Gulmarg ! A snow wonderland

It was almost end of March in the valley. After a joyful stay in Dal lake we directed our destination towards Gulmarg which is roughly 60km from our stay at Dal lake. We were pretty excited about Gulmarg for two reasons : 1. Its Pristine snow filled mountains ,2. Gandola ride. I came to know from my local driver that snow had just fallen two days ago. This made me more crazy than ever before. The quest for exploring the mountains had rejuvenated a new energy into my body.

Note : Kindly take your snow boots & jackets from Tangmarg. Don't pay more than INR 100 per pc. They charged this for 24 hours. If you are interested for snow sporting then rent this stuffs otherwise there is no need of this.

It took us 3 hours to reach Gulmarg. Our driver dropped us at our hotel. After a quick refresh we decided to take our Gandola ride. By the time we reached at the spot we were completely bamboozled by seeing the plethora of crowd. We were completely perplexed that whether we could able to take the ride on that day. But thanks to Make my trip for providing a guide. That person had already purchased our tickets. Otherwise it was going to be very arduous for us to pierce into this sea of crowd and getting that elusive tickets.

Basically Gandola ride consists of two phase. Phase 1 is the place where you can enjoy all snow sports. It was a place full of tourists. One would get a sense of as if any Mela is going on.Though we were more excited about phase-2 & also least interested about snow sports, we decided to skip phase 1. The boarding point of phase 2 is at another side. You have to walk for a while. One more thing the tickets for phase 2 can only be booked at the phase 1 counter only. This is due to sudden change in weather conditions.

Comparing to phase 1, the ride to phase 2 had its own charm. Traffic was quite less. As you go higher the vicinity of greenery vanishes. It was absolute peace & scarier too.

It took us 10 min to reach phase 2. We were completely en thrilled by seeing the immaculate view. It was absolutely gorgeous & pristine. The wind was so chilled & unbearable. Unfortunately we didn't find any tea stall at phase 2[All restaurants & tea stalls are available in phase-1]After clicking a few photos we decided to return.Because phase 2 is always vulnerable to weather. If sense any change in weather kindly return ASAP. It was almost 3:30 and we were hungry. My preference would always be phase 2. If you want to spend some quite moments then go for phase 2.

After having our lunch at our hotel which was 10min from the spot, we decided to explore the area. Don't rent any cab at Gulmarg. Their price is quite exorbitant.

It was a snowy wonderland, straight from the brush of an artist. The serenity of this place was untenable. Walking through the roads by seeing the magnum beauty was something I would like to cement in my heart. We went to local markets nearby and tried some local dishes. It was good. Slowly the Sun was about to set into the snowy wonderland. It was also getting dark. Our hotel was about 2km from the market. Considering the price of the local cabs, we preferred to walk. Though we had booked the trip from MMT and we had a dedicated driver but our driver dropped us at Gulmarg and left the place. As per him tourist cab drivers are not allowed to stay in Gulmarg. So if you are planning to visit Gulmarg, kindly confirm this thing.

If you are planning to visit Gulmarg, kindly book your hotels in well advance. I hadn't expected that I would encounter such a huge tourists in Gulmarg. It was jam packed and all the good hotels were sold out. Thanks to MMT for providing us a luxurious stay in Grand Mumtaz hotel. It was a pretty awesome property with variety of food options. Though our stay at Gulmarg was for only one day but the experience was awesome.