Bro u are right thank you for the video very very helpful ,regretting today after paying 6k for horse ride in pehalgam and 8k in Gulmarg yesterday just for sledging and my diver told me gondola ride is not good and I missed it . Please guys just not plan itinerary have a mind to firm and strict about it . Let the stupid driver be nice to u or call you bhai or sister or tell you are like his uncle or dad just be firm about your itinerary . Even if u plan a package in make my trip or with any company . This people will trick you and u cannot fight with them because you might know the reason any problem just directly go to the police and pay only with govt authorised bill for any activities or entry charge . This money will not go to our govt or to any charity or anything .So please please research before u come . This is the best place to learn travelling because u can have worse people here . You can manage any people if travel Kashmir 😅
True. I felt the same during my first 8-9 days in kashmir. They told gondola ride is not good because it is a fixed govt rate over there. Unfortunate scenes. Later I ended up staying for over 3 weeks and I met good and nice people in Pahalgam and things went very smooth. It is over here that i got to know about the official horse trek charges by the govt. But yeah a great learning. 😊 glad you found the video helpful. Hopefully it can help some people.
I couldn't resist myself from commenting. I am an Indian born Swiss based professional documentary filmmaker.i am in Kashmir right now (leaving ASAP). I came here to film something unique about Kashmir.. but guess what... In my entire life, i have not seen such a pathetic and suffocating place ever and yes, i have travelled a lot in my life.. Place is undoubtedly scenic, but there are many many scenic places around the globe and in India too. What makes the place beautiful are it's people. And they are some of the absolute worst i have seen in my life. Scammers, Aggressive, Blatant liers. And ya, anti national and constantly abusing our armed forces, PM of India... Even when I have told them that I am a traveller & not interested in this topic. I am here since a week and I have totally lost any strength & motivation to spend even a single more day here. Sick headed & Brainwashed people !! Not only those scammers, almost all!!
I agree. What makes a place unique with good vibes is the people especially those who deal directly with travellers/tourists apart from the natural beauty. I felt much better during my second visit as I was already mentally prepared and knew exactly whom to ignore and whom to listen to.
Explained everything really well. Really good that w you shared it in detail. I have heard similar things from a friend of mine. Planning a trip soon 🙂
An amazing place, but with the worst people I have ever met (referring to the taxi operator, the sales people, the hotel staff). Spent about over a week with my family there and was literally ripped off at every juncture, to a total of around Rs. 70k. In addition to this, these tour operators, taxi drivers are anti-national and don't stop abusing our armed forces and government while calling the encounterd terrorists as Martyrs despite us politely asking them to keep their opinions to themselves and not bug us with it. I highly recommend people to directly visit Leh from Manali and drop Srinagar to Leh stretch. Only on losing the tourism revenue will they resort to the right ways of treating tourists.
Yes there is a Zameen Aasmaan difference I found between Leh and Kashmir. To be true, it was a overall pathatic experience in Kashmir. People have no dignity, respect for anything. At all the moment, they will ask for Bakshish. And for every small thing, first they would try to give you a free advice and than will try to rip you up with sudden charges. for our 4 days trip, we tried every bit to get a good tea with ginger. We didn't find it. I wonder how come they are famous in Food. I totally got disappointed with their hotel food and services. They may be making good non veg food, but really don't know how to cook veg, north indian food. BTW we stayed at good properties with the budget of 7.5k night, switched to other hotel for better food and services at 8.5k, again disappointed and switched to 11k room. Waste of money.
Kashmiris suffer from high cab prices as well, next time try travelling from stands where locals are taking cabs as well, you will realise taxi opertors charge a hefty amount from the locals as well.
yes, correct i got to know that. i was there for the second time. Didn't make a video. travelled from Jammu to pahalgam and Srinagar to pahalgam too later. in share taxi just like locals. Thanks for adding some light to this topic.
Regarding driver I totally agree with you. We too had very bad experience with the driver. But the drivers are very cunning. I have experienced in uttrakhand also.. I too plan to make videos on how tourists can be guided from being cheated.
