Stay in the Most Lavish House Boats in Dal Lake in Shrinagar in India

The most scenic paradise of India is Kashmir. The tourists had almost stopped visiting this lovely place since last 15 years due to terrorist's problems. However, The State of Kashmir is now open once gain to all the tourists as it has become quiet safe to travel within Kashmir. The Indian tour operators have also started their tours to Kashmir and many people have started availing them. I happen to visit Kashmir during last winter of 2007. This was my third visit to Kashmir. I had specifically planned this last visit with my wife to get the unique experience of staying in the house boats in the famous Dal Lake at Shrinagar.

We reached Shrinagar by the direct flight from Delhi that takes around 2 hours. The airport of Shrinagar was full of military people providing security to all the visitors. We had booked our house boat in advance from Delhi. Hence, the owner of that luxurious house boat had come to receive us at the airport in taxi. We immediately drove to the Dal lake shore directly from the airport. The Dal Lake was full of water and the house boats. We had to take a Shikara service, which is owned and arranged by the house boat owner, to reach to our most lavish and luxurious house boat Noor-Jehan. We had booked deluxe family suite that can accommodate 4 persons easily. The outlook and the set up of this A grade house boat was in no way less than any five star hotels. There were nice thick colorful rugs and carpets on all the floors. The boat house deck was also decorated nicely with the luxurious sitting arrangement for around 12 people.

As soon as we enter our family suite, we were amazed to see the most lavish decorations and the furnishings. There was a large sitting area in the front with a fire place. There were decent leather sofa sets that can accommodate 4 persons in this area. There was a nice bathroom with the large bath tub facility. The running hot water was freely available in the bathroom. All sorts of toiletries items like soaps, shampoos, perfumes, cold creams etc were kept in the bathroom. There was 27 inch size colored TV set in the drawing room having cable connection to view around 180 Indian channels. The lockable cupboard to store your precious belongings was also provided. As we had reached at around 1 pm, the most luxurious hot lunch was ready for us. The house boats are generally booked on all inclusive basis. That includes morning breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks, and the lavish dinner at night. You can take meals either in your suite or at the house boat restaurant, which in our case was located at the top floor of the boat, presenting a nice view of the entire city of Shrinagar and the Dal Lake. All the meals are unlimited and the menu suggested by you also can be served mostly. However, we preferred to have all meals as per the menu designed by the house boat management and we fully enjoyed it.

The visits to various sites seeing places of Kashmir can be covered by staying at house boat quiet easily. The tourists generally leave after heavy breakfast and come back at around 1 pm to avail lunch. Some rest can be taken in the afternoon and the evening outing can be started after the tea and light snacks. The tourists can return at around 8 pm in the evening and the hot, lavish dinner would be ready for all. The quality of all meals and the services is really excellent. The entire experience gives you the feeling as if you are a royal king and are enjoying all the facilities of a palace. We stayed for 3 nights and 4 days at this house boat. The rates of such stay at house boat can appear slightly expensive but are reasonable based on the facilities offered by them. We paid Rs.9800 ($250 app.) total for our stay for both of us for 3 nights and 4 days.

There are some negative aspects also of staying in a house boat. You will feel colder than in a cozy hotel room, being in the Lake all the time. As the electricity to this house boats is supplied through the generators, few instances of electricity failures were found during our stay. However, in all, this experience is really worth enjoying at least once during your visit to Kashmir. Though, the environment is quiet safe at present, some specific additional security hazard cannot be ruled out for US citizens.