Pune - Jejuri - Mahabaleshwar - Pune - Lavasa

Trip members: Karthik and family

Trip date: 25-Dec-14 to 28-Dec-14

Trip Route: Chennai – Pune – Jejuri – Panchgani – Mahabaleshwar – Pune – Lavasa – Pune – Chennai

Distances:

• Pune Airport – Khandoba Temple, Jejuri – 62 kms – 1 hr and 30 mins
• Jejuri – Shivsagar Farmhouse (Panchgani) – 97 kms – 2hr 30 mins
• Jejuri – Mahabaleshwar – 110 kms – 2hr 45 mins
• Panchgani – Pune – 108 kms – 2 hr and 30 mins
• Pune – Lavasa – 54 kms – 2 hr and 15 mins

Another year, another Christmas day trip – third year in succession.  This time, the thrill was quite spicy with tickets booked on SpiceJet and unsure the flights would take-off and change in timings. The onward flight to Pune took off with slight delay and we were happy that the trip was on !.

Day-1

Reached Pune around 7:30 AM and we had out cab ready. The cab was planned and booked, courtesy Murugan. The cab was from Mr.Somanath – a Tavera. He got a decent vehicle with an excellent driver (owner of the vehicle). We had breakfast on the way to Jejuri. Jejuri is the place of Lord Kandhoba, our family God and we want to and planned to visit this temple. We had breakfast on the way to Jejuri – Hotel Shivanand. The  specialties we tasted were Cut Dosa – masala Dosa rolled and cut like Spring rolls. They were yummy and tasty along with regulars – Idli, Plain dosas, Vada and coffee.

The Lord Kandhoba temple is situated on a small hill, and one needs to climb around 350 steep steps to reach the temple. The steps are laid of stones and were quite chilly to walk. It would be very difficult in summer to climb as the stone steps would also be hot. The temple is popular and known to use Turmeric powder as the important identity in temple. The whole place is yellow-ish and very different to see when compared to temples in South. Beware as devotees would be throwing Turmeric powder all around and you are expected to turn out with yellow colour some way or the other. There is free and special dharshan. The queue moves faster in both queues.

We had excellent dharshan and the view from the temple (top of the hill) is excellent. We then started to Mahabaleshwar. The driver suggested to visit the Lord Narayana Temple at Narayanpur, Saswad. The temple had some special poojas at the time and said it was closed for next 1:30 hours. We went around the temple and decided to leave instead of waiting for the dharshan. The temple was very clean and maintained very well. From the parking areas to the dharshan areas, everything was very well planned and maintained.

Next, we went to Panchgani. This travel was close to 2 hours from the Narayan Temple. The roads are very good. Now, we had roadblock as the car alternator failed. The driver was little worried and if he does not take to the workshop on the same day, and the car fails next day or so, the whole trip would be screwed up. So, he dropped us at Mapro garden for some relaxing and decided to check-in around 3 PM and then take the car to workshop. Mapro garden is a private place of Mapro with a beautiful garden and viewing place. They have stores to sell all Mapro products along with a costly eatery that sells sandwiches, fries, Pizzas, Strawberry milkshakes, icecreams and etc. They are quite costly, but, one can spend and kill time here with kids for some good views, food and fun.

One can find lots of strawberry vendors all along the place on the road side. It costs around Rs.200 per kg and you can just enjoy eating them all the time. Beware that the fruit is expected to last only one day and hence, don’t do bulk purchases. Buy as much as you can eat that day and buy again the next day.

We had booked Shivsagar Farmhouse 3-4 kms off the Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar road. There is a small strawberry farmhouse in front of the guest house and a small lawn in front. One can spend late evenings and early mornings there. The facilities and look-feel are quite different from what the website shows, but, ok. The one thing to be aware is that hot water is not available 24x7 and would not be ready before 07:30 in the morning.

Day-2

The car was ready by 8 AM and we started to Mahabaleshwar. Visited Venna lake on the way to Mahabaleshwar . The boating jetty was ready and we were the first to visit. Me and my daughter made a ride on the horse near the lake and this was a first time experience for my daughter. The ride costed Rs.120 for one round. We had breakfast at a veg. hotel near the main parking area and left the Arthur’s seat by 9 AM.

Arthur’s seat is a grand view point with different small viewing points and excellent walking trail. The weather was not so enjoyable with temperature around 26 degree Celsius at that elevation, which was quite sweaty. The various points in this walking trail include, Arthur seat point, Echo point, Hunter point, Tiger Spring point, Window point and Malcom point. The weather was quite sunny and not great for photographs. Even the views were not greeny and August-September is the best time to visit this place. The next hop in the walking trail is Tiger Spring. There is a small water spring which looks like, tigers used to come and drink here. Nothing great, but just another namesake point.

We spent close to 2 hours at this point. There are lot of eateries all around the place and try to gulp what one wants here. Other points do not have so many eateries.

The next point is Savithri point. This is a small walking trail and has the view of Savithri river. The river is expected to have water in the monsoon season and not around the year. The Arthur’s seat view point is also viewable from Savithri point.

Next is, Marjorie point. This seems to be the suicide point of Mahabaleshwar. One can see the whole deep valley from this point.

