Tapola - Mini Kashmir? No -Maximum disappointment!. Review on Mahabaleshwar

After reading a few reviews on this site, and elsewhere on the Internet, I decided to visit Tapola(pronounced Taa-po-la!), which is about 25 Kms from Mahabaleshwar. We all know that Mahabaleshwar is a beautiful hill station, and by that standard one can have very high expectations. Many of you who have visited there recently might have seen hoardings like -' Visit Tapola - Mini Kashmir' etc. etc. Don't be fooled by that!

Even if you can guess that probably it's exaggeration to call a place Mini Kashmir, one does not expect a letdown like this.

Now reasons why I was disappointed so much –

1.  The road that leads to Tapola is a typical ghat road that you can find in western Maharashtra. It’s not exceptionally scenic or anything. In fact, the forest in that area is not nearly as dense as Mahabaleshwar.

1. The road is really bad. It’s not just potholes, but the road is very narrow, there are number of blind turns, there is no fencing on many curves, and in case of accident there is a risk of going deep down into a valley. It is very risky even for experienced drivers.

   
   




2. To make matters worse, on a busy weekend there is significant traffic on the road. Tourist buses, taxis, ST buses they all are there. Forget overtaking, sometimes there is not enough space for oncoming vehicles.

   
   




3. As you descend the ghat, you reach the village Tapola, and you start wondering what’s so special around here?  A villager will point you towards the boating area, and while you are wondering where the hell this road goes, a guy stops you and collects a fee of ten rupees(don't worry, he will give you a receipt for that!).

   
   




4. You park the vehicle, and then the disappointment starts.there is nothing special, scenic or really beautiful around here. The place is just average.

   
   




5. It’s the backwater area of Koyna dam – I was told, and of course there is water for boating. I did not bother to go boating, as I was simply not interested.

   
   




6. That’s it folks! That's Tapola.

   
   

If you want to go boating, Venna Lake in Mahabaleshwar is a better option. Don’t waste your 2-3 hours or more(depending on your luck and your driving speed) on this place.

Just to give the place a little benefit of doubt, probably it would be a better place during monsoons. There must be lot of greenery and lot of water in the dam during that period. And for greenery and scenery there are lot of places around Pune / Mumbai during monsoons. And more importantly - who goes to Mahabaleshwar in the rainy season? After all it rains sooooo much there.

So visit Tapola, only if you tend to have lower expectations from such places.:)