Mahabaleshwar Weekend Trip: Land of strawberry

                  After some costal line trips, we planned to visit a hill station. Mahabaleshwar is a perfect place in the lap of the majestic ranges of the Western Ghats. You can visit Mahabaleshwar in a day or over a weekend.

About Mahabaleshwar:

                      Mahabaleshwar was the summer capital of the Governor of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency during the colonial era. It is easily accessible from Pune (120km) and from Mumbai (285km). It is one of the most popular weekend destinations.  It is also important religious site as it is the base of five rivers (Krishna, Koyana, Venna, Savitri and Gayatri River) and famous Mahabaleshwar temple.
                      Tourist gets attracted towards Mahabaleshwar because of breathtaking valley view, nature, adventurous sports etc. This place is also known for its honey and strawberries production.  Another popular hill station, Panchgani, is just 20km before Mahabaleshwar. Mostly, the tourists visit both places together.
                      Pune to Mahabaleshwar is a 2 to 3 hours’ drive. Best way to reach Mahabaleshwar is Pune – National highway 4 – After 75 km journey on NH4 Take right at Surul – Wai – Panchgani – Mahabaleshwar. There are many signboards which guide you to Mahabaleshwar and at all tourist points.
                     We (Me and my wife Renuka) planned our visit for 2 days i.e. on 31st March and 1st April 2012.

 Day 1 (31st March 2012): Pune -> NH-4 -> Menavali Ghat, Wai -> few points/spots -> Mahabaleshwar.
                      Our journey began the early morning at 6.30. We took a pit stop for fuel on NH-4 and then moved ahead for Wai. The highway is in a good condition – it’s smooth and wide. That helped us to touch 100km/hr. speed easily. Driving on a highway in the early morning was a good start of our trip. We decided to have a look of Menavali Ghat and the temple which is famous for many films like Swades, Dabang, Gangajal and many more. This place is not clean and is not maintained by local people.

Swades's Ramcharan mandir (Manavali ghat,Wai)

    

                 It was 8.30 am and we were too hungry so we took our 2^nd pit stop at Mapro garden. It is very popular halt for tourist for breakfast/brunch and some Mapro product shopping. It is located just 6 km ahead of Panchgani. The ambiance of Mapro garden is very beautiful and you get yummy food. Classic grilled sandwich and Fresh Strawberry Cream with Ice cream are my favorite dish for breakfast. You can also visit the chocolate factory or buy Mapro products.

Classic grilled sandwich

 

Fresh Strawberry Cream with Ice cream

Parsi Point, Panchgani

• Car petrol for trip: INR 1000/- (approx. 14.5 Liters)
• Toll at NH-4: INR 65/-(single way)
• Mapro’s classic grilled sandwich: INR 129/-
• Mapro’s Fresh Strawberry Cream with Ice cream: INR 150/-

                    
                      While Proceeding to Mahabaleshwar, we took a right turn to visit Kate’s point and Needle-hole point. It offers you a view of Krishna valley and dam. I like the view of needle hole which is a natural hole in the mountain. After spending some time with nature we went in Panchaganga temple in old Mahabaleshwar. There are plenty signboards which will guide you perfectly. As per the Hindu mythology,  five holy rivers Krishna, Venna, Koyana, Savitri & Gayatri show their token appearance here (Panchaganga temple) in five springs flowing closely. It was a little bit difficult for me to believe in such a god gifted place. There are other temples like Shiv Mandir and a very old stone temple named Krishna Devi Mandir. Arthur point is hardly 6km from here but we skipped and plan to visit it tomorrow morning.

Road to Needle-Hole point

Needle-Hole Point

                    It was 1.30 pm and the weather is a bit hot so we proceed towards main Mahabaleshwar. Road condition from old Mahabaleshwar to main Mahabaleshwar is very bad. Somehow we manage to reach there in an hour. After some hotel survey, we booked a room in the sunrise hotel which is located on the market. Hotel was newly built and on our bargaining power, he gave us a room at low price. This is our low budget trip so we opt for Non-A/C room.

