thanks Yogi for your quick reply.....btw would you suggest the shrine board accomodation as in the tourist bungalow or any other place?

Shrine Board accommodations are quite good...

Although at Katra and Jammu you have better hotels (Pricier too) to choose...at the hill top there is no alternative...Shrine Board facilities are the only option.

Where do you want to book the JKTDC Bunglow ? At Jammu ?

am planning to book the same at katra...but not sure how will it be...also planning a trip to srinagar/pahalgam/gulmarg post the darshan..with my wife and parents....see that the JKTDC hotels at gulmarg & pahalgam look quite good..but again I am not too sure of these...can you pls. throw some light? am unable to plan my trip post katra trip !

thanks once again for your replies....

also, am not particular of the JKTDC hotels....just that I find these cheaper and good (in terms of cottage types)...atleast on the net they seem so !

The good thing about JKTDC is that their hotels can be booked online.....

For Kashmir Valley, I'll say go for JKTDC properties. At Katra you have many hotels and in December you'll off season rates at most of the hotels if you are not going in the last week of December, which is high season there.

In short, at Katra, JKTDC will be expensive. Go for Niharika Complex of Shrine Board.

What difficulty are you facing in planning your Kashmir Valley trip ?

Few suggestions:

1. Is possible stay at A houseboat at Nagin Lake

2. May see Awantipura and Martand ruins....

3. May visit Dood Pathri from Srinagar, very nice meadow by the river Shalin Ganga

4. At Pahalgam, a must visit place is Betab Valley (named so after an old film Betaab was shot here)

5. At Gulmarg, if you want a horse ride, bargain well and decide a price beforehand. Reconfirm per head charges before mounting the horse.

Enjoy the trip......

once again thanks for taking out time to reply to my queries....difficulty in planning as in the agent guys are asking me for 20,000/- for one person which is 80,000/- !!! for 4 of us..which according to me is quite high that too inthe off season..this includes all meals....if I book the hotels myself am not sure of the conveyance across the places....

No comments can be offrred on the package, that depends on a lot of things...like

Is it for kashmir only or for Vaishno Devi too ?

What is included in the package ? what hotels are being offered ?

What's the mode of transport ?

If you can book hotels by yourself, then conveyance is no problem. You can hire a Sumo/Qualis for end to end tour at Katra/Jammu itself. or may go to Srinager by air/Taxi/Share Sumo/Bus and then hire a vehicle for valley tours...

package includes 2N KATRA, 2N GULMARG, 2N PAHALGAM & 3N SRINAGAR and some local sight seeing here and there. Basically, roughly all hotels individually when I spoke to them cost around Rs. 3,000 incl. bkfast (or + dinner at some places). For 4 of us, each place gulmarg and pahalgam would cost rs 12,000 (for 2N at each of the places). For srinagar, hotels are costing about Rs 2500 per night...so another 15000-18000 for 4 of us for 3N at srinagar..effectively hotel cost for 4 of us are coming to Rs. 42000/-. But then getting a conveyance to take us to all of these places with the end point at srinagar is what I am thinking of.....otherwise, all tour agencies are asking for 70,000-80,000/- for 4 of us.

hotels given by the travel agencies are

Gulmarg - grand mumtaz, pine palace, highland park, heevan retreat, etc

Pahalgam- pine&peak, etc

srinagar - deluxe houseboat at dal lake and other similar hotels..

Lastly, another option is I pick up a tour after I reach katra by contacting the local agents there...

what do you suggest? (I know am asking for too much advice !!)

conveyance offered is a travera by the tour agents.....dont wish to take a bus from any of the places as I have my parents along with me and have heard its going to be really cold !!!!!