If you are planning to experience the heaven on earth, there is no better place than to visit Jammu and Kashmir in India. One such heavenly beauty can be seen at Katra a small town, about 48 kms from Jammu. It lies at the Trikuta Mountains recess and is a place for religious pilgrimage because of its very famous temple of Mata Vaishnodevi or Trikuta Ghagwati. Over 4.5 million pilgrims and tourist visit this place every year. Many of them walk down across a 13 kms long footpath. Being a hill station, you must carry light woolen in summer and heavy woolen cloths in rest of the year.
Once you reach Jammu by road, rail route and by air, you would have multitude of accommodation options. There are Yatri Niwas that are maintained and managed by the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. Similarly, there are several private hotels like Hotel Vaishno Devi Katra, having a range of choice from regular rooms to luxury suites available depending on your requirement. The rent of the private rooms, range from over Rs. 300 a day to Rs. 3000.
At katra the accommodation options include
• Private Hotels: There are several hotels for instance Hotel Vaisno Devi Katra, named after the holy place. You can not find any other hotel better than this one
• Yatri Niwas: they are maintained and managed by the Shrine Board.
• Dharamshalas: If you have small budget you may want you enjoy your stay at low cost dharamshalas that are owned and managed by different organizations.
• Sarais: A sarai offer free accommodation and managed by the Shrine Board at Sanji Chatt, Adhkawari and Darbar.
• Rest Houses: they are under management of J & K Tourism Department
At sarais and dharamshalas, you may also get blanket service and hire blankets on rent (sometimes free), in case you inadvertently forgot to take appropriate clothing.