When in Kashmir, take a shikara ride to this book-cafe

If you have ever been to Srinagar, you must be knowing of its Alpine beauty. One of India’s most loved destinations, this city is home to some surprising secrets, away from the touristy glare. One such secret is Gulshan Books; it is a bookshop as well as a cafe, one of the oldest ones in the city. What adds to its lure is the fact that you have to take a shikara ride to it!

Yes, that is right. Gulshan Books also made it to the Limca Book of Records as India’s only bookshop-cum-library on a lake. So yes, you can be in the middle of the aptly famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, surrounded in some of the world’s most stunning settings and be surrounded with thousands of books and, of course, some great coffee. This bookshop is set on Nehru Park Island, on the second floor of JKTDC.
It is home to a very interesting and delightful collection of books, especially if you are interested in reading on Islam and the region’s history, art, culture and more. It also has an envious collection of photographs to pore over. Such is the collection here that it was hailed as “one of the best bookshops not simply in Kashmir (no, there’s not a lot of competition) but in South Asia” by BBC journalist Andrew Whitehead.

The bookshop also has a reading room, wherein readers can spend hours soaking in the book-bliss that prevails around. The cafe at Gulshan Books will take care of hunger pangs that might hit you after some hours of reading; while the menu here is not lavish, there is nothing like a coffee with your favourite author in the Himalayas.