Sonmarg or Sonamarg, literally meaning the Meadow of Gold in the Kashmiri language, is a picturesque hill station on the Srinagar – Leh highway. An alpine valley with green meadows, snow clad mountain ranges and the mighty Sindh river gushing by, Sonmarg is a must visit destination for every traveller in the Kashmir valley. Some of the popular places to visit from Sonmarg are Thajiwas Glacier, Baltal Valley, Zojila Pass and Zero Point.
Sonmarg is also strategically important as it one of the starting points (the other being Pahalgam) of the holy pilgrimage of Amarnath yatra, that commences from Baltal.
I have written a separate blog on how to plan for a trip to the Kashmir Valley. It has the details of the important places to visit, how to reach, best time to visit, local Kashmiri food, hotels & restaurants, restriction on using Mobile SIM cards and many other topics. That article will guide you to plan a visit to the majestic valley on your own, and you will find it here: Kashmir Travel Guide.
Our Itinerary:
We visited Sonmarg on the Day 2 of our 8 nights / 9 days of Kashmir trip during the summer of 2023, where our itinerary was:
- Day 1: Catch early morning flight from Kolkata and reach Srinagar via Delhi. In the evening, Shikara ride in the Dal Lake to visit Open Lake, Lotus Lake, Meena Bazar Floating Market, followed by shopping at Lal Chowk. Overnight at Srinagar.
- Day 2 – Day trip to Sonmarg. Horse ride to Thajiwas Glacier. Due to lack of time, we couldn’t visit Kheer Bhavani temple on the way back to Srinagar. Overnight at Srinagar.
- Day 3 – Check-out from Srinagar hotel and visit Doodhpathri. Then travel to Gulmarg. Walk around Gulmarg town. Overnight at Gulmarg.
- Day 4 – Gandola ride (Phase 1 and Phase 2) in Gulmarg. Return to Srinagar by evening. Overnight at Srinagar.
- Day 5 – Srinagar Local sightseeing – Shankaracharya Temple, Four Mughal Gardens (Chashma Shahi, Pari Mahal, Nishat Bagh, Shalimar Bagh), Hazrat Bal Dargah, Jamia Masjid, Shikara ride in Dal Lake to visit the Char Chinar Island. Overnight at Srinagar.
- Day 6 – Check-out from Srinagar hotel and visit Yusmarg and Charar-e-Sharif. Then travel to Pahalgam. Overnight at Pahalgam.
- Day 7 – Local sightseeing in Pahalgam – Aru Valley, Betaab Valley, Chandanwari. We didn’t go to Baisaran Valley as we felt that the horse ride is risky. Overnight at Pahalgam.
- Day 8 – Visit Pahalgam Golf Course. Then travel from Pahalgam to Srinagar. On the way, visit: Apple Orchard, Martand Sun Temple, Awantipora ruins, Cricket bat factory and Kesar shops of Pampore. Overnight at Srinagar.
- Day 9 – Check-out from Srinagar hotel and return to Kolkata.
Reaching Sonmarg:
Sonmarg is located in the Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir, at a distance of around 80 KM from Srinagar. We started from our hotel in Srinagar around 8.30 AM in the morning.
On the way, we crossed the new Wayil Bridge on the Sindh River. This newly constructed bridge was inaugurated a couple of days before we visited Sonmarg. This is a very scenic place for photography. So, we requested our driver Zahoor bhai to stop before the bridge. Then we walked over its length, occasionally stopping to click photos of the river flowing by.
After the Wayil Bridge, the scenery changed dramatically – with the river and snow covered mountains giving us company. After a while, we took a tea break at Glacier Dhaba at Kangan. It is located at a scenic place just beside the Sindh River. While the kids enjoyed maggi and my wife a cup of coffee, I utilised the time admiring the beauty of the river.
Till now, the journey was very smooth on the Srinagar-Leh highway. But soon after, we started facing a lot of traffic jam, and our car crawled at a snail’s pace. Further down, we came to a place with a bridge over the river with a “Welcome to Sonmarg” signage. We felt happy that we have almost reached. But sadly, Zahoor bhai informed that this route to the Sonmarg has been closed indefinitely, and we need to take a longer route. This detour had too much of traffic, and it cost us an extra hour. As a result, we reached Sonmarg around 1 PM – the normal 2.5 hours journey took us around 4.5 hours.
Places to visit from Sonmarg:
From Sonmarg, there are a few destinations which travellers can explore:
- A pony ride or a trek to the Thajiwas Glacier.
- Zero Point/ Zojila Pass, Baltal Valley and Fishing Point by hiring a separate local vehicle.
