Transportation (Kashmir)
Once you land in Srinagar, you might want to make arrangements for sightseeing. Transportation in Kashmir may be tricky! Since, tourism dominates the livelihood, there is a stronghold of taxi union operators in Kashmir. Meanwhile, taxi is the best option to explore Kashmir. Sometimes, the arrangement of transportation in Kashmir feels like a scam. We have covered all the scams in detail in our suggestions post here.
You may take different approaches for travelling from one city to another or for sightseeing.
First Approach
Book a taxi (on private basis) for your entire duration of stay. You pay a fixed amount for the entire duration whether you use the taxi or not.
Pros: Your taxi will be available for you anytime during the day whenever you feel like stepping out whether for sightseeing, visiting restaurants, shopping, or any other activity. This mode is the cheapest. Since, you would be booking in advance per day taxi fare might be cheapest. You may also negotiate the prices.
Cons: If you wish to take a day off and just spend leisure time in your hotel or just go shopping for the day or there is a sudden change in weather making it impossible to drive, you will have to pay for the taxi charges nevertheless, which might hurt pocket a bit.
Second Approach
Book a taxi as and when required either for sightseeing or outstation travel from the taxi stands of the respective location or from your hotel.
Pros: You only pay for the taxi when you use it. You can keep your plans flexible. No sudden changes will hurt your budget.
Cons: Prices for such taxi bookings might be more than pre booked ones. There may be a shortage of taxis. Emergency bookings like this would force you to pay much more than necessary.
Caution:
- For sightseeing, local operators do not allow outstation taxis.
- Public/Government buses do run but it is not advisable as it kills a lot of time.
- You can hire a taxi to travel from one town to the other, but, you would need to hire a local taxi of that place for sightseeing.
- Private vehicles are allowed but the owner must be present in the vehicle.
- Monopoly of taxi unions is a pain to tourists but you don’t have a choice.