Arrive in Srinagar and step into your chauffeur-driven M/SUV, not for the boulevard but for the quieter road that climbs towards Dachigam. As the city falls away, orchards and villages give way to thicker forest and high, rust-coloured cliffs. At the gate you enter a different pace of life and check in to the JKTDC Dachigam Forest Rest House, simple but full of character, with open lawns and trees that frame the surrounding slopes. After a hot, home-style lunch, take time to settle before joining your naturalist for an afternoon orientation walk or short vehicle route through the lower park. You begin to read the landscape; fresh tracks on soft ground, a flash of wings over the stream, distant calls in the trees. By dusk, day visitors have gone and the park grows quiet; dinner is served in-house, and you end the night under a dark, star-pricked sky.
Meals: • L  D

Tea arrives before first light, and you step out with your naturalist as the forest wakes. Depending on conditions and permits, you follow a mix of walking trails and planned vehicle routes that offer wider coverage of Dachigam’s lower reaches, scanning open slopes and scrub for the delicate antlers and chestnut coats of Hangul, listening for the movement of Himalayan black and brown bears or the elusive presence of leopard on the cliffs. Birdlife keeps the morning busy: laughing thrushes, tits, finches and larger raptors riding the air. After a full breakfast back at the rest house, you can pause, watch the stream and tree line from the verandah, or photograph the play of light across the valley. Lunch is followed by a quiet interlude, then another late-afternoon foray when shadows lengthen and animals often stir. After dark, foxes and other nocturnal creatures are known to roam the lawns, sometimes visible right from the building, offering a rare sense of sharing space with the forest. Dinner and stories round out the day.
Meals: •B  L  D

There is time for one last early outing, making the most of the cool air and softness of morning light, another short walk or vehicle drive, depending on the previous day’s sightings and your interests. After breakfast and an unhurried check-out, you follow the road back down towards Srinagar, watching the forest thin and the lake basin open up. Check in to your chosen Srinagar stay, either a luxury houseboat on Dal or Nigeen Lake or a heritage hotel such as The LaLiT Grand Palace, where gardens and verandahs look back at the hills you have just left. The afternoon is intentionally open: you might rest, browse a few curated craft shops, or visit a nearby garden or shrine at your own pace. As night falls, the sounds of the forest give way to the softer murmur of the city and lake. Dinner is at your own arrangement in-house or at a recommended restaurant.
Meals: •B

On your final morning, step aboard a private shikara and slide into Dal Lake’s gentler world- floating gardens, reflections of houseboats and mountains, fishermen at work, and, in season, pockets of the floating market creating pockets of colour and sound. The slow rhythm of the oar is a quiet counterpoint to the intensity of the forest days. Return to your stay for a lingering breakfast, then check out. Depending on your schedule, your chauffeur can pause en route to the airport or railway station for last-minute shopping for pashmina, saffron, dry fruits or walnut-wood handicrafts. You leave with the memory of Dachigam, antlers, paw-prints and still water carried together.
Meals: •B