Central Konkan Beach Ride -Harihareshwar-Shrivardhan-Diveagar

India is blessed with amazing long sea coast. Each cost has its own story. Today I would like to share with you an amazing drive by the Konkan Sea Coast of Maharashtra. It is known not only for its tasty fish & sea food gourmet, but also for the less discovered scenic beaches. This coastal line starts from Mumbai in Maharashatra and ends at Manglore in Karnataka enclosing the one of the most happening coastal place of the world, Goa. This trip would cover the central Konkan area of Harihareshwar, Diveagar and Shrivardhan beach. Well below are the coastal area which I discovered. You can also start your car from Mumbai - Alibuag -Kashid -Murud/Janjira - Dighi - Diveagar - Shrivardhan - Harihareshwar -Dapodi-Velneshwar-Guhagar - Ganpati Phule - Sindhudurg - Goa - Udupi -and ends up at Manglore to discover the whole amazing Konkan Coast.

Places of my Trip:

Harihareshwar beach is famous for the Krishna temple and the astonishing parikrama(Circular surrounding of the temple).

Shrivardhan beach is a great picnic spot with several traditional resorts and one of the towns of this beach area.

Diveagar beach is the tourist spot which has several water sport activity and serene beach to relax at, of course when there are less tourist .

Transport Details:

My suggestion for this area of Konkan beach would to go by private hired Car or Self drive. This would be not only to enjoy @ the spots that you like but also the convenience as this is the place where when travelling with family, it would be safer to go by car.

State Transport:

Bus to Ratnagiri or Raigad directly from Pune to Mumbai bus stop.

One needs to check the route of the bus before boarding.

Less frequency.

Train route:

      

     The Indian government has the Konkan rail route which allows you to connect to several destination along the Konkan Region

     Select the boarding & destination which suits you and enjoy the pleasure of the train and scenic ride. Below map would guide you through the Konkan rail route. One might need to rent a car or go by local buses once you arrive at the main destination.

     Private Transport:

Unfortunately no private transport is available. Except one which can take you to Ratanagiri via this route.

Car:

Total distance to Diveagar is approx 150km approx via Mulshi (Tamhini Ghat) from Pune.

Best time for the Holiday:

The best time to visit is Winter, but I would also suggest going in summer to enjoy the early morning and evening serenity by the sea. It is always cooler near water. I would not suggest monsoon season for the first timers who would also like to enjoy some water sports around the beaches. May be for your revisit , one can select this season for the splendid road drive with sea on one side and lush green ghats on the other.

If you are foodie, try visiting in late summer around May to enjoy the local mangoes and some amazing food. For those who would like to see the Dolphins, the locals suggest to go during Diwali i.e. October-November to explore some wonderful sea life around the beaches.

This is another blog where my suggestion would be, travel during the day time to enjoy the beauty of early morning, evening and the clear sky at night where you can count tremendous amount of stars or sit by the camp fire and relax with some music or gossips.

Hotel or Home stay:

Just like several famous destination for holiday in Maharashtra, this would also be a little expensive because of limited hotels. But the thumb rule for here is , bigger the group cheaper is your stay. One can rent a home for a group and enjoy the holiday. Even the resorts have cottage system and if the group is OK sharing it, than one can share a cottage starting from 2 persons up to 8 persons.

The room price for the family of two with kids starts from 1000INR(homestay/MSRTC hotel) to 7000INR(resort). One can opt for AC or Non-AC rooms. I would rather prefer ac cottages to stay here because of extreme humidity.

There are several MSRTC resorts, but most of them are away from beaches and those which are near are dam expensive. I would suggest you to tighten up your pants for bargaining specially if you are travelling in weekends or peak season due to fewer resorts & more people.

My Trip:

Day 1: Pune – Harihareshwar Road Trip.

     As per the suggestion we started at 11am in the morning from Pune so that we can enjoy the right place at right time. We stopped by @ local hotel to enjoy the Kothambir wadi and Gavran cuisine. We geared up our car to Harihareshwar post lunch and by the sunset we were @ Harihareshwar.

     There are no water sports here and not many sea side resort accept “Harihareshwar Resort” and few home stays. So if you are planning to stay here, than book in advance else compromise on type of room.

    The sunset @ beach side and sunrise of Parikrama/Pradakshina is the forte of this place so , do not miss either of them. Fewer tourists are here as this is a devotional place along with the tourist place. You can enjoy the best here. The sea view and the huge waves give you a refreshing splash of energy.

