[AbiS]

Jay Mata Di.. Jorse bolo… Jai mata di.

We boarded the Rajdhani Express for Jammu from New Delhi at 9 PM and reached around 5:30 AM. I had already booked the taxi and was already in station.We all now set to go to Katra from where Helicopter takes you to Vaishno Devi and My fly time is at 10 AM. I was loading the luggage but the taxi driver suggested to keep the luggage here and carry just the bag sack (whatever is required) and we agreed to what he said and kept the luggage in his friends hotel. Katra is around 45 KM from Jammu and took us a little over than an hour to reach. We booked a hotel for 2 hrs to had shower and then went to the Katra vaishno devi shrine board office to get my bhawan booking stamped and rushed to the Katra helipad… we were already late, I called the customer care saying I might be late and they replied they can manage it… Thanks Mata di.

Its time now to board the helicopter, 5 people were traveling in a helicopter, My wife and parents got into the same helicopter and I had to board the next one since they manage it based on weight. My wife luckily got a co-pilot seat and enjoyed. But while return, I managed to get all of us in the same helicopter. The total flying time was around 5-6 mins only and you reach in Sanji Chhat which is 2.5 KM away from the mata di Gufa (But next time I wish to walk all 13 KMs from katra base to Vaishno Devi). If you have a return ticket for the same day the shrine board will provide you a VIP pass wherein you can have the darshan quickly. Since I had my return ticket next day they did not provide us the VIP passes… (-:

We had our bookings in Gauri Bhawan which was some 1.5 KM. We started walking and reached in 30/45 mins. Checked into the room and changed our cloths. Gufa is 1 KM from the Gauri bhawan which took us 30 mins to reach. The queue was small and we had our darshan in just 20 mins. Jai Mata Di….

In the evening, my wife and I went to the Vairon baba temple which was around 2 KM from the bhawan. The weather was nice… ambience was superb… All around mountain.

Things that might help in your travel
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* All information is there in maavaishnodevi.org website.

* I had booked the Gauri Bhawan and Helicopter through this we site.

* You have to book before 30 days. Theere are very few rooms for internet booking.

* Confirmation of Bhawan and helicopter booking takes 2 days, So wait.

* If you have a helicopter ticket, you don’t need a Yatra slip

* However you can get a yatra slip online as well for which you will receive Prasad in Katra.

* You have to get your Bhawan booking receipt stamped in shrine board office located in Katra.

[geeta]

Thanks for sharing such nice pics.
Jai Mata Di.

[pareshraheja]

Guys, anyone has an idea of the timings of the helicopter service from katra to Bhavan.