There is also a small shaded space where the whole process of growing the Tulips is depicted in the form of pictures. These are pictures taken at different steps from the time the seeds are sowed to the time the tulips are harvested.
You will find here rows of Tulips in all the different colors – red, purple, yellow, orange, pink, white and blue. And along with the tulips, near the entrance you will also see some pansies, daffodils and other seasonal flowers. They are potted and the pots are arranged in beautiful clusters.
Although within the 2 hours that we spent in the Tulip Gardens, it got so much more crowded. By the time we were stepping out of the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir, it felt almost jam packed. So, we virtually patted ourselves for our wise decision to come visit here early in the morning.
As we came out of the Tulip Gardens and headed back to the parking lot, we saw the street also full of vendors. There was continuous rows of vendors on both the sides of the street. They were selling refreshments, malai kulfi and icecreams, sweets, Kashmiri kahva, tea, coffee, cut fruits and a lot of other stuff. Some were also selling antique and oxidised jewellery, woollen caps and other such stuff. We enjoyed Kashmiri Kahwah while on our way back.
Upon reaching the parking lot, we had our breakfast in one of the restaurants in the parking lot. These restaurants are basic and provide limited items, no matter whichever you go to. We had maggie, bread and omelette, tea and boiled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast we headed back to our hotel around 11:30am – 11:45am.
All I can say about our overall experience visiting the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir is that there couldn’t have been a better start to our 9 days trip to Kashmir. You can catch the footages of our morning visiting the Tulip Gardens along with our trip from airport to hotel & our breakfast here in this vlog –
Useful tips on visiting the Tulip Gardens of Kashmir
- You can carry your water bottle with you. There are no vendors allowed within the garden. Although drinking water provision is there, but if you prefer mineral water then carry it with you.
- Visit as early in the morning as possible to avoid crowd.
- You can easily get the tickets from the ticket counter near the entrance, right inside the main gate. If you are visiting early, there will not be any queue at the counter also.
- Good to carry some snack and food for kids. Although you can always buy from outside but mostly they are fast food options, not so healthy for the kids.
- Carry an umbrella as it can rain anytime in this season.
- Also carry extra layers of woollen cloth or jacket with you. While we were roaming around in the garden, there was sudden flip of weather from sunny to cloudy and windy. (If you are a regular reader, let me remind you of our similar encounter with the change of weather while exploring Paris). Nevertheless, it started raining also. And we all had to huddle in the small shade in the garden. And it got very cold for sometime.
- Public toilets are available and they were decently clean.
- You can hire a taxi, take a bus or take an auto to the gardens.
- Carry sunglasses and apply sunscreen. For, when it is sunny in Kashmir, the sun is very harsh pertaining to the high altitudes. Yes, Srinagar is a place where you might need sunscreen and sunglasses one moment, and heavy jackets or umbrella the next!
- You can also club your visit to the Tulip Gardens along with other sightseeing places in Srinagar.
If you liked this writeup on Tulip Gardens of Kashmir, do checkout out vlog as well:
How safe it is to visit Kashmir
All you need to know about a Shikara Ride in Dal Lake in Srinagar
Booking Resources
In Srinagar, we stayed at Hotel Walisons and later at Chicago Group of Houseboats. Hotel Walisons was also located very close to Dal Lake and all other major attractions of Srinagar are also within 4-5km radius of this hotel. Read our complete experience staying in the houseboat. You can browse list of other hotels in Srinagar by clicking here. In Pahalgam we stayed at Oswal Cottage. Click here to browse the list of stay options in Pahalgam. In Gulmarg at Hotel Pine View. Here’s a list of hotels to stay in Gulmarg. Do make your bookings in advance. And choose cancellable options. This will give you the flexibility to alter your trip or even cancel it till last moment as required.
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