Mahabaleshwar in Monsoon

Place: Mahabaleshwar

Route from Pune: Pune > Katraj > Shirwal > Wai > Panchgani > Mahabaleshwar

Distance from Pune: 120 kms (Approx)

Places to eat: Hundreds of options available. Try Strawberry icecreams and shakes at Mapro Garden.
Places to stay: MTDC resort. Lot of options available

Best time to Visit: Anytime except Monsoon. Sight seeing is difficult in Monsoon

Experience: The forts around pune are the among best places to visit during monsoon
Monsoon is off season in Mahabaleshwar. Shops open late and close early. Most of the specialities like choco-walnut fudge, strawberries and carrots are missing from the scene. It rains very heavily most of the time.
But there are some positive features as well. Hotels and resorts are easily available at extremely cheaper rates. The atmosphere is wonderful if you just want to spend some time relaxing. People who like a very peaceful environment would love the walks to nearby points. Most sight seeing points in mahabaleshwar (including boating at venna lake) are closed but one can still enjoy a trip to pratapgarh. Food at pratapgarh is tasty as ever though variety might be less. The waterfalls on the way to Pratapgarh are amazing. Every waterfall will have some shops nearby that sell roasted sweetcorn and hot beverages.

A very good place to relax.

Cypher

Flowers on the way

Mulshi & Tamhini

Place: Tamhini Ghat

Route from Pune: Pune > Chandni chowk > Pirangut > Paud > Mulshi > Tamhini

Distance from Pune: Mulshi - 45 kms (Approx), Tamhini - 60 kms

Places to eat: Hotel hill view and Quick byte at Mulshi. Lot of other options available near Mulshi.

Places to stay: Lot of resorts on the way

Best time to Visit: Anytime . Most beautiful in Monsoon.

Experience: Always pleasent

Paradise can't be better.............................

Cheers,
Cypher

Rajgad

Place: Rajgad fort
Route from Pune: Pune > Katraj > Velu > Nasrapur > Baneshwar > Rajgad
Distance from Pune: 35 kms (Approx)
Places to eat: Hotel at the foothill

Places to stay: Temple on the fort
Best time to Visit: Anytime except summer. Dangerous in Monsoon (Beautiful though)
Experience: The forts around pune are the among best places to visit during monsoon. Sushil and I planned this trek at the very last minute on Saturday. We decided to meet at 7:00 am on Sunday at chandani chowk and plan was to go either to Torna or Rajgad.

Sushil had called two of his colleagues, Swapnil and purva too. Me and vaishali were to meet them for the first time. Nice & jolly people to be with. Rajgad was finalized. All of us started from chandni chowk at around 7:45 am.
Took the pune satara highway (Katraj Bypass) and then right turn towards Baneshwar (near cheladi). The climate was fantastic. After travelling 24 kms from Baneshwar we reached Rajgad.

A small hotel at the foothill is the only source for food. We had some snacks that thankfully purva had with her along with tea. It was 11:00 am already. We had also packed some bhel enroute. We booked meal for us thinking that we would return by 4:00 pm.

None of us had been here before so had to ask for direction initially. Met Nandini and Rahul on the way. Rest was the trip to paradise. Clouds, Greenery, Rain. It was a great experience.

The fort enjoys an important place in history and you can guess that when you see it. We went half way to the Bale killa , when it was decided to turn back or we might not get back on the highway before it gets dark (we were on two wheelers and swapnil’s bike had some problem). We came back to the foothills by 6:00 pm.We were very hungary and the food was very delicious. Finished the meals in 10 min flat and started back.

Sushil and I are planning more treks for coming sundays.

Karla and Bhaja

Place: Karla and Bhaja caves

Route from Pune: Pune > Pimpri & chinchwad > Dehu Road > Karla & Bhaja > Lonavla

Distance from Pune: 40 kms (Approx)

Places to eat: MTDC resort

Places to stay: MTDC resort

Best time to Visit: Anytime except summer. Water park at MTDC can be enjoyed in summer.

Experience: Karla and Bhaja are situated at 10 Kms from lonavla on opposite sides of the old mumbai pune highway. These caves are 2300 years old. Some of the wooden architecture is still intact. Karla caves are a little bigger in size than the Bhaja caves but both places are equally nice to visit. The Ekvira Devi temple near Karla is very well known among devotees. MTDC resort at Karla is a nice and not so expensive place to stay.

Bhaja Caves

Karla caves

Around Pune

One of the advantages of living in a socially and geographically diverse country (like India) is that you have lot of options when it comes to travelling and enjoying various cultures and cuisines.
For example, Pune (Maharashtra) has lot of places around it which can be visited and enjoyed without spending much time and money. You have a wide range of choice right from caves, forts, waterfalls, dams, parks, temples, resorts, hill stations etc all within 2-3 hours driving range. if you are willing to stretch some more (4 hours), you have option of beautiful beaches as well.
You can enjoy every Indian and International cuisine in and around pune. Monsoon is the best time to visit some of these places.

Here is a site that gives a lot of info about nearby places.
http://www.aroundpune.com/

There are few places which are still not very famous as tourist places but are very beautiful. These places can be visited with the help of groups that are engaged in Trekking and nature trails.

Here is a webpage of one of such groups.
http://www.giridarshan.com/utreks.html

cheers,
Cypher

The first walk in the rain 2007

Its early June. Most Southern and central parts of India have witnessed the first few rains of year 2007.
Yesterday evening, I came from office had a cup of Tea and then went for a walk in the rains (No Umbrella, No Raincoat). It was magical. The fragrance in the air, the coolness in the breeze, the ligthening and thunder once in a while, the sprinkling rain and the smell of onion pakoras from the nearby tea stall. Enchanting. I roamed for almost one hour.

While returning i planned few one day excursions to nearby places. Next few sundays would be very exciting.