Baisaran Pahalgam - Bāramūla

Beautiful valley near Pahalgam. It's about 6.5 km from Pahalgam and you can reach there by riding a pony or by trekking. If you want to trek, better to avoid monsoon as the road becomes very muddy due to constant passage of ponies. For a single person the pony will charge about 1200 Rs. The whole pony ride is through a beautiful forest and on your right you can see Pahalgam valley, Kashmir valley etc. If you want an adventurous ride, you can take shortcuts. Once you reach there it is a vast land of green, with snow clad peaks in the backdrop. You can have a cup of Kawah there or enjoy a zipline ride.

It is truly mesmerizing experience when you visit Baisaran It is known as Mini Switzerland of India, best time of visit is usually in August when you can see greenery every where. We visited in December first week, there was little snow but it was very peaceful experience. It is very clean and well maintained. There are so many photoshoot options available too. The best part is to visit here one need to take horse ride which is very different and is very unique.

It is beautiful place but the pony ride makes it a bit annoying. Firstly the pony union charges you too much. They tell you they will show you many points but it's like nothing. You will be on a pony and then they will take 2-3 halt wherein you will be on the pony and they will show you this is the valley and then click pictures and then that's it. Also at these spots there are localities with pigeons and other animals which they just put on your hand when you are on the pony and then click pictures and ask money. Irrespective of whether we are interested or not. When we visited Pahalgam it had rained a day before and was sunny the day we went so the ice was melting and the path to Baisaran was full of wet mud which was just splashing all over us because of the ponies. Also because of this our one of the ponies got stuck and my friend fell from the pony. She was in wet mud and got hurt as well. We had asked the pony person to take us through the safe and flat route but he ignored saying he knows better. This made our trip a bit annoying.. The view from the valley is beautiful and would be much better in Summers.

A 40 minute horse ride up a fairly steep hillside (I was very scared) takes you to a lovely Alpine meadow surrounded by mountains. Lots of food stalls. Also Toilet. We just sat on the grass and admired the scenery. There’s also a zip line which the husband did: Must visit from Pahalgam.

Natural hilly valley surrounded by Pine trees and hills all around. Super hill top with cold climate. The way is a bit risky during raining or snowy seasons and can only reached the hill top by walk or pony. But was a nice trekking experience and post reaching the top it was a super pleasant place to spend.