Houseboat Royal Lodge

My friend and I stayed at Royal Lodge for a week at the start of October 2023. Throughout our stay Feroz, the hostel owner, and his family were incredibly attentive, generous and welcoming to us. Feroz took us to his family wedding to enable us to experience a vibrant and traditional Kashmiri celebration. We also went on a three day trek to Sonamarg in the mountains which was so beautiful. Our guide Bashir was extremely attentive and any want or need we could have had was anticipated, from Kashmiri tea whilst still cozy in our sleeping bags in the morning to hot water bottles to keep us warm at night. Feroz also accompanied us on the trek and ensured that we always had fresh fruit, clean water and packed lunches for our walks, alongside beautifully cooked and varied traditional Indian meals for dinner. When travelling back south, Feroz organised our train tickets and the shared taxi to Jammu. Unfortunately there was a landslide along the road and we got stuck in traffic, however this was no problem as we called Feroz and he arranged for the taxi driver to bring us back to Srinagar and picked us up and took us back to Royal lodge for another night (free) until we were able to catch a flight the following day (to which he personally drove us to the airport). We cannot thank him enough for his hospitality, generosity and bubbly personality that made our first week in India so comfortable and enjoyable. We feel as if we have family in Kashmir now and will definitely be back to visit. P.S. If you like chess, Feroz can put up a good fight ;)