Srinagar

Srinagar is where almost every Kashmir trip begins. The city sits around Dal Lake, and most of what you came for is on or beside the water — the floating vegetable market at dawn, the carved walnut interiors of the houseboats, and the shikaras that ferry you between them.

Above the lake, the Mughal gardens step up the hillside in terraces built four centuries ago. Come in April and the Indira Gandhi Tulip Garden — the largest in Asia — is in full bloom with the Zabarwan range behind it. Two nights here is the minimum; three if you want to see the old city, the Jamia Masjid and Shankaracharya Temple without rushing.