Solapur - Tuljapur - Pandharpur - Kolhapur

Trip Plan

Trip members: Karthik

Trip date:  14-18 August 2024

Trip Plan : Chennai - Pune - Solapur - Tuljapur - Padharpur - Kolhapur - Panhala - Kolhapur - Pune - Chennai

A very tightly planned trip to visit very prominently history linked temples in South Maharashtra.

On 14th Aug, took the late evening flight from Chennai to Pune and reached Pune by 1 AM. I had booked retiring room at Pune railway station. Took an Ola cab (had to walk a lot and reach 2nd floor for the Ola pickup point - surely a matter of difficulty in Pune airport) to the railway station. Swift check-in and a ok-ok facility, big room and big bathroom - cleanliness was just ok. Never mind and took a short nap for 3 hours.

Distances

• Pune – Solapur – 253 kms – 4:45 hrs
• Solapur – Tuljapur – 46 kms – 1 hr
• Tuljapur – Pandharpur – 113 kms – 2 hrs
• Solapur – Pandharpur – 74 kms – 1:30 hrs
• Pandharpur – Kolhapur – 185 kms – 3:30 hrs
• Solapur – Kolhapur – 238 kms – 4 hrs
• Pune – Kolhapur – 233 kms – 4:45 hrs

My overall plan was to use fast trains as much as possible between major distances and accordingly plan darshan and accommodation; plus not very tightly packed and still achieve all in 2-3 days. I had booked my trains in 3 segments - Pune to Solapur, Pandharpur to Kolhapur and Kolhapur to Pune.

Day-1

The plan for the day was to reach Solapur and visit Siddeshwar temple in Solapur and then drive to Tuljapur, Started the day from retiring room by Pune - Kalaburagi Shatabdi express at 6 AM. Had breakfast in the train and got down at Solapur with no stops in between by 09:15. I had booked a cab via Savaari.com for visiting Tuljapur and then to Pandharpur - for a drop.

Solapur Temple

Visited the Siddeshwar temple first, at Solapur, around 9:30. There was some crowd on that day but was able to visit the main sanctum quickly. The temple is built by Shri Siddharameswar, a devotee of Lord Shiva and subsequently attained Samadhi here as well. The temple is a renowned and revered temple for Lingayats.

Post visiting this temple, we started towards Tuljapur. The highway enabled a cruise mode travel to Tuljapur and reached the temple in 45 mins.

Tulja Bhavani Temple

Tulja Bhavani Temple is dedicated for Goddess Tulja Bhavani, a form of Shakthi representation. The temple was built in 12th century and the whole town is surrounded around the temple. The temple is renowned as Chatrapathi Shivaji frequented to this temple and in fact got blessings from the Goddess for his famous Sword. This Goddess is kuladevatha for many clans of Marathas.

The temple has three different darshans - free darshan and paid ones - for Rs.200 and Rs.500. First I walked down the 150+ steps and reached the temple and got to know that the tickets have to bought outside the temple, where the counter is present. I had to climb back and then bought the Rs.200 dharshan ticket. The waiting time was around 15-20 mins to have the dharshan and it was organised properly. The temple timings are  5:00 am to 11:30 am; 12:30 to 7 pm; 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm.

In about an hours' time, completed the dharshan of main deity as well as all surrounding deities and came out fully entrenched with the blessings. I was hungry and the cab driver took me to a nearby restaurant - Hotel Ashoka and had a very delicious and super heavy North Indian thali.

Reaching Pandharpur

After having the lunch, we started to Pandharpur. Pandharpur is a 2 hour drive and I just dozed off immediately after we started. We reached Pandharpur around 3 PM and checked-in at Shri Pandharinath Lodge. This lodge is 10 mins walkable from the temple and located in prime location surrounded by restaurants, shops and street food. I took rest for around 30 mins, refreshed and decided to take local advice for dharshan.

I was told by the hotel reception by a senior person that Mukha dharshan - a dharshan where we can see the main deity from a distance would take anywhere between 3-5 hours considering the crowd and Padha dharshan (also called sparsha dharshan) - where one can touch and pray to the main deity would take 6-8 hours. So, I decided to start right away and reached the temple.

