We had a magical stay at the Hotel Highlands Park, which offered an authentic Kashmir experience with plenty of charm. It was rather deluxe in some respects and in others it took us back to the simplicity of Kashmir life. There was something quite delightful about wandering along the snowy paths between the main building and our cottage room, and greeting all the male staff along the way.

LOCATION
The location was ideal for access to one of the poma runs, but it was a decent distance away from the Gulmarg Gondola and the rest of the village. Sometimes we’d walk back up to the hotel and other times catch a taxi, but from the main hotel entrance used by the taxis, we still had an uphill trudge to get to the room. But hey if you can skin up mountains at 4,000 metres, then walking around the hotel grounds should be feasible too! One of the huge bonuses of the location was that it was quiet and it felt remote, and being perched up on the hill allowed for glorious mountain views.

ROOM
We stayed in a beautiful room that was very large and offered amazing views out 2 sets of windows. The king bed was really comfortable and the day bed was also a nice spot to chillax after a day of skiing. The bathroom was renovated and whilst at times the water pressure wasn’t the best, the water was reliably hot, which is not something you take for granted in Gulmarg. The bukhari pumped out a lot of heat (almost too much at times) and it took a little while to get used to the men wandering into the room to stoke the fire, with only just a quick knock of warning. Once we got used to this, we loved having this very attentive butler service.

FOOD
The food was a highlight of the hotel. Breakfasts had enough variety and I loved ordering a hot item each morning such as a spicy masala omelette. For dinner, the group ordered lots of share dishes so it was great to try an array of Kashmiri cuisine.

LOUNGE BAR
Every night we’d retreat to the lounge before dinner when it was reasonably quiet, and the sunken lounge near one of the combustion fires was a particularly great place to chill. After dinner, the bar typically fired up a bit more when others from around town would turn up. The bar sold beer and whiskey, with basic yet pricy wine only arriving on our last night.

FACILITIES & SERVICES
We had a couple of massages which were good value and very welcome after hiking at Gulmarg. Like the rest of Kashmir, the communications were appalling, so not the hotels fault. There was only wifi in the lounge bar and it was so limited that most of the time it was non-existent. All social media had been blocked by the Indian government, so it was nice to be forced into just relaxing in the bar rather than reading socials. Also as is common place in Gulmarg, the power went off frequently and sometimes it would take a little while for the hotel’s generator to kick in. All part of the adventure of visiting Kashmir!

Our visit to Gulmarg was incredibly special, and staying at the Highlands Park was definitely a major part of the appeal.
See our video here