Mughal Gardens of Srinagar: Ticket Price, Timings and the Best Order (2026-27)

My favourite of the Mughal gardens is Nishat. The terraces, stepping down the hillside towards Dal Lake, look stunning, and I have a lot of memories in the water there. If you see only one garden in Srinagar, see that one.

This guide covers all four Mughal gardens in the city: what each is, what the ticket costs now, the order that makes sense on the road, and what can disappoint. The rest of the city is in our Srinagar guide.

In short: Nishat, Shalimar, Chashme Shahi and Pari Mahal all sit along the eastern shore of Dal Lake, within 14 km of Lal Chowk. Each has its own ticket: ₹50 for adults and ₹25 for children under 12 since 1 March 2026. They open at 9 am and close at sunset. Three or four hours covers three of them.

How many Mughal gardens are there in Srinagar?

Four. Two more, Achabal and Verinag, are in Anantnag district, and together the six have been on India's tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status since 13 December 2010. They are still on that list, and not yet inscribed.

The dates and distances are from the Srinagar district site and India's UNESCO filing. "Mughal garden" is not one place: when a driver says he will take you to "the Mughal garden", ask which.

Ticket price in 2026: ₹50, not ₹30

Entry is ₹50 for an Indian adult, ₹25 for a child under 12 and ₹200 for a foreign visitor, at each garden. Children up to 3 go free. These are the prices on the Floriculture Department's own ticket portal, read on 3 October 2026.

Most travel sites still show an old fee. The rate was ₹30 and ₹15 from 1 March 2024, under a government order of 15 February 2024, and it rose to ₹50 and ₹25 from 1 March 2026. Of eleven guides we checked, one had the current figure.

• Camera fee: none. The fee order lists entry fees only, and the portal shows no camera charge.
• At the gate: you can still buy a ticket at the counter. At the Tulip Garden in 2026, almost all tickets were sold that way.

How the online ticket works

The department sells tickets online at eticket.webfront.in/jkfc, linked from floriculture.jk.gov.in as "Online Ticket Booking for Gardens". No ranking guide explains it, so here is how it works.

• Pick the garden and the date. Then pick a half: a first-half ticket is valid till 2:00 pm, a second-half ticket till 8:30 pm.
• Pay. A ₹2 platform fee is added to each ticket, so one adult is ₹52. One booking can cover up to 40 visitors. A mobile number is required.
• Show the QR code at the gate. The ticket is valid for that date only.
• No refunds. The terms say cancellations are not allowed and the ticket is non-transferable.

Timings: opening time, and the day the gardens are closed

The gardens open at 9:00 am and close at sunset. That is the only official statement of hours, on the ticket portal. There is no weekly closed day.

• In summer: travel sites and Google agree on 9 am to 7 pm, April to October.
• In winter: nothing official. Travel sites give 10 am to 5 pm, or 9:30 to 5. Plan to be out by 5 pm.
• Fridays: some sites say the gardens close on Fridays. The official portal was selling Nishat tickets for Friday, 9 October 2026, and no official source mentions a closed day.
• Chashme Shahi: the district site says it is open from March to November. A visitor did find it open in February 2024, so ask before you drive up in deep winter.
• Pari Mahal in the evening: one guide reports that guards may turn cabs away after 6:30 pm in summer. Go up before then.

Nishat Bagh: my favourite

Nishat means the garden of joy. Asif Khan, the elder brother of Empress Nur Jahan, laid it out in 1633 on the eastern bank of Dal Lake, at the foot of the Zabarwan range. It is the second-largest Mughal garden in the Kashmir Valley, about 548 m by 338 m.

It has twelve terraces, said to stand for the twelve signs of the zodiac. A water channel runs down the middle through cascades, pools and fountains, under avenues of chinar and cypress. The lake is in view from every terrace, which is what sets Nishat apart from the others.

• Time needed: an hour to an hour and a half.
• Steps: the lower terraces are flat and easy. Climbing all twelve means steep stone stairs, some without handrails. The side paths are gentler.
• Food: tea and snack stalls outside the gate. Nothing is sold inside.
• By boat: the district site notes you can reach Nishat by shikara from Dal Lake.

There is a story told about it. Emperor Shah Jahan is said to have admired the garden three times, hoping Asif Khan would offer it to him. When he did not, the emperor had the water cut off, until a servant turned it back on.

Shalimar Bagh: the emperor's garden

Shalimar is the largest of the gardens: 12.4 hectares, 587 m long and 251 m wide. Emperor Jahangir built it in 1619 for Nur Jahan, and Zafar Khan, Shah Jahan's governor, extended it in 1630.

• The lower garden: the public audience hall, the Diwan-e-Aam.
• The middle: the Diwan-e-Khas, with 410 fountains.
• The top: the zenana, the private garden, with the Black Pavilion. The Persian couplet "If there is a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here" is associated with it.

The district site counts three terraces; India's UNESCO filing counts five. Both are official, so do not be surprised when your guide picks one. The water comes from Harwan, down a central channel.

