Vaishnao Devi - A trip from Tamil Nadu to Jammu

Travel day

- Chennai - Mumbai - Katra flight
- Reached Jammu at 16:00 hrs
- From Jammu, road travel to Katra in a pre-booked cab
- Jammu - Katra - 43km, approx 1.5 hours
- The cabs to Katra can be booked inside the airport also
- check in at KC Residency. This hotel is located close to the market, approx 1 km
- there are quite a lot of 3 star and 4 star hotels located near the market
- Dinner at Manoranjan Vaishno Dhabba and Desserts at Kapoor Sweets, both are in the market
- The Dhabba is quite crowded, but the waiting isn't long and the service/ food is great
- Rabri and Kesar doodh at the Kapoors are a must have. Both the Dhabba and Kapoors are adjacent
- Katra is quite a happening place, you can find everything here

Temple visit

- reach the helicopter office as advised, and get your RFID and boarding pass
- Helicopter bookings can be done on the government website, it opens 60 days in advance. VIP passes provided for people with to and fro tickets
- These points are at Max 2km from market
- We are taken to the helipad by the operators. Once you reach the destination, get your return passes and VIP pass. From there it is 3 km till shrine
- There are Palkis available, they drop approx 1 km before the shrine as the queue builds up and pick up after darshan
- For VIP darshan, proceed to gate no.5. It will take close to 45 mins for darshan

Tips and suggestions

- if there are senior citizens who can't walk, you can check with the palki guy to go via a separate queue
- if going by walk or horse, get your RFID done near the market , and get dropped to BanGanga by auto. The horse ride one side is INR 1250. On the way stop at ardhkuwari, get your ticket and proceed to vaishnao Devi. Ardhkuwari can be covered on the way back.
- there are separate queues for bairao nath cable car from vaishnao Devi. Even horses can be taken, it's 3 km one way
- When going by helicopter for same day return, ardhkuwari cannot be covered, unless you stay overnight. There are battery cars between vaishno devi and ardhkuwari
- The night time between 12-2 is quite a lean period with no rush at all and can be covered without any hassle
- All items except cash and Prasad has to be deposited in lockers. Take a lock and key in case there are queues for lockers
- Get an idea of how the shrine is from YouTube or images so that you don't miss anything in the rush
- Wear comfy shoes

This entire trip can be covered in 2 days without any hassle. Irrespective of the month, carry some basic woolen, water proof jacket and thermals, so that you are prepared.

If going by heli, suggested route, buy heli to and fro tickets for 2 different days
- Heli from Katra to Bawan (vaishnao devi)
- Get a battery car ticket to Ardhkuwari from Bawan.
- finish the Darshan for Vaishno Devi and proceed to Ardhkuwari by battery
- once darshan is completed go back to bawan and take the heli, based on time, complete your bhairaonath visit as well via horse or cable car

If going by horse/palki, suggested route

Take  from Banganga to Bawan. On the way purchase ticket at ardhkuwari. Meanwhile complete Vaishnaodevi and  Bhairaonath. On your return from Vaishnaodevi, you can finish ardhkuwari if the ticket no. is being called.

Katra - Vaishnaodevi via Ardhkuwari- 13km
Vaishnaodevi - bhairaonath - 3km

We booked our trip via
https://www.vaishnodevihelicopterservices.com/