Pandharpur Vittala Temple

Pandharpur is the home of Lord Vishnu's form of Vitthal. This temple is one of the 108 Abhimana Kshetrams of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu appears here as part of the boon given to the revered devotee - Pundalik. The temple is by the banks of rover Chandrabaga/Bhima. The temple is one of the crowdest temples in India like Tirupati and others.

There are two different dharshans here in this temple - Pada Dharshan and Mukha Dharshan. There is online booking available for these dharshans and one can book and then proceed with ease. However, the day I went, it was a long weekend and subsequent day was Ekadasi. Online booking was not available and had to go for dharshan directly.

Upon reaching the temple, I understood that the crowd for Padha Dharshan (Sparsha dharshan) was standing for 2 kms and could take 8-12 hours! OMG! - I immediately queued in to Mukha Dharshan and started moving. The queue movement was very swift and to many people surprise, I could complete the dharshan in 1 hour!

Other temples @ Pandharpur

Post coming out, had some tea and walked down the street to the riverside and visit couple of temples out there - Pundalik temple and Dwarakadish temple. The weather was so pleasant and made it a very great experience walking around.

Then, hired an auto driver for Rs.100 to visit the popular Vishnu Pad temple, where impressions of Lord Vishnu in the form of Radhakrishna can be seen. The temple is in the river and we walked down by the river water the visit this temple. It is said that this temple would be fully under water during monsoon times.

Having visited all the temples that I wished to see in Pandharpur, enjoyed walking around the crowded streets of the temple and had some street food - fresh and hot piping Sabudana Vadai, Dabeli, Vada pav, Bhajjias. Returned back to the room and took some rest for 1 hour and had some idlies and a dosa for dinner before hitting the bed after a tiresome blessed day of visiting Solapur, Tuljapur and Padharpur in one day!

Day-2

Early morning, was tempted to have one more dharshan of Lord Vittal. My train to Kolhapur was at 10:20 AM.

Pandharpur vibes!

I was in double minds considering the Ekadasi crowd and still wanted to go around and have a feel. I roamed around the temple area and people were saying Mukha dharshan takes 6-8 hours and Pada Dhashan - 12-16 hours! There is no way I can have another dharshan and shed my greed of another dharshan and just prayed from outside. The overall vibes on Ekadasi was amazing with bhajans all around.

I came back to the room, had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel - misal pav and a dosa; and checked out for the railway station. The hotel person had got me an auto for Rs.70 to the railway station; and took the train to Kolhapur.

Reaching Kolhapur

Reached the Kolhapur railway station - Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Terminus around 14:15 and took an auto to the hotel. I had booked Hotel Sri Sri executive - a business hotel with small rooms. The hotel is 12-15 mins walk from the temple. 

The receptionist told that the temple is open all through the day and I decided to visit the temple immediately. I was aware of how crowded Pandharpur was and not willing to take any change here, charged to the temple right away skipping lunch!

Kolhapur Mahalakshmi Temple

Kolhapur Mahalakshmi Temple is one of the 18 Maha Sakthi Peet temples in India. The temple is open from 5:30 AM till 10 PM. The temple was built in Chalukya dynasty in 7th century and is situated by the banks of river Panchaganga. I reached the temple and saw that there was very good crowd and was told it would take 3 hours to have dharshan. Meanwhile, went to leave the slippers and the person told that he would take us directly in and have direct dharshan for Rs.500 for him.

Seeing the crowd, I obliged and he promised me to give a great dharshan and take money later. He took me through the exit gate and directly guided to the main deity. I had a great dharshan and got a chance to circumambulate the inner prakara of the main deity of Goddess Mahalakshmi. I went around and came back and was allowed stand in front for few mins to have a very satisfactory dharshan.

I went around all the rest of the sanctums within the temple premises, sat for some time and then came out. Met the person outside and paid him with the fullest heart and then decided to have some food.

Kolhapur is famous for street food and had Benne Dosa/Loni dosa at Venkateswara Dosa centre - 10 mins walk from the temple.

The Loni (butter) dosa was delicious and I walked around for the some shopping. Kolhapur is famous for cotton sarees, chudithar materials and of course leather slippers. I did some shopping and returned to room around 5:30 PM.

