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Dear BHPians,

I am planning a short whirlwind trip to Kashmir with my wife and my brother's family. The plan is to do it driving my brother's Aveo-UVA from Gurgaon in late September/early October. None of us ever visited Kashmir and till now the itinerary is not fixed. Based on experiences of persons and Google maps I was thinking of the following circuit:
Gurgaon-Ambala-Jallandhar-Pathankot-Udhampur(bypassing Jammu)-Patnitop
(night halt at Patnitop)
Patnitop-Anantnag-Pahalgam
(one night at Pahalgam)
Pahalgam-Sonmarg-Srinagar
(two nights at Srinagar)
Srinagar-Jammu and back.

I have got conflicting information regarding a direct motorable road linking Pahalgam and Sonmarg. One website shows a motorable road that makes Pahalgam to Sonmarg less than 50 km. Another person on his blog in some other website states that there is only a trekking route linking the two places. End result: confusion!:Frustrati

Please help.

Till Jalandhar, you can have a fantastic experience as it is NH-1 all the way from Delhi till Jalandhar. It may not take too long either as the road is mostly 4 or 6 lane. From Jalandhar till Pathankot is also straightforward but I've not been beyond that on the route you are planning. You must ask a few armymen and they may be of some help.

Regards

The MapmyIndia site shows that it is a motorable road and the distance is 13.3 kms.

MapmyIndia - maps, directions, and local search across India - just search, print and go!

There is no road between Pahalgam and Sonmarg, but there is the trekking path to Amarnath which goes on to touch the Srinagar-Sonmarg-Zoji La-Dras road at Baltal.

My sincere thanks to hvkumar, gd1418 and Acadian.

I have begun to doubt the authenticity of many maps/driving directions published on the Internet. In this instance I will rather follow hvkumar's advice.

There is a road from Pahalgam till very near to Amarnath (from there a walk for couple of km's). Possible that the same road carries on to Sonmarg (but no confirmation on that). But this road is used only by Army. So, if you have contacts in army, you can travel on this but only in Army vehicle.

Sorry to bump up this old thread, but I need information whether this road Sonmarg to Pahalgam is operating for civilian vehicles, if one wishes to bypass srinagar completely on the way from Jammu to Leh.

hi,

i don't think that road is motorable, better go via srinagar! Enjoy the curfew situation while you are at it!

But seriously, be careful.

At the risk of sounding like a nervous old Sod, I would suggest avoiding Kashmir at this point in time. Seriously. The situation is completely out of control, don't risk driving through.

There is no road between Sonmarg and Pahalgam, there is only the trek path for Amarnath yatris. Please stop looking at Google Maps, it has lots of rubbish. The only route you can take is the Jammu-Udhampur-Kud-Patnitop-Ramban-Banihal-Jawahar Tunnel-Qazigund-Khanabal-Pampore-SRinagar-Ganderbal-Kangan-Gund-Sonmarg route.

I am in serious soup :(

Experienced people, can you please guide what to do? I am having tickets to Srinagar flight for 28 Aug, where I was supposed to collect my bike (which would be already couriered by Gati), and then go for Leh ride with wife.

Now Srinagar delivery of bike is not promised by Gati people. So I have 2 options:

1. If Srinagar route is open, I will book the bike in train as luggage, not as parcel (already have a SL ticket of Jammu Jhelam express :) ), i will reroute the flight tickets to land at Jammu, take the bike from station and then will go to Srinagar-Leh.

2. If Srinagar route is closed completely, and I have to take manali - leh route only, I will go to Nizamuddin station by railway, taking the bike along with me, and ride Delhi - Manali - Leh and back by same route.

Please opine about the options.

Aug 28 is a long way off, wait and watch developments in Kashmir Valley after I-Day. In the meantime, the best thing to do would be to send your bike to Delhi, and you yourself reroute your air ticket through Delhi instead of Jammu so that you have both options - Srinagar or Manali.

BTW, I also live in Thane.

How about one more option:

I take Mumbai Jammu flight, and send bike by train, so both will reach there on saturday. Based on situation there, I will either proceed to Srinagar - Leh, and if at all it is not possible, I will come to Manali and proceed to Leh. By This option, atleast the Srinagar option is open till last moment. Anyways my hotel bookings are not done, so that's no problem.

Has anyone done Jammu throgh Manali? It seems it is 402 km, so it should be doable in 2 days, with halt in between. What do you think of this way?

Check when is the "Darbar Movement" happening. If you going after the Darbar has moved back to Jammu more chances that Srinagar will be back to normal. Or else keep Manali route option open.

Cant you just get your tickets for Ambala and also get your bike transported there, and ride to Manali? That would take care of all if's and but's about Srinagar?

Regards

Are you talking of Jammu-Manali via Pathankot, Dharamasala, Baijnath & Mandi. Yes, that will be a 2-day drive. Day 1, you can halt at Mandi.