Panchganiis a quaint little hill town in the Sahyadri range. The name of the place is derived from “Panch” meaning Five and “Gani” meaning “plateau” or ”hills”.
Panchgani is located 100 kms from Pune. It can be reached using a very good road connection from Pune by taking the Bangalore highway and taking a diversion around 70 kms past Pune to Wai and further up the hills to reach this unique hill town.
It can also be reached from Mumbai (260 kms) either thru Mahad and Mahabaleshwar or from Mumbai (230 kms) thru Pune and Wai.
The Town :
Panchgani is a rustic hill town located at a height of 1300 metres above sea level, with no major commercialization. The central market square is small and basic. If you walk for more than 3 minutes in any direction from the central square, you will be out in the country.
Panchgani has fantastic topography. The winding road which steadily climbs up hill from Wai offers a beautiful view of the Krishna river and Dhom dam. The road from Panchgani to Mahabaleshwar twists and turns with each bend offering you a new eye capturing view of the nearby hills, the plains and the little villages on the banks of Krishna.
There are no ATM’sin this town. You may not find any store in the market accepting credit cards. We even had problem in Cliff Inn when they said we cannot pay our dinner bill by card as it was less than 500 Rs.
The day time temp was around 27 – 30 deg C and night was around 15 – 18 deg C during our 3 nights stay in the last week of April. This is not as cool as it gets in Ooty but at the same time it is very pleasant. Monsoons can be real harsh as this is quite a wet area. If you are a person who prefers to sit on the balcony and enjoy the rain, you have a nice place to go.
Mid April to mid June is the peak tourist season.
Every person and vehicle going into Panchgani would have to pay local toll (15 Rs person and 30 Rs for the vehicle). The fee is valid for a week and entitles you to park you vehicle any where in Panchgani without a parking fee.
For good, Panchgani has become eco-friendly and all construction has been put on hold in and around town. This is very good news for nature lovers and this step will help Panchgani to retain her old charm and beauty.
Panchgani is very famous for residential schools. You can see a school almost at every corner around the town.
The Resorts :
There a variety of resorts to choose in Panchgani. We stayed in the Blue Country resort. The other notable resorts are Cliff Inn, Ravine Resort, Danhills Comfort Inn and Millennium resort.The tariff for the resorts varies with the season.
The Blue Country resort offers clean rooms and reasonably tasty food (but expensive). Their swimming pool is very good. The best part of the resort is the location. It is located on a hill side and offers a very clean view of mountains thru the balcony. Lots of birds are available for company with their chirping and singing all day. At night, the stars and the lights from the distant mountain villages allow you to relax and unwind.
We had very tasty food at the Basilica restaurant in Cliff Inn. Their food prices were more value for money than Blue country.
You also can choose from a variety of bungalows and guest houses to stay in Panchgani. Please visit vivektours.com for various bungalow options.
Eating out :
A few small restaurants are available around the market square. We tried a couple of them. They were not bad. We had food at a Bhojanalay with typical Maharashtra style Juhar Bakri and the accompaniments.
The best food we had was in Basilica restaurant in Cliff Inn resort.
Shopping :
My wife found a small shoes store which sold good leather slippers near the market square. You can also get very good strawberry products and other fruit products (Panchgani is very big fruit processing area) at the direct factory outlets on the Panchgani to Mahabaleshwar road. They are cheaper than the prices offered by the stores in market area.
Sight seeing :
Table Land :
This is the main attraction in Panchgani as the name itself comes from the huge plateaus around this region. Table Land is the second largest mountain plateau in Asia (after Tibet) at a height of 1300 m.
No vehicle is allowed after a point and you have three options : walk, horse ride or take a horse cart. We took a cart for the round up for 230 Rs (I think we could have bargained much better).
The round trip included the seeing the rock with foot impressions of Pandavas, the shooting spotwith fantastic view of Krishna valley, the view of all five mountain plateau’sand the Devils kitchen ( a small cave under the Table Land which houses a little snack bar).
We were lucky to view a picture perfect sunset form the Table Land.
There are a few photographers here who take trick shots of you, your kid or family. Interesting choices are available for 40 Rs per photo.
Sherbaug :
This was a very unique and satisfying experience for us. This botanical garden is located close to the Sydney point and Cliff Inn resort. The garden has huge varieties of plants and trees. Some of the unique ones are the small plants that look like rock (to fool away animals) and the big interesting collection of Cactus varieties.
They have a decent restaurant and they have huge resting areas with coir beds and machan to handle the big crowd.
If you want a unique selection of jam, squash or fruit products, they have an exclusive counter. But their products are not intended for mass production. So their rates are higher than the prices you get at the factory outlets available on Mahabaleshwar road
Entry fee is 75 Rs for adults and 50 Rs for kids. It is really worth this price. Kids will love the place. Sanjana had a small session with the potter and was taught to make a small pot.
The lighting of fire at every corner in the evening makes this place real beautiful.
Sydney Point :
A small diversion from the Wai road takes you to his scenic view point. You can see the Dhom dam and town of Wai from this point.
Parsi Point :
Located on the Mahabaleshwar road, this point offers a panoramic view of the Krishna valley, the river and the villages located on the banks below the hills.
Dhom Dam :
From Wai, you would have a take a small diversion to reach this dam. Water sports are available. The boat ride gives you a beautiful view of the hills around you.
Mahabaleshwar :
This famous hill resort is a destination by itself (the most popular in Maharashtra). Located 20 kms from Panchgani, this wonderful hill town offers splendid attractions for a traveler (more of that in another review)
To sum it up
Relax and unwind at Panchgani.
