Vaishno Devi: planning the yatra

What you are walking to

The shrine is a natural cave in the Trikuta hills, 1,584 m up and 13 km above the town of Katra. Inside there is no idol: three rock formations called pindis stand for the Goddess in her three forms. Darshan runs round the clock, all year, pausing only for the two aartis.

The cave has drawn pilgrims for centuries, but the modern yatra dates from 1986, when the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board took over the management. What used to be a rough hill path is now a paved, lit track with shelters, food, medical posts and a registration system.

It is a mountain, not a temple visit

Thirteen kilometres up and thirteen back is a full day of walking for a fit adult, and the gradient is real. That is why so much of the planning here is about how you cover the distance: on foot by one of three tracks, on a pony or in a palki, by helicopter to Sanjichhat, or some combination. Our page on the climb lays out the stops, and the helicopter page covers the paid options and their official fares.

Weather decides more here than at a temple on the plains. Snow reaches the upper track in December and January, and the Board suspends the yatra outright when conditions turn — most recently after a landslide in August 2025, which closed the old track for three weeks.

When the track fills up

Both Navratris — the autumn one and the spring one — are the peaks of the year, and the week around New Year is close behind. On days like these the Board caps registrations at around 30,000 to 35,000 and declares "Waiting" once the track is full. The calendar has the dates for the year ahead, and the shrine's own figures show the shape of a normal year: nearly 7 million pilgrims in 2025, with the summer months and October carrying the load.