Dry Fruit and Spices
Kashmir is known for its spices and quality dry fruit. Shop for different varieties of walnuts including burzil walnuts, kagzi walnuts and wont walnuts which are available in abundance. Out of the spices, this is the absolute best place to take home saffron, which is grown in and around Srinagar and is of the highest quality. Also pick up some shahi zira, cardamom and a few bottles of honey, all of which are specialties of the region. Hari Market is a good place to go for all the above.
Antique silver jewellery
If you enjoy rummaging through large quantities of trinkets in silver, you’ll love Srinagar. From ornamental jewellery to larger decoration pieces, you’ll get silverware with intricate carvings like nowhere else. The real fun begins when you dig deep into the seemingly bottomless boxes and discover something of real antique value. Some of them might look slightly jaded, but make up for it with their rare and stunning designs.
Pashmina Shawls
Over the years, Kashmir’s famous Pashmina shawls have become rarer to find and more expensive to buy. Made from the soft wool of the Himalayan goat, the best test of a Pashmina is by trying to pass it through a ring. Prices range from 15000 rupees onwards to the truly astronomical, but it’s an investment only apppreciates in value.
Carpets
Silk carpets are among Kashmir’s most famous creations, and though some could cost you a package, they’re worth every bit. The ones available are either handmade or machine-made, depending on the intricacy of the design, with the former being more expensive. The prices are usually fixed, so there’s not much space for bargaining, though the wool carpets are a more affordable option if you’ve got a modest budget.
Papier mache products
Easier on the pocket and more practical for tourists with luggage constraints, are the many papier-mache products sold all over the city. From figurines and vases to tables painted in colourful paint and traditional patterns these make for nice souvenirs and could add a lovely touch of the valley to your drawing room back home.
Floating Vegetable Market
The dawn-time floating vegetable market on the Dal is an excellent photogenic visit with colourful produce being hawked on equally colourful shikaras, and gives you a dekko at a relatively recent tradition. This is not a retail market; vegetable growers come with shikaras laden with leafy greens, water chestnuts, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and more, to sell to agents of the shops on land. Given tourist interest in this, the market now also has a plethora of shikaras selling flowers, saffron, wood carving et al. Soak in the natural aura, perfectly merged with the happy chatter and hustle and bustle of local life, while you are gently swayed by the colourful shikaras.
Kashmir Government Arts Emporium
The Kashmir Government Arts Emporium is the best place to shop for some beautiful Kashmiri handicrafts. Starting from garments to home decor the place is overflowing with amazingly gorgeous items that you would like to take back home with you. Come here to find some of the most unique handicraft items that you have ever found. Bags, clothes, home decor items, lamp shades all of these things can be bought at decent prices. These things are all hand made by the indigenous people of the region.