I totally agree.. Cab vala, pony wala, hotel, home stay, shikara wala, shops, shawl wala everyone try to cheat and make you feel horrible if you bargain and ruin your experience despite spending thousands/ lac on the trip. There is no value for value and they expect tip for everything Everyone who makes videos on kashmir trip should call this out as a responsibility and not talk about the sceneic beauty alone. Unless it is called out time and again this will not change
I plan on visiting Kashmir on my Enfield this coming weekend. The colour scheme of my bike resembles that of Indian Airforce. Would this be any problem?
You will not face any such issues in the major tourist spots anywhere in Kashmir. It is completely safe. There will be 1000s of other tourists. But, if you plan to visit some offbeat places, I suggest checking with some local shopkeepers, homestay owners, etc. Visiting Kashmir on your own bike or car is much better according to me compared to following a guide and driver with less freedom of exploring. So that's a good choice. Hope you have a good trip. :)
Did you not see the board where rates are clearly mentioned for Baisaran Valley and thajiwas Glacier. You do not need a pony. Trekking is not at all difficult at these places.
did not see it when I went there for the first time. The second 15 days I did notice that and that's when I took a picture of that board. I agree with the hiking part. True
Hi The scenic beauty in your video is awesome. Can you please share the name of the place or the exact location of the place in your video (0:15 to 0:35).please and any hotels in this area
Hey Pratik thanks for all the information. We are planning our Kashmir trip next month. This will definitely help us. Keep sharing more Kashmir videos 👍🏻
We cancelled our trip...after seeing too many videos...and decided we will skip it... Can you tell which is best place to see Himalayas too near..as it was. Dream destination to my mom to see the ice and snow fall on the mountain ...to complete that particular thing we decided to go kashmir...but after hearing lot of scams..we decided to stop because we are a budget travelers..and while coming back we need good memories not the bad one... Please suggest us such a place where we can find himalayas too near with all those snows...we are ready to travel this november
Hi! Yes I understand. However you being scammed or not depends on your approach. Some people and places in kashmir were extremely genuine and as it should be. For seeing snow, it is not necessary that you need to go to Kashmir only. There are a lot of places across the Himalayas from Kashmir to Arunachal. Very common tourist spots where a lot of people go would be somewhere in Himachal, Uttarakhand, or Sikkim too. Not recommending Ladakh as it will be a lot colder. So I will recommend you to check these. A few quick recommendations which come to my mind are below: In Himachal, places like Solang valley, Sethan which are close to manali will have a lot of snow. Near shimla, a place called called kufri is also quite famous. In Uttarakhand, you may visit Auli. In Sikkim, you may visit, north sikkim. Lachung, lachen, yumthang valley etc. But, I am not sure about November, you need to check that( only some High Altitude places may be). I have experienced during December and beyond only.
Hi That is fine, There is nothing wrong in prebooking as long as you have all the payment details, name/contact of the agency/person etc. Even I had prebooked with a certain amount during my first time. I have been there twice and I can advice you to be very clear about your itinerary and do not say yes to any guide blindly as they may talk to tourists extremely politely (at times) just for the business. There will be a lot of people chasing you for different things but you should just stick to your plan A or plan B (in case). In short, Tourists are treated like walking ATM machines (by guides, drivers, agents). But, if you have good bargaining skills you will definitely be on an advantageous side for sure.
You should not be harsh on yourself, the prices over inflated for everything in Kashmir. Some one I know paid Rs. 15,000 for a shikara! Their guide took them there. They had a really bad experience.
If we take our own self driven car from Delhi to all these places, shall we be able to go wherever we want to...or there are some places for which we must need a locally hired cab? Examples: Pahalgam, Aru Valley, Betaab Valley, Gulmarg, Sonmarg. Are these hilly roads safe for self drive? Please advise. thanks in advance.
Yes Private vehicles can go anywhere, no problem at all. It is completely safe to drive because kashmir is more like a valley. There are not many hair pin bends ( except while going to gulmarg ). You may not be able to take your vehicle in some places around Gulmarg as it is restricted because it is close to the border. No issues in sonamarg, pahalgam area.
I have stayed in multiple properties during my both visits to kashmir. There is no issue with safety. You just need to be careful of not getting scammed beyond the limit. Properties in which i stayed young bombay gouseboats Grand mamta hotel paradise guest house angels inn pahalgam retreat hotel etc the hotel guys can get a taxi for you too.