     I would highly recommend you to carry some food items with you just for safety in case you are not willing to dine out at one and only restaurant available late night. Of course the hotel and home stays provide you food but this is just a matter of double check.

Day 2: Harishareshwar – Diveagar Road Trip

   We started the day early by 6:00am towards the pradkshina of the temple. After offering our prayers at the temple we headed towards the pradakshina of the temple. One has to go down by the narrow staircase and it gives you a small track kind of feeling. The waves and the sunrise is amazing by the narrow creep created by the small hill by the sea side. There are few spots which have mythological importance by the pradakshina. One of the stories is that Shri Krishna once came down there for meditation. There is spot which shows Vishnu chakra on the stone. Than we headed for the beach enjoyed to cool water of the morning and after breakfast we started for Diveagar.

PS:Do not forget to take Farm fresh Mangoes if you are visiting in Summer Season.

   Towards our journey to Diveagar, we first stopped by Shrivardhan beach. The beach did not attract us more as it is a family destination or for those who would like to enjoy picnic. After a while gazing at the beach, we thought it would be best to leave for Diveagar.

We reached Diveagar by 2:00 pm and settled down for our lunch @ home cooked savory near the famous Ganesh mandir of diveagar. We were lucky enough to get a cottage near the beach named Sai resort , trust me it is really good. Enjoying the warm tea and crispy pakoda by the sea side was never so beautiful than that day!! The beach is long and scenic and one can realize it only once you are present there.

   I should never forget to mention about wonderful path that take you from Shrivardhan to Diveagar. For the long drive lovers it would be one of the road trip where you would enjoy sea on one side and greenery on the other. Amazing drive!!!!

Day 3: Diveagar-Aarvi Road Trip

   Well the water sport here is pretty cheap compared to Goa, so we enjoyed the water sport early in the morning. We took a long walk of the beach and enjoyed our self splashing water over each other. This was kind of rest day for us.

   In the evening we went to Aarvi beach which is on the way to Shrivardhan beach to enjoy the sunset and trust me it is amazing. For those who like a little wavy sea, this is the right place to be. One can be with own looking at the water till your vision limits you.

Day 4: Back Home (Pune)

   We started early after the breakfast. This was to avoid the traffic to return back home. Well for shopping lover sorry but you would not have much to shop except some banana or fannas(jack fruit) chips, although I do not recommend it as it is same as you might get in the Kerala store in your town. After having our lunch @ Mulshi, we reached Pune by 3:30 pm and ended our trip.

Place to cover in Between:

Let us start from the foot after you pass the Mulshi area and enter the Raigad district of Maharashtra. On this trip, I was travelling through the Tamhini Ghat via Mulshi & Mangaon with Harihareshwar as my first destination.

Places to visit on the way to Harihareshwar from Pune:

Mulshi Dam

Raigad Fort

Krishna Mandir (Harihareshwar)

Places to visit on the way to Diveagar from Harihareshwar

Aarvi Beach

Kondvil Beach

Velas Agar

Adgaon Beach(Ahead of Diveagar)

Ganpati Mandir (Diveagar)

Trip Cost:

Coverage: Pune – Harihareshwar – Shrivardhan – Diveagar – Pune.

Fuel Charge:                                    2500 INR

Harishareshwar Resort Stay:           2700 INR (Harishareshwar Cottage for 5 people)

Mangoes:                                         1200 INR (6 dozens)

Water sports:                                    2000 INR (3 people 3 rides)

Sai Resort Stay:                               7000 (Diveagar Cottage for 5 people for 2 days)

Shopping:                                         150 INR (Few jackfruit chips)

Food:                                                3000INR (incl lunch,breakfast,dinner&water for 5 px)

** We save more on food & water as we carried home items.

Total Trip Cost:                              18500 INR (5 Px ->  3 Nights 4 days)

Mahabaleshwar Trip

Trip To Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar is a scenic town surrounded by the western ghats in Maharashtra, India. It is a well known hill station in the area, famous for pre-monsoon pleasant atmosphere and scenic beauty during monsoon. The other town nearby are home to several holiday homes and boarding schools like Panchgani and Wai.

It is a place blessed by several natural shapes amongst the nature and water bodies between the mountains-rather valleys. It is home to a special breed of deer called the Barking deer,  leopard , bison and several bird species.

This time we went by roads to reach these beautiful yet strong mountains via Pune or Mumbai-Banglore highway.

