Maa Vaishno Devi Yatra Tour

Pick-up from your home, office or Delhi airport at about 6 am. The route follows NH44 through Panipat, Ambala, Ludhiana and Pathankot, with a breakfast halt near Karnal and lunch around Jalandhar. Jammu is reached in the evening and Katra about 45 minutes later. Check in at Katra and collect your yatra registration slip from the counter or online before you sleep, since the slip is checked at the Banganga entry.

Start early, ideally before 5 am, from the Banganga check post. The track climbs past Charan Paduka to Ardhkuwari at roughly the 6 km mark, then continues to Sanjichhat and the Bhawan. Leave mobile phones, belts and leather items at the cloakroom before entering the cave shrine. After darshan most pilgrims go on to the Bhairon temple, about 2 km further up, before turning back. Ponies, palkis and the battery car from Ardhkuwari are paid locally. Expect a long day; many people reach Katra again after dark.

This day is kept free deliberately. Sleep late, let your legs recover, and visit the Katra bazaar for dry fruit, hill rajma and walnut wood work. Pilgrims who stayed overnight at the Bhawan or at Sanjichhat use this day for the descent. If the group wants, the driver can take you to Jammu for the Raghunath temple and Bahu fort and return by evening within the daily kilometre limit.

Leave Katra after breakfast at about 7 am. The drive back to Delhi takes 12 to 13 hours with two meal stops, and drop is at your doorstep in the evening. Traffic through Ludhiana and Ambala in the late afternoon can add an hour, so plan an evening arrival rather than fixing onward train or flight connections for the same night.