There was no scam I faced with Hotels the first time. The second time I had a fully paid trip from Make my trip and once I reached the hotel (srinagar) they did not allow me to check in because they said they have some issues with mmt and want me to cancel it and do an offline check in. Basically, they wanted the full money without MMT commission being cut. However, not all places will do this. It was probably my bad luck to be dealing with those kinds of hotel owners/guys. All the other hotels were fine.
Thank you for your video. I have a question...You did not mention in Phelgam which 4 points did you go for 3 hours on horse. When government price board says 350+ hourly, how can they charge Rs 4000. This is ridiculous. There should be officer availble to complain for such cheaters.
Yeah. unfortunate. The reason I got to know that is because i decided to extend my kashmir stay in pahalgam for 2 weeks after the initial hassle of 9 days. There are places like Dubliyan (or dubiyan), kanimarg, a waterfall, baisiran. usually takes 3 hours.
It is already uploaded as a shorts video. You may check it. Moreover, its a very basic room with a basic bathroom. I would call it a budget stay. Name - Paradise guest house Pahalgam. you can check it on google too.
100 percent true, they literally rip u and almost all make u feel guilty if u bargain. For example they can charge fromm 9000 to 1600 for the same horse ride depending upon where u get trapped
Glad it helped. 🙂 Unfortunately, I do not have any good cab driver details. Just dealt with one person and this was the result. The second time, I chose to travel using public transport instead.
Great place. Nice people. Amazing experience. Great way to tell people to keep away from Kashmir !! They ripped you at every possible opportunity like no other place in India and you talked about great hospitality 🤣.
Yeah I understand. I mean this Experience was only with the tourist guides / car drivers etc. Other than that, I was in kashmir for 25+ days and the local people are extremely nice 🙂 Thanks for watching!
An amazing place, but with the worst people I have ever met (referring to the taxi operator, the sales people, the hotel staff). Spent about over a week with my family there and was literally ripped off at every juncture, to a total of around Rs. 70k. In addition to this, these tour operators, taxi drivers are anti-national and don't stop abusing our armed forces and government while calling the encounters terrorists as Martyrs despite us politely asking them to keep their opinions to themselves and not bug us with it. I highly recommend people to directly visit Leh from Manali and drop Srinagar to Leh stretch. Only on losing the tourism revenue will they resort to the right ways of treating tourists.
@@sarathchandra1891 very much true. I came back yesterday only with 3 nigh trip and almost spent 80k. no curtousy, no hospitality, no good food at all. There are 1000s of better places in India.
sorry bro. do not have that contact number anymore. had deleted it from my phone. I only have the contact number of the hotel/guest house owner in Pahalgam.
I completely agree with you. I recently visited Kashmir and had similar experiences..I am never travelling to Kashmir again. Was really disappointed
True!
Scams are everywhere in Kashmir ... You feel cheated after the trip ... They will say we are your brother but in reality 😂😂😂😂
I agree 100 percent. My second visit recently has been much better as I was already aware of such things. 😀
Truth 💯
Bro u are right thank you for the video very very helpful ,regretting today after paying 6k for horse ride in pehalgam and 8k in Gulmarg yesterday just for sledging and my diver told me gondola ride is not good and I missed it . Please guys just not plan itinerary have a mind to firm and strict about it . Let the stupid driver be nice to u or call you bhai or sister or tell you are like his uncle or dad just be firm about your itinerary . Even if u plan a package in make my trip or with any company . This people will trick you and u cannot fight with them because you might know the reason any problem just directly go to the police and pay only with govt authorised bill for any activities or entry charge . This money will not go to our govt or to any charity or anything .So please please research before u come . This is the best place to learn travelling because u can have worse people here . You can manage any people if travel Kashmir 😅
True. I felt the same during my first 8-9 days in kashmir. They told gondola ride is not good because it is a fixed govt rate over there. Unfortunate scenes.
Later I ended up staying for over 3 weeks and I met good and nice people in Pahalgam and things went very smooth. It is over here that i got to know about the official horse trek charges by the govt.
But yeah a great learning. 😊
glad you found the video helpful. Hopefully it can help some people.
Wow..such a nice video
I couldn't resist myself from commenting.