- The Great Kashmir Lakes trek to visit Vishansar, Kishansar, Gadsar, Satsar and Gangabal Lakes. This trek is a strenuous one and it takes around a week to complete.
- If you have time on your way back to Srinagar, then you can take a detour and visit the Kheer Bhavani Temple. It is one of the Adya peeths of Goddess Durga.
The Pony ride to Thajiwas Glacier:
As soon as we got down from our car, we were surrounded by pony owners on one hand and car owners on the other, with their offers for a ride to Thajiwas Glacier or Baltal/ Zero Point/ Zojila Pass/ Fishing Point. As we were already late in reaching Sonmarg, we had to choose one, and decided to go to the Thajiwas Glacier.
After a lot of bargaining, we ultimately hired ponies for Rs. 1000 each.
The ride to Thajiwas Glacier was not very smooth. The path was full of boulders, and it was murky and slippery as it had rained the last couple of days. Even the ponies skidded a couple of times and the kids started screaming.
With snow clad mountains and verdant green meadows all around, the path was very scenic. But we were rather busy controlling our horses, rather than admiring the beauty of nature. If you are physically fit and the season is dry, then I would recommend that you trek to Thajiwas. That way, you would be able to appreciate the beauty of the alluring landscape.
After around an hour we reached near the glacier. We were awestruck by the backdrop – the snow covered slopes of the glacier made the kids screaming, this time in joy.
By now, we realized that we didn’t have lunch yet. There were a lot of shacks around, where locals were selling basic food items like Maggi, sandwich, toast, tea etc. After a quick bite, we walked towards the base of the glacier, some 100-200 meters away.
Surrounded by the snow capped mountain peaks and dense vegetation of pine and fir, the backdrop was captivating. As there was no fresh snowfall in the recent past, the snow here had become dirty. But that was not a deterrent factor for us, as we started playing with the snow. In between, we went for a sledge ride, and enjoyed it to the fullest.
After spending around an hour at Thajiwas Glacier, we started our return journey.
Around Sonmarg downtown:
The marketplace cum taxi stand of Sonmarg is a busy place, bustling with tourists. On one side of the main road is an array of hotels.
On the other side of the road, there is a green carpet of grassland with a background of snowy mountain peaks. We entered the meadow, and unwound ourselves in the mystic surrounding. There were not many tourists here, and we spent some time in this placid environ.
Goodbye Sonmarg:
Around 5 o’clock we started our journey back to Srinagar, and we faced similar traffic jam. It took us around 4 hours to reach Srinagar.
We felt that this trip to Sonmarg was incomplete due to lack of time, and didn’t do a proper justice to beauty of the place. We would definitely come back here in the near future, and that time we will stay at-least for a night and explore the valley.
Some useful information and tips:
How to reach Sonmarg:
Sonmarg is located at a distance of around 80 KM from Srinagar, in the Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir. The most convenient way to reach Sonmarg from Srinagar is by hiring a car, and it should normally take around 2.5 hours to reach. But if the normal route to Sonmarg continues to remain closed, please account for the extra travel time. For us, it took 4.5 hours for the onward journey and 4 hours for the return journey to Srinagar.
What is the best time to visit Sonmarg:
Kashmir is a place which you can visit in all seasons. The summer caters you to a green Kashmir with lots of foliage. Winters welcome you with a blanket of snow. From mid-March to mid-April, the added attraction is the Tulip festival. If you are visiting in October-November, you will be fascinated by the changing colour of the leaves of Chinar tree.
So, you can visit Sonmarg all throughout the year, except during the winter months (from November till March), when Sonmarg as well as the Srinagar-Leh Highway remains closed. The exact date of closure and opening of the highway depends on the snowfall in a particular year, and so it is advisable to check with the local authorities before adding Sonmarg to your tour plan.
Where to stay in Sonmarg:
If you compare with Srinagar and Pahalgam, the number of hotels in Sonmarg is much less. Most of these hotels are centrally located around the Sonmarg marketplace cum taxi stand. Although we didn’t enter any of the hotel premises, from outside they looked decent.
Details of Car Rental:
We rented a Sedan car from a Srinagar based rental agency – Kashmir Car Rental (+91-88250-62819). As per our itinerary, the rental charges were Rs. 19,800 (Airport pickup on Day 1 to Airport drop on Day 9). That comes to Rs. 2200 per day. Zahoor Bhat (+91 70064 05231) was our driver for the entire trip. A perfect gentleman and guide, our Kashmir trip wouldn’t have been that smooth without Zahoor bhai.
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