Five Alpine Lakes That Most Indian Trekkers Discover Surprisingly Late
The Kashmir Great Lakes trek strings together five glacial lakes - Vishansar, Krishansar, Gadsar, Satsar and Gangbal - across a roughly 70 km route from Sonamarg to Naranag, through meadows that rival anything in Himachal or Uttarakhand but see far fewer trekkers simply because Kashmir took longer to re-enter the mainstream trekking circuit.
Most operators run it as a 7-8 day itinerary, camping beside a different lake most nights, with Gadsar Pass (around 13,750 ft) as the route's high point. Unlike heavily bureaucratic permit destinations like Ladakh, KGL mainly needs a forest department entry fee rather than a complex permit process, though operators still handle this as part of the package.
Difficulty & Season Breakdown
Graded moderate-to-challenging given the trek's length and a few steep pass crossings, KGL rewards a reasonable fitness base. Its season runs July to early September - notably overlapping the monsoon that shuts down much of the rest of the Himalayas, since Kashmir's Great Lakes region sits in a partial rain shadow.
