“A trip to Kashmir valley is not complete without a stay in a houseboat. These houseboats are anchored to one side of the lake and they don’t move in water. All basic facilities like electricity, toilets, hot & cold water are available. Each houseboat will have either three or four double bedrooms. There are around 700 houseboats around Srinagar with total capacity of 2750 rooms.
The history of houseboats in Srinagar is linked with British period when the king of Kashmir Sri Gulab Sing didn’t allow British people to buy land or do any construction activity in the valley. Then small houseboats were constructed to keep on Dal lake and those days these small houseboats were moving in water. British people were staying along with locals in the same houseboat. Subsequently independent houseboats were constructed and design and construction of the houseboats changed a lot to present houseboats. All the houseboats of Srinagar are old ones. Now construction of houseboats is not economical as the return is not much.”
Go2India.in
Image source: Interior
Is there a book with interior and or exterior photos of these houseboats?
You’ll have to search Amazon.com.