The evening was a leisure one - completed my agenda of temples for the trip. For the next morning, I was planning to visit Panhala fort - one of the important forts in times of Chatrapathi Shivaji.

Day-3

The serene moment of morning darshan

Early morning, decided to visit the Mahalakshmi temple and went around 5:45 AM. The temple was almost void of crowds - only few hundreds were present and could walk-in through the regular temple path to visit the main deity. I was fortunate to see the first Mangalarathi of the day and an amazing dharshan.

I came out and sat in the main prakarams and spent around 30 mins meditating and getting the blessings of Mahalakshmi Devi - truly a very serene moment.

As I stepped out of the temple, I saw female had set up food counters rapidly, serving hot Thalipeeth and delicious paniyarams (made of rava) - the striking factor was that it had 4-5 accompaniments - pudina, coconut, spicy one, tangy one and a curd based! I had a plate of Thalipeeth and reached the room back at 7 AM.

I had my train to Pune at 13:15 hrs, and booked a cab through Ola for 6 hours to roam around till then from 8:30 AM. I checked out, had a dosa nearby and was waiting for the cab. The Ola driver called and told that this is outstation and cannot be included in the 6 hours plan and gave me an option to go to Panhala for Rs.1500. I felt that was reasonable and obliged for it. Earlier upon my enquiry in the hotel and nearby place, they asked Rs.1800 for a cab for visiting Panhala and coming back to Kolhapur. Deal was made and we started.

Monsoon and Maharashtra are made for each other - full lakes, canals, rivers, beautiful curvy roads and lush green landscape! Enjoyed every bit of ride to Panhala.

Panhala Fort

Panhala fort is around 21 kms from Kolhapur. The specialty of the fort is that this was the first fort that was captured by Shivaji in the quest of building the Maratha empire. Panhala fort fort was built by Raja Bhoja II overlooking the Deccan plateacu - gaining full view of the trades happening between the plateau and the ports of Maharashtra. This was a strategic position of interest to control the trade in the whole region. It also served as an outpost for the Bahamani Sultanate.

Shivaji took over the fort from Bijapur and sooner lost it back to Adil Shah II in few months. The siege was dramatic and Shivaji had to escape with few soldiers; leaving back Baji Prabhu Deshpande and a look alike Siva Kashid. Only later after 10-11 years, Shivaji was able to capture it back. One can notice the statues of Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Siva Kashid in the fort premises.

Panhala fort is a sprawling hilltown even today. One has to go by vehicle to see the different regions of fort. My cab driver was well versed with the locations and more importantly, he was very aware of the knowledge of the fort and history. He helped me visit the different parts of fort and also the history behind it. One gets to see various fortifications, bastions, granaries and stepped wells for the fort.

It took little more than a hour to enjoy the views and also learn the history of the place.

Post completion of the visit, the driver recommended to visit Shri Jyotiba Temple, a very famous local deity and Kuladev for many sects of South Maharashtra. I also had more time and driver offered to visit it with Rs.500 more. I accepted and we travelled to the Jyotiba temple.

Shri Jyotiba Temple

Shri Jyotiba Temple is the form of Lord Shiva, located on a hill top. The temple can reached by climbing down 100+ steps. The temple is very vibrant to see because of 'Gulal'. Gulal - is a pink coloured powder and is scattered all around by the devotees; and revered too.

After having a very good dharshan, planned to return to Kolhapur. The driver dropped me at Hotel Gokul near to the railway station. I had sabudana vada, chaas and then packed my lunch here - roti and sabji before boarding the train.

Memorable train journey - Monsoon magic!

While booking for the train, I was aware of the journey expectations - a great train ride through the beautiful Sahayadris during perfect monsoon season! There was absolutely no disappointment at all, as the route witnessed rains, sunshine and rainbows all along the journey. It was a great experience to see the lush green landscape, hills, valleys, grey and black clouds, intermittent strong winds and rains, so many tunnels, C-shaped and S-shaped curvy tracks - Wow - what an experience!

I thoroughly enjoyed the train journey around Satara region and reached Pune by 8 PM. I had booked my room at Zostel in Viman Nagar. Pune was flooded with water because of rains, and with some struggle got an auto driver!