I am an Indian born Swiss based professional documentary filmmaker.i am in Kashmir right now (leaving ASAP). I came here to film something unique about Kashmir.. but guess what... In my entire life, i have not seen such a pathetic and suffocating place ever and yes, i have travelled a lot in my life..
Place is undoubtedly scenic, but there are many many scenic places around the globe and in India too. What makes the place beautiful are it's people. And they are some of the absolute worst i have seen in my life. Scammers, Aggressive, Blatant liers.
And ya, anti national and constantly abusing our armed forces, PM of India... Even when I have told them that I am a traveller & not interested in this topic. I am here since a week and I have totally lost any strength & motivation to spend even a single more day here.
Sick headed & Brainwashed people !! Not only those scammers, almost all!!
I agree. What makes a place unique with good vibes is the people especially those who deal directly with travellers/tourists apart from the natural beauty. I felt much better during my second visit as I was already mentally prepared and knew exactly whom to ignore and whom to listen to.
Explained everything really well. Really good that w you shared it in detail. I have heard similar things from a friend of mine. Planning a trip soon 🙂
Glad it was helpful! Thanks :)
Very informative...
Underrated youtuber..........
I will take it as a compliment. Thanks 🙂
Thank U for sharing your experience, it will be very helpful!
Glad, I hope so! ✌
Welcome!
An amazing place, but with the worst people I have ever met (referring to the taxi operator, the sales people, the hotel staff). Spent about over a week with my family there and was literally ripped off at every juncture, to a total of around Rs. 70k.
In addition to this, these tour operators, taxi drivers are anti-national and don't stop abusing our armed forces and government while calling the encounterd terrorists as Martyrs despite us politely asking them to keep their opinions to themselves and not bug us with it.
I highly recommend people to directly visit Leh from Manali and drop Srinagar to Leh stretch. Only on losing the tourism revenue will they resort to the right ways of treating tourists.
True. I forgot to mention about the sales people. 👍
Yes there is a Zameen Aasmaan difference I found between Leh and Kashmir. To be true, it was a overall pathatic experience in Kashmir. People have no dignity, respect for anything. At all the moment, they will ask for Bakshish. And for every small thing, first they would try to give you a free advice and than will try to rip you up with sudden charges. for our 4 days trip, we tried every bit to get a good tea with ginger. We didn't find it. I wonder how come they are famous in Food. I totally got disappointed with their hotel food and services. They may be making good non veg food, but really don't know how to cook veg, north indian food. BTW we stayed at good properties with the budget of 7.5k night, switched to other hotel for better food and services at 8.5k, again disappointed and switched to 11k room. Waste of money.
@@rahulnbindiawell leh is your sweet baby after all your army there gives kids chocolate and here they give us slurs
Kashmiris suffer from high cab prices as well, next time try travelling from stands where locals are taking cabs as well, you will realise taxi opertors charge a hefty amount from the locals as well.
yes, correct i got to know that. i was there for the second time. Didn't make a video. travelled from Jammu to pahalgam and Srinagar to pahalgam too later. in share taxi just like locals. Thanks for adding some light to this topic.
Hello
Can you plss tell me weather I can carry dslr with me at tourist site in kashmir as I am travelling next week....
Hey!
Yes, definitely you can. Just make sure you do not shoot any Defence areas
@@theridgelinestories thanks buddy
Regarding driver I totally agree with you. We too had very bad experience with the driver. But the drivers are very cunning. I have experienced in uttrakhand also.. I too plan to make videos on how tourists can be guided from being cheated.
I totally agree.. Cab vala, pony wala, hotel, home stay, shikara wala, shops, shawl wala everyone try to cheat and make you feel horrible if you bargain and ruin your experience despite spending thousands/ lac on the trip. There is no value for value and they expect tip for everything
Everyone who makes videos on kashmir trip should call this out as a responsibility and not talk about the sceneic beauty alone. Unless it is called out time and again this will not change
True. I hope more people share honest experiences.
I plan on visiting Kashmir on my Enfield this coming weekend. The colour scheme of my bike resembles that of Indian Airforce. Would this be any problem?
You will not face any such issues in the major tourist spots anywhere in Kashmir. It is completely safe. There will be 1000s of other tourists. But, if you plan to visit some offbeat places, I suggest checking with some local shopkeepers, homestay owners, etc.
