Hey guys! So I am writing up something new to share my experience of my recent journey and also to help you out on how you can plan your journey.HISTORY OF THE TEMPLE VAISHNO DEVI
The temple is located on the Trikuta Mountain. According to the legend, Mata Vaishnavi appeared in his dream and asked him to search for her at the holy cave amidst the folds of the Trikuta Mountain. Upon entering the cave, he found a rock formation with three heads. Mata Vaishno Devi appeared before him and blessed him. Pandit Shridhar then spent the rest of his life in the service of the Goddess at the holy cave.My Journey Experience to Katra:
So I started my journey from New Delhi Railway station through Shri Shakti Express(22461) at 17.30 on 25th December and the train reached Katra at 05.15 on 26th December. The train was quite clean and there was no delay even after so much fog and from there we checked into our hotel and got ready and left for the helipad terminal. We reached there at 8.00 as our helicopter was booked for 9.30 and we had to reach 1 hour prior to our booking, but unfortunately, the weather condition was not favorable for the helicopter so we waited there till 12.30 and left from there for our trek after reaching we choose to hire pony from Ban Ganga to Ardhkuwari. There are 2 ways to The Bhawan from there one is 6.5 km longs and other which is 5.5 km long. We booked our electric car and went to Bhawan from ardhkuwari. We covered a distance of 5.5 km in around 25 mins. Our rooms were already booked on The Bhawan and they were pleasant. We rested there for the night to attend our morning aarti. We went for the aarti at 5.45 and stood in a queue. After the entry to the aarti hall, we sat there according to our numbers and they also provided blankets to the people sitting in the first three rows since it was almost 0° in the morning.
After the aarti, we went to the holy cave for the darshan and came back around 9.00. Then we had breakfast and we went for the Bhairo Baba using a ropeway. The queue was of around 1 hour since all the members have to stand in the queue. The ropeway facility covered the distance in 1min17 sec to the Bharo baba which has a capacity of 35 members in a go. After darshan, we came back to The Bhawan in the ropeway since it was a round trip. We booked our electric cars from Bhawan to ardhkuwari and from ardhkuwari we walked down to ban Ganga.
HOW TO PLAN YOUR JOURNEY?
For planning your journey you need to book the tickets for the helicopter, room on Bhawan, aarti and battery car prior to 2 months from the date you are planning. You can book all these tickets from the official site of the Shrine board (www.maavaishnodevi.org).Make sure you sit with all your documents ready and card for payment and also you need to divide your bookings among 2-3 people since the slots get full in almost 5 mins. The booking starts at 10.00 the slots are almost filled up till 10.05.
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In case if your helicopter is canceled due to some weather condition then you will get a refund of the amount in your bank account in around 15-20 days.
For ropeway booking, you have to book there since it is not booked online.
Make sure you carry your:
•Aadhar card •Pan card •Debit card (with which all the bookings are made)
If you are going in the winter season then do carry some layers or you can buy jackets that are tested for –5°/-10°
I hope you like the blog and if you like it then do like, share and comment.
This guide was originally posted by🤵 The Casual Outfitter