Shalimar Bagh

Shalimar Bagh sits at the north-eastern end of Dal Lake, where the Zabarwan hills come down to the water. Emperor Jahangir laid it out in 1619 for his wife Nur Jahan, and it is the garden most people mean when they say “the Mughal gardens of Kashmir”.

The design is a long central channel, the Shah Nahar, running down through three terraces. Each level was once more private than the last: the lowest was the public garden, the middle the emperor’s, and the top terrace — with its black-stone pavilion surrounded by fountains — was reserved for the women of the court.

What a visit is actually like

Plan an hour. The garden is flat and easy to walk, with benches under the chinars. Spring brings the flower beds into colour and the fountains are usually running; late October is the other great month, when the chinars turn copper and the crowds thin out. Winter visits are quiet and grey, but the garden is open.

Shalimar is almost always done together with Nishat Bagh and Chashme Shahi — they sit along the same Boulevard road. Doing all three plus Pari Mahal makes a comfortable half day from your hotel or houseboat in Srinagar.