• Mahabaleshwar pollution tax: INR 30/- (For Car)
• Mahabaleshwar Entry tax: INR 20/- per person (valid for 7 days)
• Hotel Non-A/C room: INR 800/- per night
• Car parking: INR 10 to 20/- (You have to pay everywhere)

                     After taking rest for a while, we planned to visit Venna Lake in the evening. I didn’t like this place as it is too much crowded with tourists, roadside food stalls, and horse riders. Boating in the lake is main attraction but I feel it’s too costly as it costs you around INR 340/- to INR 440/- for 1 hour. There are too many fun fair game stalls where we enjoyed a lot and won few goodies. After sunset weather turned cold. Now we get a feeling that we are at a hill station. After visiting lake we came back to the hotel for a while. Mahabaleshwar main market was waiting for us so we entered there. The market becomes lively in the night. There are too many shops and fun fair game stalls where you can enjoy a lot. You can buy Cane hats, chappal, Candles made by blind people, Madhusagar honey, fresh strawberry, and Jam or syrups product. I like MALVIS product and their shop on the main market. It is very innovative idea to display their product in the shop.

Veena Lake

                   After spending 2 to 2.30 hours in the market we took dinner in Ruchi vegetarian hotel. Food was delicious and at the end, we had amazing cream ice cream with strawberry at Bagicha corner at ice cream parlor.

cream ice cream with strawberry at Bagicha corner

• Venna lake car parking: INR 20/-
• Different Jam or syrups: Range INR 100 to 200/-
• Dinner at Ruchi restaurant: INR 210/- for 2 people (Masala papad, Punjabi  veg. & Roti etc)
• Strawberry ice cream with strawberry: INR 90/-

 Day 2 (1^st April 2012): Mahabaleshwar -> Arthur seat pt. -> Pachgani -> Pune.
                     After yesterday’s action-packed day, we decided to relax on Sunday and just roam around and explore nearby area. We had breakfast in the hotel and checked out from the room by 9.30 am. In Mahabaleshwar check in timing is 11 am whereas check out timing is between 9 am to 10 am. The weather was very cool so we went to Venna Lake again. The environment at Lake was completely different than yesterday evening. No crowd, no chaos, so we had a small walk around the lake which made us feel fresh.
                   As we missed Arthur seat point yesterday so we went to see Arthur seat point. It is the queen of all points and just 12km from the main market. Arthur's Point, named after Arthur Malet who was the first to come here and build a house for him. Some compare the stratification of rocks on the southern side to the world famous stratification of rocks of the Grand Canyon of Colorado, USA. It offers you a breathtaking view of Konkan and Deccan territories. To see the beauty of this place, you have to visit this post monsoon. On the way to Arthur point, there are around 8 to 10 different points. Each point has its own history but it gives you same valley view with little bit different angle.

Arthur Seat Point

  
                        Elphiston point is just a few km from Arthur seat point which gives you a view of Koyana valley on left and Savitri on the right. You can see Pratapgad fort from this point. 

Elphiston Point

                       After Mahabaleshwar sightseeing, we started our return journey. While driving to Panchgani, we saw many strawberry farms and it was very difficult to move ahead without entering into them. With the permission, we went to a farm which is 1.5km away from the main road in the small village. Farm owner Yashwant explained us about strawberry farming in details. We were so engrossed in enjoying the strawberries that we forgot to take photos. We purchased 3.5kgs of strawberry from him. He invited us for lunch at his home but we promised to be back after monsoon for camping in his small village.

 

 Again we took a lunch break in Mapro garden and had some mini sandwiches. We were not feeling hungry because of the lots of strawberries we had on the farm. An advice for everyone is - do not purchase strawberries from the stall which are outside Mapro garden. They charge you anything. Your status or sometimes car type also plays an important role in the costs. It costs around INR 90 to 100/- per kg on weekends and INR 65 to 75/- on weekdays. We purchased at INR 55/- per kg from the farmer.

• Venna Lake parking: INR 20/-
• Mapro mini Sandwich: INR 69/-
• Mapro hot coffee: INR 20/-
• Strawberry: INR 192/- (3.5 kg)
• Pachgani pollution tax: INR 50/- (For Car)
• Pachgani Entry tax: INR 20/- per person (valid for 7 days)
• Tableland car parking: INR 10/-
• Toll on NH-4: INR 70/- (single way)

                       After Mapro, our last destination before proceeding home was Table Land point at Panchgani. It is 2^nd longest mountain plateau in Asia. Horse riding is the main attraction here but due to an accident (1 girl was killed as horse carriage falls off from table land) in May 2012, horse carts and riding is banned by the government. By 5.30 pm we were about to leave for Pune when dramatically weather turned cloudy. It was a perfect evening to end our weekend trip so we waited until Sunset.

Sunset at Table Land, Panchgani

Sunset at Table Land, Panchgani

                       With memorable evening moments, we left Panchgani and reached home safely by via same NH-4 route by 9 pm.

Regards,

Pritesh Kulkarni