On Dal Lake, the Floating Vegetable Market is a unique site to savour in Srinagar. This colorful floating market, set against the beautiful backdrop, marks it as a photographer’s haven. The pretty picture it proffers makes it one of the must-see places in Srinagar, Kashmir. One has to reach early in the morning to witness the bustling floating market.

The floating gardens in the natural wetlands of Srinagar are the prime source of vegetables cultivation and these fresh vegetables are then sold on the floating shikara boats on the lake.

Every morning, you can witness the vegetable cultivators of Dal Lake sail to a place with their freshly loaded vegetables. The gathering place is known to be “Gudher”, which means Gathering. Vendors throng to this market with Shikaras laden with vegetables and the market lasts only a couple of hours from around 5 AM till 8 AM. Thus the dawn-time is the best time to catch an excellent photogenic visit to these floating vegetable markets on Dal Lake.

India’s first floating market dal lake, this bazaar (market) is one of the few places where the barter system is still practiced in India. It accepts the contemporary monetary system for tourists and sellers while partially adopting the traditional exchange system with local traders.