Katra is a very small town located in Jammu and Kashmir the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi is located here. Katra lies along Ban-Ganga river. Irrespective of being small it is very beautiful place and has became a great tourist attraction spot.
Katra is base camp for people who visit Vaishno Devi. It has a growing tourism industry that offers plenty of small and big hotels, guest houses depending on your budget, plenty of restaurants, dhabas, fast-food joints. Katra is a pure veg town as I have heard. You won’t even find egg anywhere in Katra.
The number of pilgrims that visit the shrine every year is increasing rapidly and so is the Market. The main bazaar is famous for buying woolen garments, dryfruits, leather jackets and much more.
To reach Vaishno Devi temple people have to register at Katra registration counter before starting the trek. By registering, one gets accidental insurance while on the trek amounted 1 lakh INR. The trek is 14km run with many options to reach at the top.
There is another trek around 2km away from Vaishno Devi temple that is Baba Bhaironnath. It is said that your pilgrimage is incomplete until you visit baba Bhaironnath temple temple at last. From the top, that is Baba Bhaironnath temple, you can see India China Border.
When I visited we had to take bus from Jammu Tavi station to reach katra but now they have even started train service to Katra.
Must visit place once in a life time specially for Hindus.