Best Time to Visit Jammu & Kashmir

Most parts of the Kashmir valley are a year round destination with winter enhancing the natural beauty. It snows in the winter months in and around Srinagar and winters can be very severe but Gulmarg, particularly is a popular winter games destination. Jammu has fairly hot summers, so the best time of the year to come here is between October and April. Visitors travelling to the upper reaches of Ladakh or to Leh will find the summer months between May and October, the perfect time of the year.

Climate

Jammu and Kashmir is the northern most state of India and comprises of three distinct climatic areas: The Arctic cold desert areas of Ladakh, the temperate Kashmir valley and sub-tropical region of Jammu. The arid desert zone of Ladakh gets little snowfall but the winters are severely cold. During the winter months, this region is cut off from the rest of the country except for a limited air connection. The valley of Kashmir has a temperate climate in summer with widespread and heavy snowfall in winter. The foothills of Jammu have a tropical climate with very hot summers and cold winters. The annual rainfall also varies from region to region with 92.6 mm in Leh, 650.5 mm in Srinagar and 1115.9 mm in Jammu.

Jammu gets very warm in the summers with average temperatures between 43°C and 23°C while winters are severely cold with maximum temperatures around 26°C and minimum temperatures below 4.3°C. Srinagar has pleasanter summers with temperature in June-August between 25° C to 35° C. The mercury plummets to 7°C in spring (March to May) and autumn (October and November). In the winter months from December to February temperature drops to -10° C.