Lolab Valley, the offbeat Kashmir

When you think of Kashmir, generally it is Dal Lake, Gulmarg and Sonmarg or Pahalgam that comes to the mind and that's where most of the tourists go.. and that's where we avoid going :) The idea of going on a holiday for us is to get away from the crowd, away from the zillion people and away from the cities or the over rated tourist towns that are some times just a rip off and no where provides you a relaxing and memorable holiday. Hence we look out for places where we don't see too much crowd and is away from the normal cities or tourist places. Hence we decided to do Kashmir this time and yes not the usual places, but the off-beat Kashmir. Yes it is generally considered that this is NOT safe and not much developed to find any amenities etc., but hey what's life and fun without a bit of risk..

So we decided to do this trip with some of the off-beat places like Kupwara, Chandigam, Lolab Valley, Tangdhar via Sadhna Pass and see the beauty of untouched Kashmir. In this post I'll be covering our journey from Baramulla - Kupwara - Chandigam. If you wish to read the previous posts click here.

Day 9 - Baramulla - Kupwara

Anyway so we woke up and ordered breakfast 🍳 at least to pass some time and decided not to venture out at least not early morning and observe the situation for some time.

The hotel guy helped us updated on the situation and what’s happening to make us comfortable. He was a nice guy and we really had good conversations over breakfast at the rooftop of the hotel from where we had good views as well. It was better than staying in that tiny cage room.

The conversations with him ranged from the impact of militancy in Kashmir for Tourism and how the clashes between Army and locals is killing the whole industry or the people itself to the various places of Kashmir valley and how beautiful is the valley and what the government should do to make it safer for everyone to live in Kashmir. I truly enjoyed the conversations...and that also helped me to understand what the locals think and feel of Army presence in Srinagar, the issues and what’s the reality instead of believing in media say which is absolutely bull-shit in my opinion now.

The breakfast - Aloo Paronthas with Pickle.. believe me they tasted yummm..

Anyway so after about couple of hours, we understood that the situation is getting better and it will not be too risky to continue our journey further. The “bandh” was still in place but looked like the locals were taking it easy and there wasn’t much violence on the roads. This made us comfortable and we decided to proceed further to Kupwara.

So we loaded our bags, settled the bill and zoomed out of Baramulla towards Kupwara. The roads were looking pretty empty without much traffic in this area and didn’t had much of crowd anywhere so we assumed that it will be safe. We were instructed by the hotel guy to avoid any places where we see any large gathering of people or see any disturbance on the road. We didn’t see any such disturbance so we’re pretty happy. On the way we stopped for topping up diesel and tats where I was shocked 😨 to realise that I left my ID with ten hotel guy and now I had to drive all the way back to get it as I would certainly not leave my ID card (that too original) with anyone. So I had no choice but to go back and get the ID. We called the person and told him that we are on our way to collect the ID and he was very apologetic that he forgot to give it back. He also mentioned that he forgot to charge us for breakfast and we told him that we can settle that when we meet him for ID’s. So we drove back, collected the ID’s, paid him for the breakfast and proceeded to Kupwara.

The streets of the Bandipora town

Fresh Veggies

See the horse cart guys with milk cans

The drive to Kupwara was good with some villages on the way and a lots and lots of Walnut farms. Then we proceeded to the hotel called Raj Palace that was in the starting of the town limit after the SDM office. The hotel was good and the people there were very nice and soft spoken. I checked with them for the process to get permits etc. and they told me to go to the SDM office and explained me the process as well and told me that if I submit application today, I might get it today evening or by next day.

These roads were surrounded by Walnut trees all the way. We could see the trees but not the walnuts :(

A typical sight on Kashmiri roads

Entrance of the Kupwara town

Kashmiri bakeries

Landscape started changing and got a lot charming once we left the town

awesome views all over

Main bridge over the river

The sight of the main market where we were supposed to stay for today. We were recommended to stay here at a Hotel called Raja Palace as that the only decent hotel here in the Kupwara market.

So we stopped here and found the hotel. I went there to check out the hotel inside and the rooms. The hotel guy showed me the rooms which were just OK" for our liking but as I wasn't aware of any other option and not takin it could have been risky, I accepted to take the rooms. But then when I went to the cash counter, the manager who was sitting there told me that since we are there for visiting, we should go and get the permits from the DM office and then come back and do the check-in. He also suggested that I must visit Chandigam as its a beautiful place and then we can return here to stay and I can pay them later when we come back.

