Gurez Valley

Gurez Valley is the Kashmir that Kashmir used to be — pristine, unhurried, and gloriously unspoilt by mass tourism. Located 123 kilometres from Srinagar, separated from the main valley by the dramatic Razdan Pass, Gurez sits in a deep river valley carved by the Kishanganga River, hemmed in on all sides by peaks that top 5,000 metres.

The valley is home to the Dard people — an ancient community with their own language, Shina, and a culture distinct from the rest of Kashmir. Their villages are collections of multi-storey wooden houses built without nails using an interlocking log construction technique unchanged for centuries.

For travellers willing to venture off the beaten track, Gurez offers extraordinary rewards: exceptional trout fishing in the Kishanganga, some of Kashmir's finest and least-crowded trekking, and a genuine glimpse of traditional Kashmiri village life that has all but disappeared from the more accessible parts of the valley.