My flight to Chennai was by 5:30 AM. I refreshed around 3 AM and left to the airport - 2 kms of auto ride from the Zostel. I interacted with few GenZ's during the late night chit chat with them and enjoyed their way of thinking and perspectives on active geo-political issues.

A very well ended trip with utmost satisfaction of enjoying the monsoon time! 

Lonavala in Monsoon and Temples around Pune

The trip was planned for visiting our family deity at Jejuri and covering monsoon blessed Lonavala for couple of days.

Trip Plan

Trip members: Karthik and family

Trip date:  21-24 Sept 2022

Trip Plan : Chennai - Pune - Lonavala - Khandala - Magad - Shirgaon - Ranjangaon - Theur - Pune - Jejuri - Moregaon - Pune- Chennai

Day-1

We started by 9 AM flight to Pune. We had our regular Pune based driver Mr.Somnath pick us up at 10:45 AM and what else first - Vada pav, Batata vada and some chai enroute to Lonavala.

We reached Lonavala at 1:30 PM through the beautiful drizzling weather and checked in at Hotel Girivihar. We had booked hotel Girivihar for 2 nights. The hotel had spacious rooms with balconies and an pure-veg inhouse restaurant serving Gujarathi, Rajasthani and Jain food. We had sumptuous lunch and started the trip around. The hotel had enough parking space, play area and relaxing area for spending time with family.

The plan was to visit view points around Khandala - first being the Khandala view point. The Khandala view point was beautiful with the lush green hill all around and Kune waterfalls at a distance. We could enjoy the richness of the monsoon through the green cover, clouds, innumerable monsoon fed waterfalls and the drizzle! We spend about 20-25 minutes enjoying the weather - the first feel of the trip.

We, then, walked down a little to the Rajmachi garden. The garden provides a mesmerizing walk providing beautiful views of the Pune-Mumbai highway plus the green cover we saw from the Khandala view point, but at different angles. A great place to click some photographs and enjoy the weather. We walked all along the walkway and spent about 30 minutes - just chilling and being there.

Next stop was the famous bridge called Amrutanjan point. This is a bridge on the interiors Khandala roads connecting to the Mumbai highway, providing another great view of the green carpeted hills around and most importantly the hilly railway line - we had a chance to see few trains pass through as well.

We enjoyed the weather as we munched some roasted corn and some chai.

We returned back to the hotel room, and had dinner at Hotel Shanshrusti - had dosas in the dinner. The food was little costly and good at Hotel Shanshrusti. The place has parking space too.

Day-2

Breakfast was part of our room booking and we were served with idlies, sambhar, chutney, hot piping upma and some breads. The food was quite good and were served in portions based on our need.

The plan was to go through the various view point of Lonavala like Lion's point and then Bushi dam; and in second half visited the Baja and Karla caves.

Enroute to Lonavala sight seeing

It was almost 9:30 AM, but, the visibility was as low as 4-5 feet and difficult to drive through. Though we enjoyed every bit of the cold foggy weather, the thought of not able to see the beautiful views was always on our mind.

We reached the Lion's view point, parked the vehicle and walked down the view point with no idea of what is in store. We spent close to 30 mins walking around in the thick fog and clicking few shots.

Lion's View point

Meanwhile, we fog started to rise and in few minutes, the magnanimous Shivling like view point, the Lonavala lake spawning into multiple water falls and many such waterfalls all across the hills and the valley.

It was doubly worth to wait so long and end up seeing heavenly views.

Bushi Dam

Then. we stopped at Bushi dam. Bushi dam is a small dam, however, during monsoons, the water overflows into a small waterfall across man made steps. This makes it an interesting place and for people to spend time on the waters. The catch here is - one needs to walk across knee level water and should be prepared for it. There are traders who charge for keeping shoes/slippers and renting rubber slippers. We rented the rubber slippers and walked through the waters - one can even carry the shoes with you- not a big deal in walking across small segments of waters.

The monsoon-ic view is definitely attractive and makes the dam a happening place for all types of people. We spent around 15-20 minutes on the waters. There are so many tourists who plan to spend lot of time, taking bath and playing in water. There are several small eateries in Bushi dam. We had some pakoras and chai at Bushi dam.