I was relieved with the information I got and the manager was such a polite guy and helped me with zillion questions about the place, safety, what to do and what NOT and that food will be limited as its Ramadan time so suggested that we eat here only when hungry as no other hotels/restaurants are open or serving lunch.

Sow we decided to go and get the permits as per his advice. The drive to DM office was just 10 mins. We reached there, parked our beast and I went to get the permits along with the photocopy of the documents that are required for the permits.

So We straightaway went to the SDM office to get the permits for Tangdhar and Lolab Valley. The SDM office was on the way into the town and was pretty crowded. We parked our car outside the office campus and then I went inside along with all the papers and original papers for the permit. The process for the permit was simple. I was asked to meet the ADM, take the application form, fill it, attach all the photocopies of the documents and then submit for the permit. They usually give the permit in 2-4 hours or even next day after submission so I thought I’ll submit the application and then come back after lunch to get the permits if they’re ready. So I filled the form and when I went to the ADM, he asked few questions and wasn’t very supportive of giving the permit.

I sensed some hesitance and asked him if I could meet the SDM? He initially hesitated but then asked me to check with SDM’s PA if he can allow. I checked with the PA and he immediately agreed to have me meet the SDM. I went inside and requested him for the permits. He was a very nice guy and welcomed me to Kashmir, asked me few questions and then asked me to fill the application and submit that he said will approve immediately. He called the ADM and told him to help me with all the paper work and issue the permits. I was so happy as I didn’t had to come again and waste another couple of hours or a day just for permits. It took us 15mins to complete the paperwork and then the SDM signed it and we were good to go further. I thanked all and went back to the car park.

After getting the permit, we moved back to town side and on the way we saw this JKTDC Tourist Information Center and Rest House and decided to check that out just to get some information on the area, what to do, where to stay etc.. and glad we did that. When we entered the place, we met one of the office admin who introduced us to the CEO of the Kupwara district who was inside his cabin. Listening to our conversation he actually came out and welcomed us to be there as tourists. He was in a bit of a hurry as it was Prayer time so he requested us to come back after an hour so that he can help us with all the information we were seeking. We agreed and decided to go for the lunch in the mean time.

So we went to Raj Palace again for Lunch as looked like that was the only restaurant that was open at that time because of Ramadan. As we sat inside the restaurant, the guy told us that it might take some time as he’s the only one serving and there’s a lots of rush. So we waited for some time till he came and took our order. We didn’t knew much what to order so he said he can get some dishes and we can eat whatever we want and pay for what we would eat! Seriously, I think this is the first ever restaurant I’ve seen anywhere in the world who would do this. So we order 4 different dishes from the Wazwan menu and had whatever we could from that and liked.. the food was just simply awesome and too yumm. We were too hungry so filled our tummies to the fullest 😂

The dishes we had, Rogan Josh, Rishta, Chicken Yakhni and Chicken Curry.. one of the best meals we had ever!

So after a sumptuous meal, we went back to the tourism office to get the information from the tourism folks. The CEO, Mr., Rathr welcomed us and seriously made us real comfortable over there. He was so appreciative of us coming there and assured us that we will be fully safe in Kashmir and will have a pleasant time. He shared all the information for the places to visit and things to do and more importantly what not not to do as some of the areas could be risky or sensitive. He also suggested us to stay at their guest house at Chandigam instead of Raj Palace as that was more scenic and better than the latter. We agreed to stay there as anyway we were going to Lolab valley and the rest house was over there itself. So after we collected all the information, we thanked him and the staff over there and proceeded to Lolab valley.

Photo with the CEO of Kupwara Town at his office. He was a gem of a person and helped us during the trip a lot! Really was fortunately to have met him.

Thank you sir!

Drive towards Chandigam..

Entrance to Lolab Valley

Drive towards Chandigam.. Lovely views

Amazing view on the drive towards Chandigam..

Government schools on the way..

