The Kashmir Valley is one of the top tourist destinations in India. Thanks to its snow-clad mountains, beautiful lakes, rich wildlife, and colorful flowers, it is often referred to as “Paradise on Earth”. One of the most popular tourist attractions in the region is the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden in Srinagar.
The Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden, formerly known as Siraj Bagh and Model Floriculture Center, is a tulip garden in the Indian city of Srinagar that was founded in 2007 and officially opened in 2008 to boost floriculture and advance the tourism season in the Kashmir Valley by two months. Ahead of the grand opening, more than 1.5 million tulip bulbs were brought in from the Netherlands and planted in the garden.
The garden is built on a slope on the foothills of the Zabarwan Range and consists of seven terraces overlooking the Dal Lake. With an area of about 74 acres (30 hectares), it is the largest tulip garden in Asia. The Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden is home to around 50 tulip varieties and several dozen other flower species, including daffodils, hyacinths, irises, ranunculi (buttercups), and roses. The garden also has tulip trees, native to North America, which bloom around the same time as tulips and other spring flowers. Other trees found in the garden are almonds, apricots, and peaches.
The annual Kashmir Tulip Festival in the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden was initiated by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to kick off the tourism season in the Kashmir Valley and showcase the impressive range of tulips and other flowers in the garden. The garden usually opens to the public in late March, and the festival is held over two weeks in April. When the tulip season is over, the garden closes to the public until the next spring.
During the festival, visitors can stroll through the many sections of the garden, each of which hosts different tulip varieties and cultivars: standard (traditional) tulips, double bloom tulips, parrot tulips, fringe tulips, bi-color standard tulips, Rembrandt tulips, fosteriana tulips, lily-flowering tulips, single late tulips, triumph tulips, and more. However, the festival is about more than gazing at flowers; its extensive program includes musical and cultural shows, food festivals, and other fun events and activities.
The Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden is located at a distance of about 9 kilometers (5.5 miles) from Srinagar and is reachable by public transport. It has all necessary facilities such as public restrooms, drinking water fountains, Wi-Fi, and concession stands. Keep in mind that there is an entry fee for visiting the garden.
If you happen to attend the Kashmir Tulip Festival, you should also check out other tourist attractions in its vicinity, such as the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Botanical Garden, Chashme Shahi, Pari Mahal (the Palace of Fairies), Royal Spring Golf Course, Nishat Bagh, Shalimar Bah, and Zabarwan Park.