Lonavala Lake

The clouds started gathering and heavy rain was looming around. We stopped by the Lonavala Lake briefly for some beautiful views and snaps.

It was almost noon and we headed for lunch enroute to rest of the segment towards Bhaja and Karla caves. We stopped at Hotel Vrindavan. The lunch was prepared post order and the food was quite good - we had rotis, paneer mix veg sabji, dal, papad and jeera rice. It rained almost like a cloud burst and we were so fortunate to start the days in cloud earlier, still see everything and escape for lunch during heavy rain.

Bhaja Caves

Around 2:30 PM, we reached Bhaja caves. Bhaja caves is a 230 steps climb, not easy for elders, but comfortable for adults and children.

Bhaja caves, dated back to 2nd century, is a set of 22 caves - but, not all are accessible. The most important one is the Buddhist stupa - resembling the one in Ellora. This is Cave 12.

Because of continuous rain, it was difficult for us to walk and see every cave in detail. Another cave has a cluster of Stupas of different sizes. It was interesting to see such a cave.

The Cave towards the end had amazing sculptures of Lord Surya on a chariot driven by horses and Indra on his elephant.

We spent close to 20 minutes here and returned back to parking area. There was a beautiful monsoon special waterfall at Bhaja.

Karla Caves

Next, we drove to Karla caves. The caves is more popular than Bhaja caves for the fact that it hosts a temple - Ekvira Devi Temple. Karla caves has 300+ steep steps laden path with many shops all the way from the parking to the temple area. It is comparatively crowded too as local pilgrims visit the Ekvira Devi temple.

Like Bhaja, the Karla caves are also Buddhist caves. Karla caves are 15 in number and the most impressive and the biggest is Cave 8. This biggest cave hosts a big Buddhist stupa along with the prayer space called "Chaitya". This is the largest rock-cut chaitya in India, measuring 45m (148 ft) long and up to 14m (46 ft) high. Definitely massive! The sides of entrance hall are ultimately sculpted with massive elephant figures and artistic arches all along the height of the cave.

We could not visit the temple inside as it was raining and we could not let our shoes open in rain. There was no closed enclosure anywhere around as well.

We then entered cave 6 and 7, which were multi-tiered and hole structures were made along with carved steps to reach one level. Wow, what an amazing architecture thousands of years back!

Post Karla caves visit, we stopped by the highway side shop and had piping hot vada pavs, pakoras and chai as the clouds were getting intense for a massive rain. We reached back rooms, spent time at the game space at the stay.

This day, we had dinner at Hotel Annapurna - we had some Dosas, Veg Keema and rotis. All were delicious. The place has parking too.

Day-3

We had breakfast - Kanda poha, besan cheela, chai and started the day. The plan was to visit 2 or three Ashtavinayak Temples and then reach Pune.

Mahad Ashtavinayak - Varada Vinayak

We first reached Mahad Ashtavinayak Temple. Mahad is around 20 kms from Lonavala - and 3 kms from Khopoli off the Mumbai-Pune highway. Lord Ganesh is worshipped as Varada Vinayaka, the giver of bounty and success. The temple has an oil lamp that is burning since 1892. Pilgrims can go closer to Lord Ganesha and offer prayers in this temple. The temple is open across the day.

From Mahad, we set course towards Pune on the highway, with plans to visit Shirgaon (Saibaba temple - recommended by our driver), Ranjangaon and Theur before reaching Pune for overnight stay.

Shirgaon - Saibaba Temple

Shirgaon is around 37 kms before Pune. Shirgoan is the second home of Saibaba after Shirdi. The temple is replica of the Shirdi temple and called Prati Shirdi. The temple was not crowded as it was a weekday and we had a very good dharshan at leisure. We visited the temple around 11:30 AM.

Next, the plan was to visit Ranjangaon. Post very good dharshans at Mahad and Shirgaon, we stopped for lunch at Hotel Stonewood just closer to Ranjangaon after crossing the Shikrapur junction. The food was really very good and well served - great service. Highly recommended! We had rotis, dhall, sabji and jeera rice - all were very good with fine quality and ample quantity.

