Name: Light House Group of Houseboats
Address: Abi Karpora, Lehrupark, Dal Lake, 190001 Srinagar, India, Srinagar, Srinagar, Srinagar, 190001, India
Rating: 9

Location

Srinagar International Airport

Light House Group of Houseboats

Absolutely amazing experience! We have stayed here for 3nights and loved every moment we have spent there. Tanveer & Ishfaaq (I am really sorry if the name is wrong) were really kind & have demonstrated high level hospitality. We really felt like home because of them. This house boat is gorgeous inside with brilliantly carved wooden work & very well maintained looking the fact that it's older than 50years. The chandeliers, carpets & show pieces inside enhances the beauty & give it a royal appeal.
Farooq sahab prepared some delicious meals for us & even accepted our request for local dishes. We thoroughly enjoyed them. He is a MasterChef.
Bashir Bhai & Farooq Bhai treated us with warmth & we miss there shikara rides.
Mushtaq Bhai is the man behind everything. He made everything possible for us during this Kashmir trip. 

If visiting Srinagar, houseboat stay is a must - and I have nothing but the highest praise for this particular houseboat stay.
The rooms are large - one of the rooms we got was the VIP room - which is extra large.
The wooden carvings on panels, beds and everywhere are truly exquisite. It was extremely warm and cosy inside - even at night.
Talking of warmth - special mention for all staff members. Its a family enterprise - so most of them are related to the Omar , the owner. Even the food is cooked by the ladies in his family - and one gets the luxury of homely food while on a trip. Special mention - the roast chicken with potato.
Different vendors visit the houseboat on their boats, selling their wares - jewellery, trinkets, papier mache items etc. The craftmanship in Kashmiri items is truly remarkable. Such merchants are also accessible on the water while you take a ride on the Shikara. Our shikara owner, took us to the floating market - where one can see and purchase various Kashmiri merchandise.
Omar bhai also arranged for out entire trip in Kashmir - overall an amazing experience. Highly recommended for the warmth, hospitality and comfort. 

Great 175 foot 5 room houseboat with ac rooms large toilets and plush interiors.
Omar and his collegue took great care always polite smiling friendly and keen to make you happy. 
Ask for anything. It arrives at your doorstep in a shikara boat for a royal private shopping experience in the all wood and carpet drawing room of the houseboat.
Salaam bhai will ferry you in a private shikara twice through the lake complimentory and advises you all the time to keep your phone secure. Many have dropped phones in the lake and lost forever. He lifts all your luggage complimentory. Great man to chat with. Also protects you from those unwanted shikara shops who try to pester on the way.
Courtesy  of caretaker staff to provide crockery on dining table followed by free dishwashing for the food we carried with us won our hearts. 
Late night sitting  on  the deck was a cool serene delightful experience romancing with the reflections of colourful lights from the boulevard road garland across the lake.
All in all full marks. 

Photos in the gallery posted by houseboat are endorsed for authenticity. Adding some from shikara in the lake.

The house boat is on good location. Its just opposite to main road, The House Boat well cleaned and decorated from inside. Food was very good and served with great hospitality, Interior is of good taste of Kashmir.

We stayed here in the end of December 2018 for three nights through a Club Mahindra booking. 

Even as the temperatures outside hit record lows (-8 degrees, coldest Dember night in 30 years) and the lake froze, the rooms were snug and warm. The bukhari, electric blankets and air-con do their job just great. 

Saleem Bhai, the caretaker, is on his feet all through the day and night and he gave us a taste of what Kashmiri hospitality is all about.

The food is tasty and simple. The boat has wifi and bathtubs too. Power cuts are frequent in Kashmir, though that isn't something the boat can be blamed for. 

Couldn't ask for more.

