Chateau Indage Vineyard

Place: Chateau Indage Vineyard
Route from Pune: Pune > Chakan > Rajgurunagar > Narayangaon > Chateau Indage
Distance from Pune: 85 kms (Approx).
Places to eat: Chateau Indage restaurant
Places to stay: Chateau Indage resort ( will be functional soon)

Best time to Visit: Anytime.
Experience: After a long search finally I found the contact number to book a tour to this vineyard. The winery was started by Mr. Shyamrao Chowgule in 1979 and has already established itself with exports to more than 65 countries.

The Vineyard is located on the Pune- Nashik belt, famous for the grape production. More than 25 varieties of grapes are grown here for wine production. The Chateau Indage restaurant provides excellent food and wine besides a wonderful ambience. A Resort and spa will soon open up for those who like to wine, dine and relax themselves in bath tubs filled with champagne.

Mr Ganesh from Chateau Indage took us around to show some interesting wine making procedures.

02132-245977 is the contact number for those who are interested in booking a vineyard tour.

Cheers.

Ganpatipule

Place: Ganpatipule
Route from Pune: Pune > Shirwal > Satara > Karad > Ratnagiri > Ganpatipule
Distance from Pune: 350 kms (Approx).
Places to eat: Hotel Durvankur, MTDC resort, Bhau joshi Khanawal
Places to stay: MTDC resort, Hotel Durvankur, local accomodation.

Best time to Visit: Anytime.

Experience: It was after a long time that we were going to get a break for five days. We decided to spend 3 days at Ganpatipule. We started from Pune at 9 pm and reached Ganpatipule at 6 am in the morning. MTDC beach resort is located just beside the beach with cottages and huts that offer a wonderful view of the sea.

MTDC resort

Ganpatipule is famous for the ganesh temple. One can also visit Ratnagiri city and Jaigad fort nearby. Sightseeing buses are available. The place doesnot offer variety of food but whatever is available tastes really good.

Ganpati Temple

The sea is said to be dangerous here so people are warned against going deep into the water. Clean beach, clear water and lot of coconut trees. Excellent place to relax and rejuvinate.
Another good place to visit at Ganpatipule is the Prachin Konkan. It is a replica of a traditional konkani village. With lot of interesting information on Konkani life, Trees , Wildlife, Forts etc.

Prachin Konkan

Purandar

Place: Purandar fort
Route from Pune: Pune > Katraj > Khed-shivapur > Kapurhol > Ketkavle > Purandar
Distance from Pune: 50 kms (Approx)
Places to eat: One Hotel on the Fort(not much variety available). Lot of hotels on the highway.
Places to stay: Nil.
Best time to Visit: Sept- Feb.

Experience: The plan was very unexpected. We started a little late and it took us more than three hours to reach the fort because of the traffic at Ketkavle and the road condition from the foothill which is terrible. Your vehicle will surely demand servicing after a visit to Purandar.

Though the fort has a significant place in history, it is not very famous among tourists. It is spread across a big area and takes a whole day to explore. It has a lot of shelters built for army personnel which stand deserted now. It must have been buzzing with activity in the past.

We spent some time chatting and eating at the only hotel on the fort. Bhakri-Pitla, Pohe and Tea is all that you can get besides packets of Parle-G. View is very nice from any part of the fort.

We started back without exploring the fort. I wanted some time in hand keeping in mind the high probability of my bike tyre getting punctured. We touched the highway safely and had a grand dinner at Hotel New Vilas near Khed-shivapur.

Harihareshwar and Diveagar

Place: Harihareshwar and Diveagar

Route from Pune: Pune > Paud > Mulshi > Mangaon > Mhasla > Harihareshwar > srivardhan > Diveagar. Alternate route (pune to Diveagar):Pune > Paud > Mulshi > Mangaon > Mhasla > Borli > Diveagar (175 kms).

Distance from Pune: Harihareshwar 180 kms (Approx). Harihareshwar to Diveagar 65 kms(Approx).

Places to eat: Harihareshwar: Rohan beach resort. Lot of local people serve excellent food.

Diveagar: Not many options available. Patil khanawal is good.
Places to stay: Harihareshwar: Rohan beach resort. MTDC resort, local accomodation

Diveagar: Exotica beach resort, Ganaraj resort, local accomodation (Homestays)

Best time to Visit: Anytime.

Experience:Finally...we were going to the Konkan coast and that too on a a two wheeler. We started early morning on saturday for Harihareshwar. The road is real bad after Mhasla but some repair work was going on so one can hope that it would get better in few months time. We reached Harihareshwar after a six hour journey from Pune at 12 o'clock noon. More than the beach, Harihareshwar is famous for its temples and rituals. It is also called Dakshin kashi. The place is not a very famous tourist spot but a good place to have a relaxing day or two. Lot of options for a comfortable stay are available. The best part is the food. The locals here serve excellent food at reasonable rates. Early morning walk on the beach is what i would recommend to everyone. It is just magical.

 

After a heavy breakfast we left for Diveagar via Shrivardhan. The road again is in a very bad shape. But the view around was too good. Glimpses of pure white sand beach every now and then made the journey beautiful. Harihareshwar is a typical sleepy Konkani village, though blessed with a very beautiful beach studded with coconut and supari trees. The place shot to limelight when a golden idol of Lord Ganesh was found buried in a house somewhere in the 90's. Lot of tourists (from Pune & Mumbai) come here but they have to depend on homestays for accomodation as well as food since only one or two big hotels/restaurants are available. The food is available on order so if you don't order it on time, it is most likely that you will not get it. Service is nowhere close to that in Harihareshwar. Few resorts like Ganraj resort and Exotica beach resort might provide a better stay and service.

The best part is the beach. Clear water, white sand, absolutely clean, safe and very very beautiful.

The return journey via Borli was very comfortable as the roads were in good condition.

Bhuleshwar Temple

Place: Bhuleshwar Temple

Route from Pune: Pune > Hadapsar > Lonikalbhor > Uralikanchan > Bhuleshwar
Distance from Pune: 55 kms (Approx)
Places to eat: Hotel kanchan 7 kms before the temple. No place to eat or Drink near temple.

Places to stay: Nil
Best time to Visit: Anytime.
Experience: Bhuleshwar temple is located around 55 kms from pune on the solapur highway. A right turn just 3 kms before Yavat takes us to Bhuleshwar. The temple is situated at a distance of 7 kms from the highway.The condition of the road is very bad for the first few kilometeres and just for a moment you might think of turning back. But the sufferings are forgotten as soon as you see the temple while you drive up on a winding path on the hill. Another right turn after about six kms will take you to the temple steps. No food or drinking water is available in the temple vicinity.

The temple is said to be built somewhere in the 13th century. The place is really beautiful. It offers a breathtaking view of fields on all four sides of the hill. It feels very cool and calm as we enter the temple. Two staircase take us to the upper floor of the temple. The sculptures on the pillars and walls of the temple are very beautifully carved. Like all typical shiva temples, a huge nandi is situated in front of Lord Bhuleshwar. The sound of 'Om' coming out of the speakers makes the environment even more peaceful.

On the way back, 1/2 Km after you touch the highway, there is a restaurant called Kanchan that has a very good ambience and serves excellent food (Punjabi, Maharashtrian). There are lot of other dhaba's too.

one can visit the Theur temple (one of the ashtavinayaks) as well on the way back, which is about 22kms from Pune.

Cypher

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