Vaishno Devi darshan and Kashmir Trip Planning

Vaishno Devi darshan and Kashmir Trip

I booked train ticket to/from Katra.
We also booked Vaishnodevi Yatra Parchi online using below link. With one login you can book yatra parchi for multiple people but 5 people in each request.
https://www.maavaishnodevi.org/OnlineServices/LogIn1.aspx

I also enquired to different travel agents for 7 days trip reservations (Car + Hotel room with 2 double beds + Food) to kashmir for 4 adults (Myself, wife, mother, sister ) and 2 kids . Everyone was quoting 80k to 1.2lac and mentioning that book fast otherwise you will not get Car and hotel reservations. It turned out to be false later. I thought these prices are on higher side and did not do the booking.

We reached Katra railway station on 28th Apr 2022 evening. We got an auto driver outside railway station who charged 100rs and helped us select hotel. In Katra generally hotel provides drop/pickup facility for Mata darshan starting point.

Stay in Katra:
We stayed at Hotel Anant. We discussed and agreed on getting a room for 2-3 hrs for freshen up and then kept luggage at hotel's front desk and asked to put this luggage next day in a room (double bed+single bed) for us to stay. All this for 1500rs.
We ordered food in near by restaurant and had our dinner.

Kashmir tour planning from Katra:
I discussed tour package with two nearby travel agent. Our requirement was a Car for 7 days and hotel room with two double beds to accommodate all of us (4 adults and 2 kids). Visiting Patanitop, Srinagar, Sonmarg, Dodhpathri, Pahalgam We agreed on 30k including driver food allowance, parking, toll. We paid 15k advance and 10k after 4th day and remaining 5k at the end of the trip.
We understood that in Sonmarg, Doodhpathri, Pahalgam We need to hire horse/pony/Car separately due to local unions.
                      We excluded Gulmarg from our trip because there was very less snow there at phase1 so to see snow we were suppose to go to phase2 with double ticket. And also heard there is a long queue for getting physical tickets even after booking it online. We understood from Travel agent that gandola ride we can enjoy in Patni top and snow we will see in Sonmarg and Doodhpathri so we agreed. And this turned out to be true.

Vaishnodevi Yatra:
It is said that the Vaishno Devi temple requires around a 13 km trek to reach the temple. It is located at an altitude of 52,000 feet. You can pre-book helicopter ride or book horse on the spot.
Vaishno Devi Helicopter Ticket - One way fare from Katra to Sanjhichhat or vice versa is priced at INR 1730 per person. Two-way ticket for Katra to Sanjhichhat is INR 3460 per person. This needs to be booked in advance from www.maavaishnodevi.org website. It gets booked very fast.

We decided to do the journey by walk and left for mata darshan at 7:30pm. We went straight away in checking queue at the entrance as we already booked our yatra parchi online. Vaishno devi Temple is at Trikuta mountain.

1. Banganga
We reached Banganga after 1 hr, there was very less water in it. There were plenty of  eating places and water filters on the way.
                                
2. Charan Paduka
This temple is very beautiful and we had darshan of Matarani's Charan Paduka.

3. Ardhkuwari
We reached Ardhkuwari at 2:30am in the night and darshan of the Temple there. We also took token for garbh grah darshan and understood that it will take 30hr for our chance to come. People can get blankets here and can rest but we did not stop and continued to our journey towards Vaishnodevi temple.

4. Vaishnodevi Temple
We reached outside at 7:00am but they stop darshan for 1 hr for morning arti so we waited in queue after keeping our bags, mobile and wallet in locker.
            Inside the cave there are three stone heads and are said to be of Mata Kali, Mata Laxmi, and Mata Saraswati. At 8:30am we had our darshan.
           
5. Siva Gufa
We also went to Siva gufa for darshan which is near the exit. It's approx 100 stairs down and back.

6. Bhairavnath Temple
On the day of our visit gandola which goes from Mata temple to Bhairavnath Temple was closed due to maintenance. We had some snacks and then we headed towards Bhairav temple which is 2km further. We hired two kids stroller for 700rs and it was worth as it was very steep. At 10am we had our darshana and headed back.

Our legs were tired and last 1km was very tough. We took foot massage on chair also for 25rs. By Matarani's blessing we were able to complete it.
We reached down at 6:30pm It was amazing experience. We called hotel guy to pick us up.

We reached hotel and had dinner and rested.