Oct 20, 2010 11:13 AM
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In the past, we had been put off by several reports of Mahabaleshwar being overly commercial. Recently on our way back from a trip to the Kas wildflower plateau we drove through Mahabaleshwar and decided that we just had to return for a leisurely visit. We did so within ten days!
In off season, the hotels offer very good rates. A list of hotels is at https://mahabaleshwar.com/
Mahabaleshwar still has a good forest cover. In the off season, it is unspoilt and lovely to drive through on good roads with several walking paths in the forest to explore. The well known points afford good views of mountains, deep valleys and water bodies. We particularly liked the group of points around the Arthur Seat.
Wilson Point is the highest at 1429m AMSL, Connaught Point is the second highest and less visited. It involves an interesting climb on an old British era staircase through the forest! The Lodwick point overlooks the picturesquely winding Fitzgerald ghat.
Pratapgad is an old fort accessible from the Fitzgerald ghat road, there is also a handicrafts centre here. Another excursion can be to Tapola, down a winding ghat road to the shores of the Koyna lake where boating is possible.
Guides will approach you at the market place to offer you a guided tour of the various points. Rates are reasonable, we did not avail this as we were not really interested in rushing from point to point and preferred to go at leisure to where we wanted.
As it was the end of the monsoons, it was misty and ethereal in the mountains and on the Venna Lake. Wildflowers were in full bloom adding splashes of colour everywhere. We enjoyed several leisurely walks through the forest and on the slopes abutting the lakeshore. The best was the sighting of a giant squirrel on a tree in our hotel!
We found Kshetra Mahabaleshwar to be disappointing, perhaps it may interest those who must visit a temple on every trip.
The Lingmala waterfalls are beautiful, the best place to see the entire drop of the falls is from a path leading from the Forest department along the Mahabaleshwar Kelghar Satara road. At the time, we did not know so we saw them from the pathway leading off near the Surya hotel. Anyway, this was also a pleasant walk.
Another must see is the Panchgani table land. This is a vast grassy plateau with a couple of small ponds at the further end and the usual horse carts, camel etc. If you walk some distance, it is beautiful and quiet. Ideal for a morning or evening walk with good views of the Dhom Dam below. The Dhom lakeshore can be visited from a side road at Wai.
The very famous Mapro Gardens was most disappointing. The so called "delicious" club sandwich was anything but! They do offer a huge range of squashes, jams etc but the same products can be bought at every second shop in Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. Mala also has a similar outlet. Madhusagar Cooperative at Mahabaleshwar sells forest honey and other fruit products.
We look forward to many more off season visits to Mahabaleshwar.
Getting there:
By road from Mumbai - ST and Volvo buses. By your own car is best, with an early start you can reach within 4 hours. Advisable to take the Expressway & NH4. NH17 is slightly shorter but the road condition is appalling.
More photos from this Mahabaleshwar trip at
https://flickr.com/photos/mahabaleshwar_september_2010/sets/72157625093614804/w
ith/5050955045/