Ranjangaon Ashtavinayak - Maha Ganapati

Ranjangaon is 50 kms from Pune and the temple is a vary famous one. Lord Shiva is believed to have worshipped Lord Ganesha before fighting the demon Tripurasura here;  the temple was built by Lord Shiva. The temple is quite big when compared with other Ashtavinayak temples and has facility for long queues around the temple. God Ganapati seated on the lotus blesses the pilgrims along with Siddhi and Ridhi. The temple is open across the day and we visited around 2:30 PM. Almost, we were the only one to be inside the temple at this time.

The last temple to visit before entering Pune was Theur.

Theur Ashtavinayak - Chintamani

We reached the Theur temple around 3:30 PM. The road from Lonikand (highway from Shikrapur to Pune) to Theur was terrible and it was a bad stretch of road (no road). The temple is called Chintamani Temple and the temple is open across the day. This is the closest Ashtavinayak temple from Pune.

Lord Ganesha recovered the precious stone - Chintamani jewel for Kapila muni. However, Kapila Muni gave it to Lord Ganesha and hence the temple is called Chintamani.

Post visiting these temples, we reached Pune by 6 PM. We had booked our rooms at Hotel Shreyas at Deccan Gymkhana. 

Maharashtrian Thali at Hotel Shreyas

The hotel is quite old styled and is in the heart of the city. The rooms were spacious, clean and most importantly, their restaurant served perfect Maharashtrian Thali for dinner for Rs.300 per thali. The Thali was quite big for us for dinner, so, we had the option of choosing few items from the thali in small portions to share and eat. We had poori, sabji, rice, pakoras, kadi and curd. Though they are typical portions of Thali, we had one bowl of each and shared between us - which itself was sumptuous and very satisfactory.

Day-4

The plan was simple - visit 2 places - Jejuri Marthand temple - our family good and Moregaon Ashtavinayak temple. 

We had breakfast at Hotel Shreyas - Upma, Puri and Sabji. The food was too good again and then started the day towards Jejuri at 8:30 AM. We had our flight back to Chennai by 5:30 and planned to be at the airport around 3:30 PM.

Jejuri Temple

The road to Jejuri was quite bad all along from Pune to Saswad - 75% of the journey. It took almost 2:30 hours for us to reach Jejuri because of bad roads. Jejuri is the place of Lord Kandhoba, also called Malhar Marthand - our family God; a form of Lord Shiva. The temple is present inside a fort over the Jejuri hill. The temple is also known for using Turmeric and one can see the hill walkway and the temple in yellow colour - courtesy Turmeric.

We have to climb around 350 steep steps to reach the temple. The steps are laid of stones and is well-laid. For elders and people requiring assistance, there are dolis on payment basis - starting from the foothill. One can walk through multiple entrance arches and in 20 minutes, you can feel home reaching the top. 

There is free and special dharshan. The time we went in, it was almost free of any crowd and we just walked in to the temple had a very pleasant dharshan. We took turmeric with us and offered the same to Lord Khandoba through the priests. We spent some time visiting all sanctums and also made one more dharshan again as there was no crowd.

With utmost satisfaction, we climbed down leisurely, buying some mementos and local fruits - guava and fig - fresh ones.

The last pitstop for the trip was the Moregaon Ashtavinayak temple.

Moregaon Ashtavinayak - Moreshwar

The temple is close 80 kms from Pune, around 24 kms from Jejuri. The temple has four minarets, unlike other temples. Lord Ganesha is seen in the form of riding a peacock and hence the name Mayureshwar. Another unique thing is that the temple also hosts a Nandhi and Tortoise in from of the main sanctum. Like other temples, again, we had amazing dharshan with almost no crowd here too.

We started back towards Pune and had lunch at Jai Mata Di dhaba - the food was just ok - unlike many other restaurants we had in the trip. We reached Pune around 3 PM and for one last time in the trip, we stopped at Joshi wadewale at Viman Nagar, packed few Vada pavs and reached the airport.

It was great mix of amazing colours of nature of monsoon blessed Lonavala and spiritual blessings of Ashtavinayaks, Saibaba and Lord Khandoba.