• Time needed: 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
• Know before you go: visitors in late 2023 and 2024 found building work and the fountains switched off. We found no report from 2025 or 2026 either way.
• In autumn: a visitor in October 2023 wrote of the "autumn colours on chinar trees" here.

Chashme Shahi: the spring

Chashme Shahi is the smallest of the gardens, about an acre, built in 1632 around a spring on the Zabarwan slope. Ali Mardan Khan built it on Shah Jahan's orders. It has three terraces, and the spring rises at the top under a small pavilion, then drops through channels and cascades.

• The water: known for being cold and fresh. Visitors drink it and fill bottles.
• Best light: India's UNESCO text says it is at its best in the late afternoon and evening.
• Time needed: 20 to 40 minutes.
• Steps: the first stairs are steep, and the steps inside are big. Take elders up slowly.

Pari Mahal: the view

Pari Mahal is the odd one out. Prince Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan's eldest son, built it around 1650 on the ruins of a Buddhist monastery, as a school of Sufism for his teacher, Mullah Shah Badakhshi. It is also said to have been used for teaching astronomy and astrology.

It has no water channels or cascades. What it has is height: arched stone terraces high on the Zabarwan ridge, looking over the city and the south-west of Dal Lake. The district site counts seven terraces, the UNESCO filing six.

• Time needed: 30 minutes to an hour.
• Access: you enter at the fourth terrace, so the main view needs no climbing. One visitor in 2024 reported wheelchairs on offer for senior citizens.
• On the way up: carry an ID; expect a light check on the approach road.
• Food: no stalls. The nearest tea is back down near Chashme Shahi.
• Is it open? Yes. Wikipedia says it is closed to the public; the official portal sells its ticket, and visitors reviewed it in March and May 2026.

The best order to visit, with real distances

From Dal Gate, the gardens come in this order along the lake road: the turn-off for Chashme Shahi first, Pari Mahal 1.9 km above it, then Nishat, then Shalimar, and Harwan at the far end.

Four guides give four different orders. Here is ours, and the reasons.

• With a morning: be at Nishat when it opens at 9 am, then Shalimar. You beat the midday sun, which is the commonest complaint, and the tour groups, which peak from 11 am to 1 pm.
• With an afternoon: drive out to Shalimar first, come back to Nishat, then go up to Chashme Shahi and Pari Mahal for the last light. Chashme Shahi is at its best late in the day, and Pari Mahal is the sunset view. In summer, reach Pari Mahal before 6:30 pm.
• With one hour: Nishat.

Boulevard Road jams between 4:00 and 6:30 pm in peak summer. Leave room for it on the way back.

Which Mughal garden is best, and are they worth it?

Nishat is the best single garden: the terraces, the water and the lake in one view. Shalimar is second, for its size and history. At least one reviewer agrees: apart from Shalimar and Nishat, they wrote in 2023, "you can skip other gardens".

I would not skip Pari Mahal if you have a clear evening, because the view is the point. Chashme Shahi is small, and worth it mainly if you are going up to Pari Mahal anyway.

Are they worth visiting at all? Yes, with the right expectations. They are old public gardens, not theme parks. Some visitors call them "just an average garden", usually after a midday visit with the fountains off.

What can disappoint

• Fountains off. There is no official fountain timetable. They are off in winter, and a visitor in March 2026 found them not working. At Nishat they were running in May 2025 and May 2026.
• Midday sun and crowds. Go early or late.
• Stray dogs. Locals and visitors both raised this in 2026.
• Sellers. Gardeners offering flowers or plants; photographers offering Kashmiri-dress pictures.
• The fee itself. It doubled in March 2026, and residents have complained.

Access for elders, and anyone who finds steps hard

We found no official word on ramps, handrails or wheelchairs at any garden. If steps are a problem, choose Shalimar and the lower terraces of Nishat.

Best months for the gardens

For the whole year in Kashmir, see the best time to visit.

Getting there, and what is next door

The gardens are along one road, so a cab or auto for the half day is the simple way. A taxi for a day of Srinagar sightseeing starts from ₹1,800 for a sedan. Half-day and auto quotes on travel sites run from ₹400 to ₹1,200 and do not agree, so fix the price, the gardens and the waiting time before you set off.

Paid parking is reported at the gardens, and it fills up on weekends.

• The Tulip Garden: 1.8 km from Chashme Shahi. It opens only for the bloom: 16 March to 16 April in 2026. The dates for 2027 are not announced.
• The Botanical Garden: 2 km from Chashme Shahi, set up in 1969, with about 150,000 ornamental plants. Same ₹50 ticket.
• Harwan: 3 km beyond Shalimar. A large garden with a canal lined with chinars, at the gateway to Dachigam. Good for a picnic. Same ₹50 ticket.

The gardens fit naturally with a morning or evening on the water: see Dal Lake and what a shikara should cost. From Shalimar, Foreshore Road runs along the lake to Hazratbal.