What's on in Gulmarg, India through the year

Peak crowds — travelers describe it as peak season, Ski season

• Hazard

  Avalanche season

  1 Jan – 31 Mar · usuallyClosures

  Phase 2 and the bowls above it shut for days after heavy snow, and a local advisory goes up most mornings through the winter. The off-piste here is unpatrolled; a guide and a beacon are not optional. Source ↗

Still on: Ski season (20 Dec – 10 Apr (usually)), Christmas to New Year rush (22 Dec – 2 Jan (usually))

Peak crowds — Khelo India Winter Games, Ski season

• Festival

  Khelo India Winter Games

  15 Feb – 15 Mar · usuallySporting eventCrowdedClosures

  The national winter games take the alpine and nordic courses for about a week, with dates fixed late and moved when the snow is thin. Some runs and gondola slots go to the event. Source ↗

Still on: Avalanche season (1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)), Ski season (20 Dec – 10 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Khelo India Winter Games, Ski season

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Avalanche season (1 Jan – 31 Mar (usually)), Khelo India Winter Games (15 Feb – 15 Mar (usually)), Ski season (20 Dec – 10 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Ski season, Summer vacation (Kerala / far south) in India

• Season

  Mud season

  15 Apr – 25 MayOff-season shutdownClosures

  The snow comes off the meadow weeks before the summer trade arrives. Hotels stay open, the gondola runs a short schedule, and the place feels shut even when it is not.

Still on: Ski season (20 Dec – 10 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Summer hill-station rush, Summer vacation (north & east) in India

• Season

  Summer hill-station rush

  25 May – 15 JulSchool holidaysCrowded

  Kashmir's peak domestic season. The road up from Tangmarg is bumper to bumper by ten, gondola slots go online days ahead, and the pony men work the queue the whole way.

Still on: Mud season (15 Apr – 25 May)

Peak crowds — Summer hill-station rush, Summer vacation (north & east) in India

• Nature

  The meadow in flower

  1 Jun – 20 Aug · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  Gulmarg means meadow of flowers and for ten weeks it earns the name — the bowl under the gondola line is deep in bloom and the ponies take you across it instead of up it.

Still on: Summer hill-station rush (25 May – 15 Jul)

Busy — Summer hill-station rush, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Summer hill-station rush (25 May – 15 Jul), The meadow in flower (1 Jun – 20 Aug (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: The meadow in flower (1 Jun – 20 Aug (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Nature

  Kashmir apple harvest

  1 Sep – 31 Oct · usually

  The orchards on the drive up from Srinagar through Baramulla district are picked through September and October, and roadside stalls sell apples by the crate; the meadows at Gulmarg are quiet between the summer rush and the snow.

Busy — Autumn break (Dussehra / Diwali) in India, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Harud, the Kashmir autumn

  10 Oct – 10 Nov · usuallyAutumn colour

  From mid-October the chinar trees in Srinagar's Mughal gardens turn red and the Gulmarg meadows go brown and gold. It is quiet before the first snow, and the golf course closes for the winter. Source ↗

• Nature

  Saffron bloom at Pampore

  20 Oct – 15 Nov · usuallyHarvest

  The saffron fields at Pampore, just south of Srinagar and a day trip from Gulmarg, flower purple for two or three weeks from late October with pickers out at dawn; the timing shifts with rain and the first cold. Source ↗

Still on: Kashmir apple harvest (1 Sep – 31 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Harud, the Kashmir autumn (10 Oct – 10 Nov (usually)), Saffron bloom at Pampore (20 Oct – 15 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Ski season, Christmas to New Year rush

• Season

  Ski season

  20 Dec – 10 Apr · usuallyCrowdedBook early

  The gondola climbs to just under 4,000 metres, though the top phase only opens when the snowpack allows and often not before January. The lift queue at Phase 1 is the constraint, not the snow.

• Holiday

  Christmas to New Year rush

  22 Dec – 2 Jan · usuallyChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  The week from Christmas to New Year is India's busiest holiday stretch: schools and many offices break, domestic travellers pour into hill stations, heritage towns and resorts, and hotels charge peak rates, often with a New Year's Eve dinner surcharge. Book early. Source ↗