Visiting Kashmir on your own bike or car is much better according to me compared to following a guide and driver with less freedom of exploring. So that's a good choice. Hope you have a good trip. :)
Did you not see the board where rates are clearly mentioned for
Baisaran Valley and thajiwas Glacier. You do not need a pony. Trekking is not at all difficult at these places.
did not see it when I went there for the first time. The second 15 days I did notice that and that's when I took a picture of that board. I agree with the hiking part. True
They are like piranha and only your skeleton remains if you stay beyond 10 days
Hi
The scenic beauty in your video is awesome. Can you please share the name of the place or the exact location of the place in your video (0:15 to 0:35).please and any hotels in this area
It is the guest house in which I had stayed.
Paradise Guest house pahalgam
Thanks
Hey Pratik thanks for all the information. We are planning our Kashmir trip next month. This will definitely help us. Keep sharing more Kashmir videos 👍🏻
That is Great! You will enjoy the winter feels there. Yes, I will be sharing more videos from there. Thank you! 😀
Pleaes avoid going hotel downtown. We had a worse experience.
We cancelled our trip...after seeing too many videos...and decided we will skip it...
Can you tell which is best place to see Himalayas too near..as it was. Dream destination to my mom to see the ice and snow fall on the mountain ...to complete that particular thing we decided to go kashmir...but after hearing lot of scams..we decided to stop because we are a budget travelers..and while coming back we need good memories not the bad one...
Please suggest us such a place where we can find himalayas too near with all those snows...we are ready to travel this november
Hi!
Yes I understand. However you being scammed or not depends on your approach. Some people and places in kashmir were extremely genuine and as it should be.
For seeing snow, it is not necessary that you need to go to Kashmir only. There are a lot of places across the Himalayas from Kashmir to Arunachal.
Very common tourist spots where a lot of people go would be somewhere in Himachal, Uttarakhand, or Sikkim too. Not recommending Ladakh as it will be a lot colder. So I will recommend you to check these.
A few quick recommendations which come to my mind are below:
In Himachal, places like Solang valley, Sethan which are close to manali will have a lot of snow. Near shimla, a place called called kufri is also quite famous.
In Uttarakhand, you may visit Auli.
In Sikkim, you may visit, north sikkim. Lachung, lachen, yumthang valley etc.
But, I am not sure about November, you need to check that( only some High Altitude places may be). I have experienced during December and beyond only.
We pre-booked it by paying 50% money in advance in July...we are going in January? Is it a scam?
Hi
That is fine, There is nothing wrong in prebooking as long as you have all the payment details, name/contact of the agency/person etc. Even I had prebooked with a certain amount during my first time.
I have been there twice and I can advice you to be very clear about your itinerary and do not say yes to any guide blindly as they may talk to tourists extremely politely (at times) just for the business. There will be a lot of people chasing you for different things but you should just stick to your plan A or plan B (in case).
In short, Tourists are treated like walking ATM machines (by guides, drivers, agents). But, if you have good bargaining skills you will definitely be on an advantageous side for sure.
Should I plan to trip Kashmir with a travel agent to reduce the expense on cheating?
It might be a good option if you prefer travelling with fixed itineraries.
You should not be harsh on yourself, the prices over inflated for everything in Kashmir. Some one I know paid Rs. 15,000 for a shikara! Their guide took them there. They had a really bad experience.
True!
15K for shikara.
That is extremely sad and shocking.
If we take our own self driven car from Delhi to all these places, shall we be able to go wherever we want to...or there are some places for which we must need a locally hired cab? Examples: Pahalgam, Aru Valley, Betaab Valley, Gulmarg, Sonmarg. Are these hilly roads safe for self drive? Please advise. thanks in advance.
Yes Private vehicles can go anywhere, no problem at all. It is completely safe to drive because kashmir is more like a valley. There are not many hair pin bends ( except while going to gulmarg ). You may not be able to take your vehicle in some places around Gulmarg as it is restricted because it is close to the border. No issues in sonamarg, pahalgam area.
@@theridgelinestories many thanks Pratik. Your pointers and heads up is very useful for those travelling to Kashmir for the 1st time.
Welcome! Glad you found it helpful. :)
Can u give details wer u stay accomdastion place safe for families cabs hotel give me details
I have stayed in multiple properties during my both visits to kashmir. There is no issue with safety. You just need to be careful of not getting scammed beyond the limit.
