Where to See Tulips in India: Srinagar's Tulip Garden

You don’t have to fly to the Netherlands to see tulips. Every spring, Srinagar’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden, Asia’s largest, turns the slopes above Dal Lake into stripes of red, yellow, pink, purple and white, with the snow-capped Zabarwan range behind.

The Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden, Srinagar

Set on terraced slopes at the foot of the Zabarwan hills, the garden covers about 30 hectares and is planted with well over a million tulip bulbs of 70 or more varieties, along with hyacinths, daffodils, muscari and ranunculus. It opened in 2007 and has since become the symbol of spring in Kashmir.

The garden opens to visitors for only a few weeks each year, usually from around the third week of March into mid or late April, depending on the weather. Peak bloom typically falls in the first half of April. The Jammu and Kashmir floriculture department announces the opening date each year, and the Tulip Festival is held during the bloom with cultural programmes, local food and handicraft stalls.

Make a Trip of It

Spring is one of the best times to visit Kashmir, and a tulip trip pairs easily with the rest of the valley:

• The Mughal gardens: Nishat Bagh, Shalimar Bagh and Chashme Shahi are a short drive from the tulip garden, with fountains and chinar trees coming into leaf.
• Dal Lake: a shikara ride at sunset and a night on a houseboat.
• Almond blossom: Badamwari, in Srinagar's old city, blooms in March, just before the tulips.
• Gulmarg and Pahalgam: the meadows still hold snow in early spring, with the Gulmarg Gondola running to Apharwat.
• Sonamarg: usually reachable again from April or May as the road is cleared.

How to Reach Srinagar

Srinagar airport has direct flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and other cities. The rail link through the Chenab and Anji bridges now connects Srinagar to Katra and the rest of India's network, and the road from Jammu takes about 7 to 9 hours. The tulip garden is near Cheshma Shahi, about 15 minutes from the Dal Lake boulevard.

Other Places to See Tulips in India

Outside Kashmir, tulips are hard to grow in India's climate, so they appear only in small, short-lived displays: seasonal beds in a few hill stations and city flower shows, sometimes using imported bulbs. If tulips are the reason for your trip, plan around Srinagar's spring bloom.

Planning a spring trip to Kashmir? Talk to Travel Tailor and we will time it with the tulip season.