One can opt for regional state transport or the private bus taking you to most of the beautiful places. Although I believe self drive or car drive is better in this region as you might want to stop at several places of your liking just to enjoy Mother Nature. There are no rail routes to the destination as it is all valley and mountain drive. The nearest station one can opt is Pune as there will be more transport available from this station. Additionally there are several options available to reach Mahabaleshwar.

Transport Details:

State Transport:

 Bus to Wai or Mahabaleshwar directly from Pune or Mumbai bus stop.
Any bus to Satara. Get down at Mahabaleshwar phata and take another bus to Mahabaleshwar.

Private Transport:

Pune – Mahabaleshwar bus – 275 to 500 INR
Pune – Mahabaleshwar Neeta Travels , This has several package options along with their own hotel and sightseeing package. This could be preferable for the family who wants to opt for public transport and be tension free.
       o  redbus.com       
       o   Neetabus.in 
       o   Neetaholidaysonline.com

Car:

 Total distance to Mahabaleshwar is approx 120km approx via NH48
 Time required is 2hr 45min . But do drive safe in the single track ghat starting from Wai
For outsider, try using Zoom car for Car Rental faciltiy or hire online cabs.

Time for the Holiday:

Ideally the best time to visit the place is after first rain of the monsoon season. It is good to go there anytime if you want to enjoy staying in hotel room during the afternoon but enjoy the pleasant sunrise and sunset at different location.

Usually a one night two days trip is enough to explore the place but if you follow the mountain trail as per the places to cover below please plan a four day trip. If you want to enjoy leisure please plan a weekend and if you want to enjoy the nature please plan a weekday so that there are less people around.

The most important suggestion which contradicts my other blogs here is travel during the day time to enjoy the beauty of early morning, evening and the clear sky at night where you can count tremendous amount of stars or do sky gazing.

Hotel or Homestay:

This is just like other commercialized hill station where the rush of the public is almost in every weekend so no much bargains and price could be almost as per the hotel or home stay quality.

The difference here is , bigger the group cheaper is your stay. One can rent a home for a group and enjoy the holiday.

Staying at Panchgani and taking the site seeing bus or taxi could be cheaper than staying in Mahabaleshwar. It totally depends on what kind of holiday you are going for. If you are first timer , than I prefer staying at Mahabaleshwar.

The room price for the family with two kids starts from 1000INR(homestay) to 7000INR(resort).
One can opt for AC or Non-AC rooms. I would rather prefer non-ac cottages to stay with the nature.

Place to cover in Between:

Let us start from the foot after you pass the Satara Ghat from NH48.

Markers:

*are the tranquil places; #are picnic sports; % are devotional places with beauty; !are amusement park with beauty

One with no markers is also worth going if you have much time.

Wai: 

By the Krishna river stream you would be able to enjoy ancient and spectacular:

Ganpati Mandir (%)

Shiv Mandir (%)

Minavli Shiv Mandir(%)

Water Sports(almost at all spots)

Dhom Dam

Panchgani:

Starting for the mountains at 20 km distance from Wai is Panchgani famous for family as well as one night outing. One can enjoy peace in the definition of their liking. It is home to several boarding schools and several celebrity holiday homes. The town is properly developed for tourism as hill station to fight the crouching heat during summer vacation.

Spots:

Mapro Garden(!#)

Parsi Point(#)

Sydney Point

Table land

Ghtlaj Devi Mandir

Amusement Parks

Mahabaleshwar:

The ultimate destination and proper hill station at the highest point of the mountain. One can see the valleys,table tops , roads, river, lake etc from this highest point of the mountain. Divided into Old and New Mahabaleshwar for development reasons one can enjoy the market place or nature living of their choice. Pratapgad and Tapola are adventure treks. There are not many places to stay or eat , so the suggestion would be to stay at Mahabaleshwar and than visit the place or completely opt for the tent stays or perfect resort there.

Spots:

Arthur Seat

Window Point

Echo Point

Kates Point (*)

Elephant Head (*)

Needle Point

Lingmala Waterfall

Veena Lake (*!#)

Hunting Point

Monkey Point

Panchganga Temple (#!%*)

Castle point

Malcolm Point

Sunrise Point (*)

Pratapgad : Garden, AfzalKhan tomb, Shivaji Statue,Bhavani Temple.

Tapola : Triveni Sangam, Sports, Dam, Bamnoli Point and Shouting Point. Please don’t go by the name MiniKashmir , it is nothing like that in summer or even in winter J

My Trip:

Day1: Pune – Mahabaleshwar Road Trip.