Elphinstone point comes next. From here, we are able to see maximum view in this view point. The whole valley and hills is visible in this point. We got struck in horrible traffic from this location. The roads are quite narrow and can only accommodate cars. If any bus comes in the route, the whole areas is locked and just can’t move any side. We got struck when few tourist and government buses thronged the area and it took us close to 2 hours for the next 5 kms.

The next view place is Kate’s point. Like Arthur’s point, this is also a cluster of view points. The Kate’s point also comprises a Echo point, Needle’s hole and Elephant’s head points. The view gives a grand site of a dam beneath. The dam is called Dhom dam. The Krishna river across the valley along with the dam is just beautiful. The view like Elephant’s head is also called Needle hole point. The rock has a little gap from the hill and looks perfectly like Elephant’s head. The gap between looks like Needle hole and thus called so. There are horse and camel rides in this place as well.

It was almost 4 PM as we were stuck in traffic and decided to goto Mapro Garden for lunch.  We had some sandwiches, pizza and milkshakes to end the late lunch and back to the homestay. We had dinner at Shivsagar homestay itself on both nights and the food was okay.

Day 3

On the Day-3 morning, we checked out and decided to go back to Pune after visiting places at Panchgani. The first place was Parsi point, this comes few kms on the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani road. The view point has nice view of Krishna river and the hills around. We then had breakfast in the so-called Udupi hotel at Panchgani which was average.

Now, we went to most important place at Panchgani – the Table land. As we entered the parking area, we were thronged around by lot of horses and gave different packages for 3 kms ride, 5 kms ride and 7 kms ride. We went for the medium-sized ride as the bigger was well above Rs.1000. We hired 2 horses, one for my princess and me and the other for my queen. The rider tempted enough to go for the bigger ride and said they are open for bargaining, after reach half of the distance. I knew I want to take the bigger trip to ensure we don’t miss any place, but, showed that I am not interested. However, the final price of Rs.1000 per horse was the time to decide to take the longer ride and cover the locations like pancha pandava foot, view of all five table mountains (Panchgani, thus the name), view of Sydney point, view of Krishna river, view of One tree point, Harrison’s folly, around the lake, view film shooting locations referencing many movies, Tiger Cave and one more cave where the movie, Alibaba and 40 thieves was shot.

The total ride was more than an hour and we covered these small points around one table land. One can prefer the walk around all the points, but, it would be exhaustive with elders/children and also would take around 4 hours. The parking lot itself is a table land and one out of the five – Panchgani table lands.

We then visited Sydney point, skipping Harrison’s folly, where paragliding happens. Sydney point is not so common place for everyone to visit. It is 2 kms from the main road to Panchgani. This is point quite high and gives some good views of the valley, table lands and river. Once can spend around 15-20 minutes in this place. We then started to Pune and had lunch on the way at a highway hotel.

We had booked rooms at Hotel Centurion Inn at Pune. There was some issue in the hotel and we were accommodated at their Centurion Hotel, which was welcome news. This hotel is situated in Shivaji Nagar, prime place in Pune to walk around in the evenings. We went around the Shivaji Nagar main roads in the late evenings and tasted lots of local food – Pav bhaji, Dabeli, Bhajjis.

In the evening, we visited 2 places in Pune. Pataleshwar caves and Shaniwar Wada. Both are close by to Shivaji Nagar, around 1 -2 kms apart. Pataleshwar Caves is close the Jungle Maharaj Temple. This place is quite a small cave. There is an Eswar temple inside and the place can be seen in 10 minutes. Next, we went to Shaniwar Wada. This is an old mansion which housed 1000 persons. We went around the place and on the wall of the fort and spent about 1 hour there. There seems to a light and sound show around 7:30 in evenings and charged @ Rs.50 per head. We did not visit the show and came back to the hotel and rested.

Day 4

After having good buffet breakfast at Centurion Hotel, checked out and started towards Lavasa by 8 AM. Lavasa is around 60 kms from Pune and is a planned town around a dam. The place is quite small and good enough for a day trip. There is a dam on the way before the ghats and it would be beautiful sight when water is released. As you climb the ghats section, we can see the water storage of the dam and good for photography. The roads are very good and quite number of viewpoints all the way. Night stays would be costlier in Lavasa. We reached Lavasa by 9:30 and there is a small train that runs on the road (Rs.50/person) and goes around Lavasa. This is fun for children. However, if you come by your own car/taxi, you can go by yourself all around. The toy train is not recommended for adults only gangs.

The place is excellent for photography to project as if we are in foreign location. The Dasve Dam provides very good view and a good to see. There is a parking fee of Rs.100/- to park the car anywhere in Lavasa. Pay once and park anywhere. There is a small park near the toy train area for the kids to play. The dam provides different type of boating options. There are small canteens near the water sports area and they are quite costly. There are some temporary games and stalls for kids to play in the water sports area. We had some sandwiches and ice creams and started out to Pune by around 1 PM.

On the way back to Pune, we had excellent lunch at Hotel Ratnai (Pure Veg) near Pirangut. On reaching Pune by around 4 PM, we went to Aga Khan Palace. The palace is situated on Nagar Road in Kalyani Nagar. During Quit India movement, the palace is where Gandhiji and his wife were interned. The palace displays several items used by them and Samadhi of Kasturba Gandhi. One can spend around 90 minutes here. The place also has a big lawn for children to play around.

Our return Spice Jet was delayed for more than 4 hours and at last reached Chennai real tired. We visited our relatives at Magarpatta on the way back.