Place: Neelkantheshwar
Route from Pune: Pune > Khadakvasla > Donje > Panshet > Kuran > Neelkantheshwar
Distance from Pune: 55 kms (Approx)
Places to eat: A small hotel at the top (looked unhygienic). Lot of options available till panshet.
Places to stay: Lot of devotees from nearby villages stay in the temple premises. (not recommended)
Best time to Visit: Anytime except April/May.
Experience: I was planning to visit this place since last one month. Finally, we decided to go on 22 march since we were getting three days long weekend. We were not able to start early as planned. Left the house at 9:30 am, took the road via warje/Khadakvasla/Donje phata and reached Panshet.
There are no roadsigns that will direct you correctly to Neelkantheshwar. After loosing the way two times and taking help from local villagers we finally got on to the correct path. Here is how we reach the neelkantheshwar foothill -- Once you reach panshet , Take the route going to varasgaon dam (there is a board mentioning neelkantheshwar). After about 1 km there is a fork like section with board that points to a village called Kuran. Take that road. After about 1 km of bumpy ride there comes one more point where you have to choose between roads with absolutely no signs around. Take the road to the right. After few kilometers you will come to a point where the tar road ends and two muddy roads are seen going upwards in the hills. Take the left one and after 2-3 kms reach neelkantheshwar foothills. After a steep walk of 2 kms you come to the temple.
At this point you will wonder if the temple will be worth all the trouble. The answer is ‘yes’. As you get near to the temple the road becomes wide, flat, with lot of trees and flowers around. You begin to see lot of statues of Sadhus sitting on the walls of the temple. As soon as you start climbing the stares a huge hanuman statue is seen lying to your left.
The place is really beautiful. It is the result of hardwork done by one man – Sarjemama - a forest ranger, social worker and a Lord shiva devotee. There are hundreds of mythological characters sculpted by him in the temple area. Lot of mythological events are also sculpted. We get a splendid view of Panshet and varasgaon Dams & the surrounding areas from the temple.
After spending few hours we decided to move back. It was getting cloudy and by the time we started back, it was raining. The climate changed completely. It was amazing. We had some snacks at khadkvasla before returning home.