As per the suggestion we started at 10am in the morning from Pune so that we can enjoy the right place at right time. We reached Wai at around 11:45am, where we were able to do Ganpati Darshan and than headed toward Minavli and reached there by 12:30pm. We did Picnic packing with us for the food this time but as an option you can eat at Wai Junction and relish the famous “Solkadhi”. Near the temple of Minavli , there is Krishna river where you can enjoy bathing in the river or sit at the ghat to see the tranquil flow of the river stream.

Left for Panchgani at 1:30pm. On the way you will come by all the scenic spots mentioned above. We stopped by Parsi Point to have our lunch and enjoy the valley view.

Left for Mahabaleshwar at 3:00pm. In Mahabaleshwar the points are absolutely scattered and one needs to decide the priority. We decided to go to Kates Point , prior to hotel check-In to enjoy the sunset and do the other spots , early in the next morning. When you go to the Kates Point, there is parking at a junction and than a trek to reach the point and moving ahead you have the elephant head shaped mountain called “Elephant Head”. This are part of New Mahabaleshwar . After enjoying the Sunset at Elephant Head , we turned back to Old Mahabaleshawar and the Hotel called “ARAM” which is government subsidized cottage with amazing free breakfast and great plantation.  The location of the Hotel is centric rather than scenic which gives easy access to several tourist spots and market to visit. We took food and enjoyed the chilling night in the month of Hot April.

Day2: Mahabaleshwar – Tapola Road Trip

We started our day enjoying the breakfast at 8:00am in the morning and heading towards Tapola for the drive. Amazing drive but was a bad option selected for the summer . please visit after the rain J . We enjoyed the boating at the sports but we had to come back soon at our hotel because of the heat. We selected enjoying the Mahabaleshwar market in the day and having our lunch there rather than going to the far spots. In the evening we went to Veena Lake. Please select going there are 4-5pm as there could be traffic on your way. We took horse riding and the pedal boating for hours together enjoying the sunset and tranquility.

Enjoyed shopping in the market in the evening specially some footwears , jam, sharbat  and wooden toys.

Day3: Back Home (Pune)

Again started early to enjoy the nature and mainly avoid the traffic. If you are a strawberry freak , please go early in the market and you will be lucky to get it 40-50 INR a kg. Well that is what we did. We left Mahabaleshwar early at 8:00 am after the breakfast and crossed Veena Lake by 9:30 to avoid further traffic. We took a stop at Mapro Garden in the morning and had a tea by the side of well organized sitting with a valley view. We reached Pune by 12:30 pm and ended our trip.

Trip Cost:

Coverage: Pune - Wai – Panchgani – Mahabaleshwar – Tapola – Mahabaleshwar – Pune.

Fuel Charge: 1500 INR

Hotel Stay( Aaram ): 2200 INR (Including breakfast for two days)

Boating @ Veena Lake: 400 INR

Horse Riding: 200 INR

Shopping: 1200 INR

Food: 1000INR (including luch breakfast for two)

Total Trip Cost: 6500 INR

As I always Say Enjoy Travelling the Most , Make the journey so beautiful that the destination shines @ it's best :).

Rann Of Kutch

Located in the plain lands of Gujarat, India this beautiful place is amalgamation of the cultural heritage, vivid landscapes and modern thoughts.

There are TWO Desserts in the area surrounded by Arabian Sea on one side and sharing borders with Pakistan and Rajasthan(India):

•       Little Rann of Kutch
•     Great Rann of Kutch

One needs a week to explore the Rann at the fullest, but can be accelerated to four days.

Here is the tourist maps for the Kutch region in Gujarat, India.

Travel Map:

Commute:

Direct:

• Train from Mumbai to Bhuj. (Cheapest)
•  Flight from Mumbai to Bhuj. (Fastest)
•  Bus from Mumbai/Pune to Bhuj. (If Instant Plans)

Alternative:

•     Mumbai to Ahemdabad/ Rajkot/ Surendranagar – Cab or Bus to Bhuj.
•          Mumbai to Jamnagar – Ship to Mandvi / Kandla.

Places to Visit:

   Anjar

o   Jesal Toral Shrine

o   Shopping Center for Traditional Kutchi Items.

