Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani are two popular hill stations in Maharashtra. We provide a practical guide to Mahabaleshwar.

By Bus: There are many Volvo buses from Mumbai (Approx Rs.500) that ply to Mahabaleshwar. Raj National Express has one starting early morning at 5:30 AM and another at 11 PM.

By Car: From Mumbai (225Km) Take the Goa highway till Poladpur and then continue on the state highway via Pratapgad. ( View Map ).  You can return to Mumbai via Pune thru the Pune- Mumbai expressway.Mahabaleshwar -Pune road is thru' Panchgani (a visit to Panchgani has to be combined with trip to Mahabaleshwar). While Goa road is scenic, the one thru Pune is recommended for those short omn time. If you take the Pune Expressway, you can reach Mahabaleshwar in 3.5 - 4 Hours as you do not need to enter Pune City but keep driving straight.( View Map).

From Pune : For those coming from Pune, please follow this Road map 

 Tips to Visitors:

1. Do not go for all inclusive plan with your hotel. There are good restaurants serving Gujarati Thali. In house restaurants of most hotels are nothing extraordinary

2. Mahabaleshwar gets crowded during summer vacation and in the months of October and December. If you want to get the best hotels deals and enjoy Mahabaleswar sans the crowds, ideal time would be to plan a weekend trip just after the monsoons and before Diwali vacations. 

3.  There are plenty of hotels in Mahabaleshwar - both in Budget (economical) category and more expensive resorts. Our favorite remains MTDC resort at Mahabaleshwar , which has excellent location (near Bombay Point) and rooms to suit every budget. The restaurant at MTDC is not the best one that you will find at Mahabaleshwar.

4. If you are not driving down, there are ST buses which offer "Mahabaleshwar Darshan". Enquire for the same. 

To See and Do:

Strawberry Farm (Mahabaleshwar)

Attractions: Strawberries, Venna lake, thirty different points, Kshetra Mahabaleshwar, Tapola lake and Pratapghad are the key attractions. It is not just the sights that make Mahabaleshwar a great getway – the climate and excellent sceneries makes you forget the stress of staying in Mumbai or any other big city.

Strawberries: Mahabaleshwar is synonymous with strawberries. There are many strawberry farms enroute to Panchgani. May - June is the general season for strawberries as they ripen at that time. Farm owners will invite you to feel the farm fresh berries and let you pluck strawberries from the bushes. Of course, you will be expected to buy strawberry milkshakes and ice creams from the farm. If you visit the farm early in the day, you can see farmers plucking and packing the strawberries.It  is a highly perishable fruit and is packed in flat shallow containers -card board, bamboo and  paper trays immediately after plucking.

Mapro gardens on the way to Panchgani make delicious milk shakes and sandwiches. You can take a break at one of the strawberry farms when you are traveling towards Panchgani. If you are visiting off-season, strawberries will be missed.

Lake Venna (Mahabaleshwar)

Venna Lake is a major attraction at Mahabaleshwar. The boat rides are excellent and you can spend couple of hours just relaxing by the lake. It is unfortunate that boisterous crowd often spoil the ambience and litters the otherwise beautiful lake.

Some Important Points: Points are attractions, which offer excellent views.Tourist hire guides to take them around all the points. This may not be necessary as there are signboards pointing to each and every point. If you do hire the guide, be a hard negotiator. Guides hardly offer any value apart from acting as navigators as you drive.

Wilson Point is the nearest to the market and the highest point in Mahabaleshwar. It is a vast bare rock with three observation towers erected at different spots. It is a major attraction for tourists as it offers a beautiful view of the sunrise. If Wilson point offers excellent sunrise view, Bombay point is known for the spectacular view of the sunset.

You will come across Connaught peak and Hunter Point as you travel towards old Mahabaleshwar. Connaught Peak is the second highest peak of these hills. It offers a panoramic view of the Vena Lake and Krishna Valley. From here one can see Old Mahabaleshwar and Elphinston Point to the north; Pandavgad and Krishna Valley to the east.

Elephant Head At Mahabaleshwar

Arthur's Point is Mahabaleshwar's most famous point overlooking the densely forested valley. It is at 1473 mtrs. and 13 kms. away from main market. Other great attraction at Mahabaleshwar is the Lodwick Point named after the first European to set foot on the Mahabaleshwar hills. A monument at the top of the promontory has been erected in his memory. Beyond Lodwick Point is the extreme end of the mountain range known as Elephant's Head. The cliff resembles an elephant’s head and is the most popular Mahabaleshwar photograph. Kate's point on the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani road, is popular for its view of the Krishna Valley. Near Kate's point is the Echo Point, which, true to its name, echoes the words and is popular amongst children.

Humble origin of mighty Krishna river

Old Mahabaleshwar : Old Mahabaleshwar has three important temples - Mahabal and Atibal and Panchaganga Temple. At Panchganga temple, five rivers originate  -  Koyna, Krishna , Venna, Savitri and Gayatri. It is very humbling to see modest origin (Cow's mouth) of mighty river Krishna - one of the longest rivers in India. It travels 1,300 Kms from Mahabaleshwar before it joins Bay of Bengal at Andhra Pradesh. Economically, Krishna is one of the most important rivers as its basin extends over 258,948 square Kilometers (nearly 8% of India). River Krishna has religious importance too, as Hindus believe that Krishna is Lord Vishnu himself and its tributaries Venna and Koyana are Shiva and Brahma.

Around Mahabaleshwar

Tapola near Mahabaleshwar

Tapola Lake : Dubbed Mini Kashmir, this lake 30 Kms from Mahabaleshwar has become very popular. This lake is part of Shivsagar (Dam across Koyana river). There are excellent boat ride options available at Tapola lake. This used to be relatively quieter earlier, but now Taplola lake attracts a fair amount of crowd. Maharashtra’s ST buses have special Tapola darshan trips in high season

Pratapgad: It is situated just 27 kms from Mahabaleshwar on Mahad Road. If you reached Mahabaleshwar thru Goa highway, you would have had the view of Pratapgad on the way.

Pratapgad, Mahabaleshwar

It is at Pratapgad that Shivaji killed Afzal Khan on 10th Nov 1659. Shivaji, leader of the Marathas and Afzal Khan, general of the Bijapur army met at Pratapgad to discuss a possible truce. At the meeting, neither was supposed to carry any weapons. However, Afzal Khan had hid a knife and tried to stab Shivaji. Shivaji then pulled out his ‘waghnakh’ (metal claws) with his left hand and killed Afzal Khan.

The climb to Pratpapgad is exhilarating and offers excellent views of the Konkan valley. From the top of the fort, you can see the forts of Raigad and Makarandgad. On the east and the south are the steep slopes covered with dense forest. The western and northern side has some amazing rock formations. There is an important Bhavani temple built by Shivaji. It is said that the idol was brought from Nepal where it was made in Shaligram found in the famous Gandaki River.

Pratapgad - More details  

Contribution by Mamboraj

 

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