Check posts all the way

Some unique construction of the houses in the valley

Local shops .. Coca Cola :)

Kashmiri breads. We bought these breads from the Kupwara town so that if we don't get anything else, we will at least have this to survive. And we realised that after paying, we forgot to pickup the packet form the shop and left it there itself :(

Drive to Lolab Valley usually takes about an hour only from Kupwara but as we stopped so many places for photography, it took us almost 2 hours. On the way to Lolab Valley, there are couple of lakes which were so heavenly that we couldn’t stopping there to take pics and capture those memories. The weather was so good, it was drizzling like snow and the climate was around 12-14 degrees I guess, a perfect weather for some hot tea and pakodas 😜

Lovely river flowing in the valley.. the weather was awesome

Amazingly beautiful scenes and sorry yes the photos don't do any justice to the beauty of this place

So we went to the guest house where Hamid who was the caretaker was waiting for us. He told us when we arrived to go for sightseeing directly instead of going into the rest house as it was raining and he was expecting that to become heavy later on. So we agreed and went for sightseeing..he sent one of the helpers in the rest house with us for showing us the places. Chandigam town was a very small but beautiful town with awesome landscapes and lovey views everywhere. We drove through the valley and enjoyed every inch of it. There are not places to visit there but just the drive itself of the town is mesmerising. The guy showed us around the village and then we returned back to rest house and called it a day.

Villagers in the fields

Lovely valley

After some time we started seeing some people on the streets and looked like that we reached the village and maybe close to Chandigam where we were supposed to meet our care taker.

Now this was very inviting and exciting to see people playing volley ball .. well where do you get to see such views where you play outdoor sports in such a beautiful valley now a days..

One of the beautiful huts in the valley

Well.. this was sad to see ..

Entrance gate to Chandigam/Lolab Valley

Beautiful Lolab Valley ..

Sheep grazing .. loved the sights

Beautiful scenery all around

So we reached the Chandigam guest house and our care taker met us out there. His name was Mudassir and he suggested that we go for sight seeing right now before we go inside or settle down at the guest house. The reason was that usually the weather goes bad later in the late afternoon and its better to see whatever we wanted to do till the weather is clear and good. Anyway it was drizzling a bit so we thought its better to take his advise and go for a drive.

He sent one of his colleague with us and he showed us around the valley.

This was one of the spots we came for sight seeing and it was heavenly. While we were here it started drizzling and suddenly started raining heavily. We were surrounded by local village kids who were curious to see us here as not many people come here as a tourist. Anyway so just visited the place and carried on further to the village drive.

Beautiful scenery all around

Look at those clouds and the greenery... hmmm don't know why we are back home :)

Beautiful scenery all around

Unique tree

Baarish...

Local villagers with their ships..

One of the many Mosques we saw during this amazing trip

Kids coming back from their school.. its so good to see schools everywhere in Kashmir. Incredible India!

So we came back to the guest house which was quite a big and good one.

The rest house at Chandigam is a very good property and decently maintained. It has around 6-8 rooms with double and single beds. The views from the room were good and were relaxing. They do not have a restaurant but they cook anything what you want depending upon your taste. So we ordered some tea and pakodas (that we bought on the way) and they served it over there. The tea was too good and in that weather, it was a lovely combo. So we enjoyed the views with hot tea and great pakodas while playing cards for the rest of the evening.

We stayed here for one night and it was pretty comfortable going by the standard of the accommodation we were getting in this trip :)

If anyone is planning to be here, feel free to reach out to me for care taker number. He's very good guy and will help you with local sight seeing and tourism related information. Very nice person and made good dinner as well for us.

The care taker made some good tea for us and we had bought some Pakodas from the drive we went for earlier. So we savoured that and enjoyed every sip and bite of that.

By around 8pm, the dinner was ready and they made chicken curry, egg Bhurjee with Dal and that was very yumm as well. So we had dinner and crashed for the day..

Our Raaakshas taking a nap :)

So next morning we had breakfast and moved forward for our next destination, Tangdhar after thanking this great guy who helped us in every way and gave us a lot of information for next leg of the trip.

Our family pic :)

Beautiful green serenity ,, isn't it?

Curious villagers looking at us.. maybe thinking to the hell are these guys and from where?

Beauty all around ..

Canal flowing around the fields.. was ice cold water though

Beauty all around ..

Awesome weather.. with drizzle and cold breeze.. was a lovely moment to cherish and live for!

One of the local uncle was curious on what are we doing as we were taking pictures. We took some shots of himself and he was happy as well.. came to talk to me and we chatted for some time before moving forward. Loved the conversation with him :)

Beauty all around ..

This was probably our parting shot here at Lolab valley. We knew we will miss this place always and hoped that we will come here another time. We missed doing the Kalroos caves this time because of the weather and the risk of gong there in this slippery conditions. Our care taker recommended that we avoid there and straightaway head to Tangdhar as its a long drive and better reach there early than late in the day.

So we took his advice and went straight to Tangdhar via Sadhna Pass.

That was a lovely drive and stay tuned for the next blog post on our drive from Lolab valley to Tangdhar.