  Mandvi

o   Beach

o   Temples

o   Vijay Villas Palace

      Ports

o   Mundra

o   Kandla

o   GandhiDham

  Bhuj

o   Aina Mahal

o   Sharad Baug Palace

o   Kutch Museum

o   Bhuj Palace

o   Bhuj Mountain

o   Dadavadi Jain Temple

o   Bhuj Lake / Hamirsar Lake

o   Trimandir

o   AshapuraMa Madh (Temple)

o   Chariot Temple (Rath Derasar)

o   Hill Garden

o   SuralPith (Jaleshawar Mahadev)

o   Mahashri Chatardi

  Little Rann of Kutch

o   Wild Ass Sanctuary

o   Dholavira

  Greater Rann of Kutch

o   Black Mountain (Kalo Dungar)

o   Tropic of Cancer Line

o   India Bridge (Police permission required)

o   Dhorado ( Rann festival Area)

o   Hodka

o   Rudramata Mandir

o   Lakhpat Border/ fort (Police permission required)

o   Narayan Sarovar (Police permission required)

o   Indus Valley Site

o   Matano Madh (Police permission required)

o   Buddha Caves

o   Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary (Police permission required)

o   Naliya (Police permission required)

o   Koteshwar (Police permission required)

o   Charri Dandh

MY TRIP

This time the short trip lasted for 3 days with Family after taking a private vehicle from Rajkot.

Reached Rajkot from Pune via Bus.

Bhuj is the center connection to reach different places for the trip, atleast the most important ones.

Day1: Rajkot- Anjar

Started at 1:00pm in the afternoon for Anjar and reached there by evening 5:00pm passing by excellent State Highway and Windmill sites.

We relaxed in a Regional Jain Dharmasala, which is in the city center and enjoyed our Site seeing for Jesal toral Samadhi and Mata Madh of Anjar. We topped up our energy by shopping some traditional artifacts, Clothes, Purses, Shoes and Sweet preparation.

** Kutchi shopping is suggested at Anjar as it is more competitive in price and variety offered.

Inside of the Jesal-Toral Shrine

Day2: Anjar- Bhuj – White Dessert

Started at 9:00am morning for Bhuj and reached our destination by 10:30-11:00am. On the way you would come across the Bhujio Dungar (Bhuj Hills) with wide spread walls.

Bhujio Dungar

As soon as we reached Bhuj we reached Hamirsar lake and Kutch Museum. 

Stone Carving @ Kutch Museum

By 1:30pm we left for Kalo Dungar and reached there by 4:00 pm passing through the Tropic of Cancer.

The Drive was amazing seeing the plant less mountain and traditional colorful attired natives.

The Scene from Kalo Dungar is amazing, where we can see the manmade foldable India Bridge crossing the water logged white dessert with Military posts.

Way towards Kalo Dungar

View from Kalo Dungar

After spending sometime exploring the beauty with binoculars and sipping over hot tea with Bhaji and local fruits we moved ahead towards Dhordo, the place where the Rann Utsav is held.

Reaching Dhordo we can see walk and enjoy ourself in the Salt logged flat land, The White Dessert.

One needs to register and cannot go by private vehicle unless permitted before in the dessert. The counters can help you to register and then take a ticket to travel in the military protected dessert where you can go via camel ride or state transport or walk through the center pathway with white dessert on both the side.

Great Rann of Kutch Sunset

Great Rann of Kutch Sunset

Great Rann of Kutch

Salt of the Rann

Great Rann of Kutch Sunset

Tradition Kutch Home Architecture / Ticket Center for the Rann of Kutch

I would prefer one going to the place early morning or evening and enjoy the sunset.

One can prefer staying in the desert camps or hotels and enjoy the night sky gazing and market.

We left from Dhordo by 9pm and reached back to Bhuj around 10:30pm.

Day3: Bhuj - Mandvi

After morning breakfast we continued our sightseeing for the Aina Mahal and Bhuj Palace seeing the market.  From the bell tower of the Bhuj Palace one can see the whole city and the musical construction of Aina Mahal makes you flow into the memories of the old king likings with the impressions left behind by British visitors.

Kutch Palace

Left around 11:00 am for Vijay Villas Palace, Mandvi.

One of the well maintained palace of still ruling King of Kutch where there are number of Bollywood shootings done. The wonderful private space of the palace which starts with the lush green entrance with private temple and ends with the private beach for the royals. The private beach is now a heritage hotel for people to enjoy lavish time.

Vijay Villas Palace

 From Vijay villas palace we went to the Mandvi Beach to end the journey by the Arabian Sea.

It has clean water and quite a bit sports like other beach. The beach is quite calm but at time it is life taking so swim with caution and as per the directives by Beach attendants.

Beach

Cost:

The total trip costed : 3000 INR per person because of private vehicle and budget hotels from Rajkot - Rajkot :)