Hidden Gems in Srinagar: 9 Real Finds
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Read this first: Jammu & Kashmir is a security-sensitive, disputed region, and the April 2025 attack near Pahalgam plus the India-Pakistan tension that followed it are why the US State Department and the UK FCDO both currently advise against travel to J&K, the FCDO naming Srinagar directly. Check your government’s current advisory before you plan any of this. The gems below are all real and all currently visited, but “currently visited” and “officially advised” are two different things here, so travel with a registered operator and stay updated.
Dal Lake, the gardens and Shankaracharya Temple get all the attention, fairly. These nine sit a step further out, some inside the city, some a short drive away, and most first-time visitors never hear about them.
1. Wular Lake
One of Asia’s largest freshwater lakes, well outside the tourist circuit that stops at Dal. A genuinely different, quieter kind of Kashmir water landscape.
2. Manasbal Lake
Smaller and calmer than Dal or Wular, often paired with Wular on a longer day out of the city.
3. Verinag
A Mughal-era spring garden built around the actual source of the river Srinagar sits on, the Jhelum. Quieter than any of the three main Mughal gardens and a genuinely different kind of site, a spring rather than a terraced hillside.
4. Achabal Garden
Another Mughal-era spring garden, less visited than Verinag, worth combining with it or with the Martand ruins below on the same day out toward Anantnag.
5. The Martand Sun Temple Ruins
Near Anantnag, a ruined Hindu sun temple from Kashmir’s Hindu antiquity, long before the Mughal gardens the city is known for now. It’s a genuinely different layer of Kashmir history, worth the drive on its own.
6. Awantipora Ruins
Another ruined temple complex on the same general route toward Anantnag, easily paired with Martand into one history-focused day trip.
7. Naranag Temple Ruins
A cluster of ancient temple ruins that also happens to sit at one end of the Kashmir Great Lakes Trek, worth knowing about even if you’re not doing the full multi-day route.
8. The Saffron Fields of Pampore
Just outside Srinagar, Pampore’s fields turn a hazy purple during the harvest, roughly mid-October to early November, with an eight-day festival built around it. Time a visit to the window rather than assuming saffron is a year-round sight.
9. The Old City’s Crafts Alleys
Away from the Boulevard’s tourist-facing shopfronts, the alleys around Lal Chowk and Ghantaghar in Shehr-e-Khaas hold the fixed-price government emporiums and workshops where papier-mache, carpets and Pashmina are actually made, not just sold.
Quick Reference
| Gem | Type | Roughly where |
|---|---|---|
| Wular Lake | Lake | Outside the city |
| Manasbal Lake | Lake | Outside the city |
| Verinag | Mughal spring garden | Toward Anantnag |
| Achabal Garden | Mughal spring garden | Toward Anantnag |
| Martand Sun Temple | Hindu temple ruins | Near Anantnag |
| Awantipora | Temple ruins | Toward Anantnag |
| Naranag | Temple ruins | Kashmir Great Lakes trailhead |
| Pampore | Saffron fields | Just outside Srinagar |
| Old city alleys | Crafts | Shehr-e-Khaas |
Most of these pair naturally with a day trip that already has Gulmarg, Pahalgam or Sonamarg on it; see our day trips guide for the logistics, and our nature spots guide if Wular and Manasbal are the draw. Check the current UK FCDO advisory before you build a route around any of this, and book a registered driver or operator rather than arranging transport to the more remote ruins on your own.
If you only have room for one of these nine, make it Martand. It’s the one piece of Kashmir history that predates every Mughal garden in every other Srinagar guide by close to a thousand years.