Kashmir

The 'Valley of Milk' — a broad grassy bowl at 2,730 m with a milky-white stream and grazing Gujjar herds.

Houseboats, shikaras, Mughal gardens and old-city food.

A huge high meadow below the Pir Panjal, formerly an army artillery range and long closed to visitors.

A bowl of alpine meadow in the Pir Panjal, 47 km from Srinagar, with pine slopes and pony trails.

A high alpine lake above Gulmarg, reached on foot or pony past Khilanmarg and the Apharwat ridge.

India's ski resort — deep powder, the Gondola to Apharwat, and meadows in summer.

A hard trek from Aru up the Lidder valley to the largest glacier in Kashmir, under Kolahoi peak (5,425 m).

Lidder river valley of meadows, pine forest and pony rides — Kashmir's family favourite.

Twin alpine lakes ringed by snow peaks, quieter than Great Lakes.

A small glacial lake at 3,800 m above Aru, usually done as an overnight camp from Pahalgam.

Seven days over high passes between turquoise alpine lakes — often called India's most beautiful trek.

An old temple village at the trailhead for the Harmukh trek, ending at the twin lakes of Gangbal and Nundkol.

The 'meadow of gold' and Thajiwas glacier — snow you can touch even in May.

A deodar-forest village in the Bringi valley, developed as a community-tourism model village.

A 3,490 m pass on the Mughal Road between Shopian and Poonch, with meadows and a Sufi shrine.

A vast twin meadow — Bodh Bangus and Lokut Bangus — ringed by fir forest near the LoC in Kupwara.

A remote Kishanganga valley of log houses beneath the pyramid of Habba Khatoon peak.

A riverside border village on the Kishanganga, with India on one bank and Pakistan-administered territory on the other.

A green orchard valley of walnut and apple groves, with the Kalaroos caves and the Nag Marg spring.

The upper Kishanganga valley beyond Gurez — wooden villages, shepherd camps and almost no visitors.