Stay in a houseboat is an experience you should do once. There's nothing extravagant about it, just a Srinagar thing. It gets extra cold  on lake during evenings and night. Light House was nicely done. Rooms were well prepared and boat is well maintained. Staff is courteous and Club Mahindra executive, Javed was always around to assist. Food was optional, we took one breakfast - kids were not happy and we ate outside after that. One dinner that we took was good. Light House has hot air blowers (AC) installed in rooms - not very effective though.
One big turn off is water in washrooms, it smells really bad and you cannot use it for facewash or mouthwash. The washroom otherwise was impeccable.

My first ever Houseboat experience was with Lighthouse Group. I share my profound thanks to the staff for their warm welcome and assistance throughout our stay, especially our help Ishfaq who made our stay comfortable and made sure we have everything that we asked for. If you are a traveller and looking for a unique stay experience away from home, I recommend this place. From my experience, I rate this houseboat 4.5 out of 5 in interior, hygiene and facilities. The food they serve is homely and could easily rank to 3.5. 

During our stay in Srinagar, we chose 2 night stay in this Luxury House Boat 'Light House'. It is one of the Biggest(as per room numbers, i.e. 5) House Boat in the greater portion of Dal Lake. We got Room No.2 for our 2nits stay. The room was large with a King size comfy Bed with another smaller bed. We visited there in Dec, but the room was warm & cosy , bed with Electric Blanket as well as they provide us Bukhari. Room as well as the whole Boat is well decorated. Bathroom was neat and clean with 24 hrs hot water and big bathtub. The owner is very gentle and kind and he provided us many valuable information also. The food was really good, we just felt like home, far away from home. First nit, we were only 2 in the whole Houseboat, and we really enjoyed the ambience there. 2nd Nit, 2 other couples were also there, but we can get our privacy though. Thanks to the Owner, He surprised us by arranging candle light dinner for us. We had a great stay there.

Stayed here with family for 4 nights through Club Mahindra. We had a very good experience.

The entry is from Ghat no 17, very close to the road to Shankaracharya temple. One return trip in and out of the houseboat on a shikara was provided by them, which was very helpful. 

The facility is quite clean and well managed. The rooms are quite spacious (including the bathrooms). For heating, we were proivided with traditional "bukhari" and electric bed warmers - both very novel and comfortable. The service was extremely good and commendable (special thanks to Salim bhai). The food is prepared on pre-order, nothing jazzy, quite homely and tasty. If asked for, they can easily arrange shikara rides, on boat shopping, taxis, etc at a reasonable cost. They even provided wifi on board.

The sit out area on the front deck and the living room were nicely done up and pleasant to spend time in.

Stayed in this houseboat in last week of May 2017. The decoration is excellent. They give one free too and fro ride from and to Dal lake shore. But extra rides cost Rs 100. They even charged Rs 300 to carry us with luggage to the boat in the evening when we arrived.
The lake water is dirty and we were concerned that the utensils may be washed in this water. The food charge was Rs 350 per plate for lunch or dinner, breakfast Rs 200 per plate. Mineral water Rs 30 per liter bottle.
The owner/manager gets 30% commission on every purchase you do by inviting the shops on shikaras that approach you.
The photographers trick you by quoting Rs 100 for one photo but take many photos and tempt you to buy many photos. The customers end up buying more than one photo.
There is nothing much to do on the house boat rather than siting at the small veranda and looking at the activities in the water of Dal lake. For any other thing you have to go to the lake shore by paying the shikara.
Houseboats are good only for one night stay experience. Rest days it is advisable to stay in hotels near market.

Food served at the Light house houseboat was not so great looking at so high charges. There are much better restaurants and cheaper food available at the Dal lake shore.

One hour shikara ride costs Rs 200 (light house quotes Rs 500) that takes you to floating market where the shikara wala's main interest is to make you buy goods from these shops as he gets 30% commission. Saffron quoted for Rs 350 in floating market shops was available for Rs 150 at other shops on land. Even the paper machhe products were very expensive.
Best place to do shopping is shops near Shalimar garden. Prices are very good there.


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