The Vale of Kashmir

The Vale of Kashmir is often called "Paradise on Earth" and the "Switzerland of India".

Size and shape

• Length about 135 km (north-west to south-east), width about 32 to 40 km.
• Area of about 15,520 km² (the figure commonly quoted in textbooks).
• Height of the valley floor: about 1,580 m at Srinagar; the floor slopes from the south-east to the north-west.
• Enclosed by the Pir Panjal (south and west) and the Great Himalaya / Zanskar range (north and east).

Parts of the valley

Landforms

• The Jhelum meanders over a very flat floor, with a very gentle gradient near Srinagar. This is why the valley floods.
• Karewas (Wudar) are terraces on the valley edge. They reach 1,800 to 2,000 m.
• Flood plains and lakes (Dal, Wular, Anchar, Manasbal).
• Margs (meadows): Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Yusmarg, Doodhpathri, Tosamaidan.
• Lidder valley (Pahalgam), Sind valley (Sonamarg), Lolab valley (Kupwara) and Gurez valley (Bandipora).
• The Baramulla gorge is the only natural outlet, where the Jhelum leaves the valley.

Importance

• The economic heart of the region: rice, apples, saffron, walnuts and tourism.
• Home of about half of the people of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.