The Mughal gardens, in the right order and at the right hour

The one thing that matters

Go early. The coaches reach the gardens somewhere between ten and eleven, and from then until late afternoon you are walking through other people's photographs. Before nine you can have Shalimar nearly to yourself, which is a completely different place.

This is the whole trick. Everything else below is detail.

Shalimar Bagh

Jahangir built it for Nur Jahan in the early seventeenth century, and it is the largest and the most formal of them — terraces rising away from the lake, a water channel running the length of it, chinars old enough to have been planted by people who knew him.

It is minutes from Harwan, which is why we send guests here first and early. The upper terrace was the private one and is still the quietest part of the garden.

Nishat Bagh

Further down the same road toward the city, and the one with the view. Twelve terraces drop toward the Dal with the Zabarwan directly behind, and the whole thing is oriented so you are always looking at water.

Larger crowds than Shalimar by mid-morning because it is closer to town. Second stop if you have started early.

Chashme Shahi and Pari Mahal

These two are round the lake on the hillside and are best done together, since Pari Mahal sits above Chashme Shahi and the road goes to both.

Chashme Shahi is the smallest of the Mughal gardens and built around a spring, which is the point of it. Pari Mahal is not really a garden at all but a set of terraced ruins, and it has the best view of the Dal anywhere — the whole lake, the city beyond it, and the mountains on the far side. Go in the late afternoon for the light.

A fifth, which nobody visits

Harwan Garden, above the reservoir and a few minutes from the property, is terraced and quiet and almost entirely free of visitors. It is not a Mughal garden and it does not pretend to be, but it is a pleasant hour and you will likely have it to yourself.

Doing it in a day

Shalimar at eight, Nishat by half past nine, back for a late breakfast, then Chashme Shahi and Pari Mahal in the afternoon with the light behind you and a shikara on the Dal at dusk. That is a full and unhurried day, and it is the one we arrange most often.

Entry fees are small and are collected at each gate. They change, so we will tell you the current figures rather than publish them here.