Katra Hotels

Katra is a small hill station town in Jammu and Kashmir, also referred as Katra Vaishno Devi, as this is the base point where tourists and pilgrims trek to sacred Vaishno Devi temple, while you can reach Katra from Jammu, in about 42 km drive , and this destination is swarmed by Mata Vaishno Devi temple pilgrims who contribute to major part of Katra tourism, to go to which shrine you have to trek about 13.5 km, before  that you have to register which action incidentally gives you an Insurance coverage of 1 lakh for the trekking period, while those who trek to Vaishno Devi shrine are supposed to trek to another shrine that of Baba Baironath, which is nearer to Katra, while trekking is now substituted by auto rickshaw rides or helicopter lifts, although majority of devotees choose to trek the distance.

About hotels in Katra there are approximately 69 Hotels, although Katra being a pilgrimage centre with charitable organisations having established choultries giving free accommodation to large number of tourists, these hotels are having full occupancies because of the fact, Katra is also a pleasant hill station for tourists to enjoy the nature’s bounty in Jammu and Kashmir region, among these hotels comparable to one, two, three, four & five star rated hotels in Katra, those who have higher rating by reviewers and pilgrims being Country Inn Suites, Durga Hotel, The White Hotel, Chinar Guest House, Basera Hotel, K C Residency, Sharan Guest House, Hotel New Ashok, Devi Grand Hotel, Hotel Shree Hari Niwas, Shankar Palace Hotel, and few others with tariff ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 4500, giving clean and neat rooms for a night’s stay, Katra hotels also have all modern amenities although situated in a remote hill station.

About Katra history,  during the 8th Century Raja Bhim Dev established Katra naming it Bhimgarh, although in 1822 Bhimgarh was stripped off its status as an Independent State, got merged with the other states of the hill by Maharaja Gulab Singh, however Katra became a district of Udhampur in 1948 while it became popular because of the famous shrine of Mata Vaishno devi during later times, and no recorded history is available  about Katra and to know more about Katra  researchers are in pursuit with a number of research projects.