Patnitop is a small city in Jammu and a very famous hill-station in Jammu and Kashmir far away from the military tension of Jammu and Kashmir.

Patnitop is well connected to Jammu and Srinagar by national highway and can be reached by a local bus or taxi. Share taxis are available from Ghantaghar near Lal Chowk in Old Srinagar. One-way fare from Srinagar to Patnitop is Rs. 150 (March 2008) and the journey is completed in 5-6 hours. Origin of the name Patnitop is a distortion of the original name of "Patan Da Talab" meaning "Pond of the Princess". In olden times a pond existed in the meadows and the kings princess often used to have her bath there. Part of the pond still exists near the youth hostel.The Britishers probably couldn't get the name correctly in their revenue records , and over the years it changed from "Patan Da Talab" to Patnitop.
Journey from Jammu takes approximately 2-3 hours and costs Rs. 150-200 per person in a shared Sumo.
Nearest rail station to Patnitop is Udhampur. Udhampur has two trains that touch New Delhi. Best train is 12446 Sampark Kranti Express that starts from New delhi and reaches Udhampur at 8.05 am. From Udhampur, you can take a bus to Patnitop, which reachs there in an hour. Udhampur is conected to a small station called Chakki bank which is very close to Pathankot station. Pathankot is directly connected to New Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta.