Houseboat Lily of Nageen

Nice Houseboat

Stayed at lily of nageen from 24th to 26th sep 2024. Amazing location and scrumptious food. It's a place where you enjoy your stay. The Karnai family makes you feel not only welcome but takes care of you as a family. They make travel arrangements for you and also recommends a good itinerary. Thank you for making our stay a memorable one.

My husband and I spent a wonderful 5 days in Kashmir, hosted by Ajaz & his lovely family at Lily of Nageen at the end of December 2023. It was the most amazing experience, and I've listed down the highlights & some watch outs below: Highlights: - the warm hospitality shown by the family - from the detailed itinerary planning by Ajaz (who arranged for all flights & transportation), the delicious home-cooked food by his sister Sameena, the housekeeper Mehraj who was always on hand to help keep the houseboat warm during the freezing winter days & Nadeem who was our excellent driver & guide. All of them are so friendly & we were treated like family in their beautiful home. - We were fortunate to have the whole houseboat to ourselves so we had privacy. We loved the exquisite & intricate wood carvings, wood panelings and cozy ambience, although in winter it was freezing cold! I loved sipping my masala or kahwa tea at the patio area watching the shikaras pass by though. - The houseboat was so serene & peaceful. It was lovely to be woken up by the sounds of birds. The garden behind the houseboat was also very nice although in winter was very bare. We also happened to be there when Srinagar was going thru very thick fog but that didn't deter us from exploring the gardens. - During our stay there was a nice *** selling beautiful pashmina shawls that go houseboat to houseboat selling his wares via shikara. We bought many lovely shawls at a good price from him. There was also a jewelry salesman that dropped by. Watch outs: - it was extremely cold in end December - while we were bundled up warm outside, we were not really prepared that the houseboat was also freezing inside. The room we stayed had a traditional Kashmiri bukhari wood fire heater but it took a long time to heat the room. Unfortunately electricity was also very sporadic. The electric blanket was such a much needed relief to keep warm but it only worked when there was electricity. Most nights we slept with our winter coats on! However the water heater worked and the wifi was very strong throughout our stay. Overall, despite the freezing weather we would love to come back in a heartbeat! Although we are more inclined to visit in spring next time