How to Book a Houseboat in Kashmir

Booking a houseboat is not difficult, but it is unusually dependent on trust. There is no standard inventory system on the lake, prices move with the season, and much of the business is done over the phone. This guide sets out the order to do things in, exactly what to get confirmed before you pay anything, and the three ways travellers most often get caught out.

Decide four things first

Almost every problem later comes from one of these being left vague at the start.

1. Dates. Not the season, the dates. Availability and rates in the first week of April are nothing like the last week of April.
2. Which lake. Dal Lake is busier and more central; Nigeen is quieter. Our comparison of the two covers the difference properly.
3. How many rooms, and who is in them. Two couples, a family with grandparents and a group of four friends need three different answers on the same boat.
4. Whether you want meals included. This single point causes more disputes than any other.

With those four, any honest operator can give you a straight answer within a few minutes. Without them, you will be quoted a headline number that changes later.

The booking sequence

Working in this order keeps everything checkable.

1. Enquire with your four decisions. Send them in a message rather than saying them on a call, so there is a written record from the start.
2. Get named options. You should be offered specific boats and specific rooms, not a category. If nobody will name the boat, that is your answer.
3. Get photographs of the actual room. Not of the boat, not of the lounge. The room you will sleep in.
4. Get the inclusions in writing. The list in the next section.
5. Confirm the transfer. Which ghat, at what time, and who is meeting you.
6. Pay only what is needed to hold the booking, and only to an account or method that leaves you a record.
7. Keep the written confirmation on your phone and take a screenshot in case you have no signal on arrival.

What to get in writing

Ask for all of this in one message and keep the reply. Anything missing from the reply is not included.

• The name of the houseboat and the room category or room name.
• The lake, and which ghat you will be picked up from.
• Check-in and check-out dates and times.
• Number of guests, and whether children are counted.
• Which meals are included, and whether that is per person or per room.
• Whether the shikara transfer to and from the boat is included, and how many crossings.
• Heating, hot water and Wi-Fi, if those matter to you.
• The total for the whole stay, including taxes, stated as a total rather than per night.
• What has been paid, what is due, and when.
• The cancellation terms.
• A phone number for the boat itself, not only for the agent.

The three common problems

Most people on the lake are straightforward. These three things still happen often enough that they are worth naming.

Being switched to a different boat on arrival

You arrive at the ghat and are told the boat you booked has a problem — a repair, a plumbing fault, an overbooking — and you are taken to another one instead. Sometimes this is genuine. Often the boat you booked was never held for you, or was never the boat in the photographs.

What protects you is having the boat named in writing, having a phone number for the boat itself, and having photographs of your room. If you are moved, ask to speak to the owner of the original boat, ask why, and do not hand over the balance until you have seen the room you are actually being given. A downgrade should mean a lower price.

Pressure selling on the water

Vendor shikaras come alongside — shawls, saffron, papier-mâché, jewellery, flowers. This is a legitimate trade and part of lake life, but some sellers are persistent, and prices quoted to guests on a verandah are not the prices in the market. The same applies to being taken to a shop or a workshop as part of a shikara ride, where the boatman may be earning a commission.

Say no clearly the first time and it is respected. If you do want to buy, buy on land after you have seen the same thing in two or three places, and never let a purchase be arranged as part of a ride you have already paid for.

Unclear inclusions

The commonest version: the rate you agreed was room-only, the meals you have been eating all week were not, and the bill on the last morning is much larger than you expected. Variants involve the shikara transfer being charged each way, extra guests in a room, and heating charged as a supplement in winter.

The fix is entirely preventive. Get the list above in writing and read the reply carefully rather than skimming it. On arrival, ask once, politely, what is chargeable, so that everybody is working from the same understanding on day one.

Deposits and payment

Expect to pay something to hold a booking, particularly in a busy season. Two principles are worth holding to: pay by a method that leaves a record, and keep the balance until arrival or until you have seen the room. Be wary of any request to pay the full amount in advance to a personal account, and of anyone who resists putting the total in writing first.

Ask about the cancellation terms before you pay rather than after. Flights into Srinagar are occasionally disrupted by weather, particularly in winter, and knowing where you stand if that happens is worth the one extra question.

Arrival day

Most boats are reached by a short shikara crossing from a numbered ghat. Confirm the ghat number and a contact number the day before, and message when you land. If you are arriving late, say so in advance so that someone is waiting; the ghats are dark and the crossings stop being obvious after nightfall.

When you get on board, look at the room before the luggage comes off the boat, and settle the meal arrangement for that evening straight away. Two minutes of clarity at the start is the whole difference between a good stay and an awkward one.

For what to expect once you are settled, read houseboats in Kashmir. For the journey itself, see how to reach Srinagar.