Properties in which i stayed
young bombay gouseboats
Grand mamta hotel
paradise guest house
angels inn
pahalgam retreat hotel
etc
the hotel guys can get a taxi for you too.
Can you please elaborate about the hotel scam?
There was no scam I faced with Hotels the first time. The second time I had a fully paid trip from Make my trip and once I reached the hotel (srinagar) they did not allow me to check in because they said they have some issues with mmt and want me to cancel it and do an offline check in.
Basically, they wanted the full money without MMT commission being cut. However, not all places will do this. It was probably my bad luck to be dealing with those kinds of hotel owners/guys.
All the other hotels were fine.
@@theridgelinestories can you name the hotel
Thank you for your video. I have a question...You did not mention in Phelgam which 4 points did you go for 3 hours on horse. When government price board says 350+ hourly, how can they charge Rs 4000. This is ridiculous. There should be officer availble to complain for such cheaters.
Yeah. unfortunate. The reason I got to know that is because i decided to extend my kashmir stay in pahalgam for 2 weeks after the initial hassle of 9 days.
There are places like Dubliyan (or dubiyan), kanimarg, a waterfall, baisiran. usually takes 3 hours.
@@theridgelinestories Got it. Extra 2 weeks in valley, that's amazing.
@@theridgelinestories can one cover the same points by trekking throught he same path from where the horses go and complete all points under 6 hours ?
Please make vedio abt your guest house in pehalgam .
It is already uploaded as a shorts video. You may check it. Moreover, its a very basic room with a basic bathroom. I would call it a budget stay.
Name - Paradise guest house Pahalgam. you can check it on google too.
OMG i was irritated with the term 'Tips '
You are a saviour, also what about internet and network?
🙂
If you have a prepaid sim it will not work.
A postpaid sim will work across J&K.
Network coverage is good. No problem (Postpaid)
turisim is not a problem, kashmir people mind is "just loot lo"
Agree. Hope it changes
Thank you 🙏
You’re welcome🙂
People are all united in fleecing the tourist. No body helps
100 percent true, they literally rip u and almost all make u feel guilty if u bargain.
For example they can charge fromm 9000 to 1600 for the same horse ride depending upon where u get trapped
True. and with the increase in tourists recently, I am sure they are doing more of it.. Unfortunate
Your points are bang on 🤘 . Btw do you have any contact details of good cab driver? TIA 😊
Glad it helped. 🙂
Unfortunately, I do not have any good cab driver details. Just dealt with one person and this was the result.
The second time, I chose to travel using public transport instead.
@@theridgelinestories thanks brother 😊
Great place. Nice people. Amazing experience. Great way to tell people to keep away from Kashmir !!
They ripped you at every possible opportunity like no other place in India and you talked about great hospitality 🤣.
Yeah I understand. I mean this Experience was only with the tourist guides / car drivers etc. Other than that, I was in kashmir for 25+ days and the local people are extremely nice 🙂
Thanks for watching!
An amazing place, but with the worst people I have ever met (referring to the taxi operator, the sales people, the hotel staff). Spent about over a week with my family there and was literally ripped off at every juncture, to a total of around Rs. 70k.
In addition to this, these tour operators, taxi drivers are anti-national and don't stop abusing our armed forces and government while calling the encounters terrorists as Martyrs despite us politely asking them to keep their opinions to themselves and not bug us with it.
I highly recommend people to directly visit Leh from Manali and drop Srinagar to Leh stretch. Only on losing the tourism revenue will they resort to the right ways of treating tourists.
@@sarathchandra1891 very much true. I came back yesterday only with 3 nigh trip and almost spent 80k. no curtousy, no hospitality, no good food at all. There are 1000s of better places in India.
Yes my cab was also ranting antinational sentiments all time
Check before experience is the take away
Yeah 🙂
Bro can you please share the kashmir car rentals contact no?
sorry bro. do not have that contact number anymore.
had deleted it from my phone.
I only have the contact number of the hotel/guest house owner in Pahalgam.
Fraud Tours in kashmir....
Real bad taste
Bhai ya to English bol ya Hindi mixup Mt kr
Sorry but that's natural for me.