Entry Fee for Aru Valley, Pahalgam

ater supply and electricity were unpredictable and this also made our stay difficult. The hotel staff were responsive but the services were poor except for food, which was good. We expect the same enthusiasm when accepting the quote for service and communication from the agent throughout the trip. We were overwhelmed by the extra charges we had to pay at the places for the union cabs. The extra cab fares could have been mentioned beforehand to the travellers before the trip. The shops the driver took us to were very expensive, and we realised this once we went to 'Lal Chowk' on our own. Also, only one restaurant we stopped at during our travel was of good quality, while the rest were really bad, and one possibly led to 2 of our family members getting food poisoning. With proper communication and an honest approach from the employees, the whole experience could have been much better.

trip finalized and paid 25% to agent and discovered that (gondola ride) tickets is not available. If we were informed of this fact, then could have planned better. But luckily , we saw availability of these tickets in one day, but we had hotel checkout from Pahalgam that day , which is very far from Gulmarg.So, Agent charged extra to cover Gulmarg gondola ride.So, it is better to buy the ticket first and then plan with the travel agent. 2) Gulmarg gondola ride is a long long queue. Long waiting spoils the enjoyment/excitement of Gulmarg.If you are young ,then OK 3) Agent is never calling you , once the full amount is paid.I think Agent should should ask if everything is OK 4) Dal lake is not the same.If you are planning to relax , the price is 6-7 thousand now.The agent promises to pay 1st 1 hour free but all that is very shady.still the Dal lake comes to be 6-7 thousand (without going to island in between lake) 5.At every point , scams are there.No advise from Agent regarding these scams. Believe me , it is CITY OF SCAMS. It is NOT the SAME Kashmir now. Tourist /Local Crowd is also everywhere. This City of Always in Traffic jams. The two security check of baggage with a gap of 1.5 km is also harassment while returning( when you are tired). Return flight is cancelled and our airline (spice jet) asked us to collect baggage and leave airport (it is defence airport, you can not stay there inside in night). Our Airline (Spicejet) did not pay hotel stay ( because of flight cancellation). So, all these spoiled our stay in kashmir. We will NEVER go there. 5 star Hotels in south asian countries are much cheaper then 3 star hotel of Kashmir.Ticket to these south asian countries is also of similar range.So more value for money in traveling to south asian countries .

of this trip .....

service was excellent and he took great care of us. I would love to go again with Bilal for my future trips to Kashmir. some of the hotels could be better but considering the peak time I assume that they offered the best hotels they could arrange.