Hi All Just thought of writing a travelogue about my family trip to Mahabaleshwar and here it goessssssssssssss Started our trip to Mahabaleshwar on the 24th of Jan 2015.We started our trip from Mumbai in our car at around 6.30AM and reached Mahabaleshwar almost at 2 PM .We just took one break for our breakfast on our way.Since It was a long weekend,there was pretty much traffic all the way till we crossed Pune.It was January end and the vegetation was pretty dry...I guess we should avoid going to Mahabaleshwar during this month..It was very hot even as we stepped inside Mahabaleshwar Reached the guest house around 2.30PM ..took a short nap and started our outing in the evening VENNA LAKE :: We expected a pretty nice lake with park/greenery/places to sit around the lake but it was a real disappointment...Only if you want to boat,you need to reach that lake otherwise there is nothing else to see..there is not even a proper place where you can enter the lake and sit around its banks..but once you are out of the lake,there are many recreations for kids and things to eat especially fresh strawberry cream..we could also find chats and many more to eat.ah yeah forgot,if you are interested in horse riding,you can try this place... we ideally dint even enter the lake since we were not interested in boating and roamed around the lake,daughter played some jumpy kid ride,dashing cars,had icecreams/strawberries/chat and went back ..by then the climate turned out to be chilly...ah,cool climate at last!!!! TOWN BAZAAR:arked our car near the bazaar and went for a walk...bought chocolates,tiny slippers(showpiece..I would say its a wonderful masterpiece to take home),some mini shopping and went back to the guest house,had dinner and dozzed offff 25th January 2015 Day started pretty early than we expected.Had breakfast and left the guest house...again a hot day Lodwick point :: We reached this spot but had to make a long walk to reach the point..It was quite a nice view...The mountains were looking like the grand canyon to me(though I have only seen grand canyons in films. :-D)..we did enjoy the place,took few snaps and left..again a long walk Mapro's Garden :: Of all the places in Mahabaleshwar,we just loved this spot..I would say a must visit spot...there were fun areas for kids ..the food is just Yummm..there dont have wide range menu but what they have Is just awesome .they have brick heated pizzas which taste just too-good..their sizzlers,icecreams,shakes are truely out of the world..its a little costier but must try..There are number of counters where they serve their products(syrups/squashes) like shots for free...you just cannot stop with one-two...me and hubby would have had just 10-12 varieties. ...they have their outlets where you can buy variety of mapro products like chocolates/jelly/syrups/squashes etc..there is strawberry market around mapro where you could get good quality strawberries very cheap...ofcourse there are strawberry gardens around where you can see the strawberries unplucked and you can buy from their owners..its a lovely experience Lingamala waterfalls :: After a stomach full experience at the Mapros ,we headed to the waterfalls..again you need to stop the car at a point and start walking for more than a km...we reached the spot but there was just a pond and no big waterfall,obvious reason,wrong season...but that spot was just enough for my daughter...she played for sometime,we clicked some pictures and ended that day's trip there 26January 2015 Started our journey pretty early again and headed to Pratapgard fort which was almost 25 km from our guest house...its like situated on one corner of mahabaleshwar..but saw traffic for almost a km before the fort..we had to decide,either we need to wait for the traffic to clear or park our car and start walking up towards the fort...It was a damn hot day and we were not feeling safe about parking the car in an unknown place and climbing up the fort on a hot day with a small kid,we decided to leave pratapgad unexplored so we came all the way back to our guest house area and started towards Tapola lake... Tapola lake::my goodness,it sure was a pretty long drive..and the route was not smooth either..reached tapola lake but hardly could see people around..there was nothing much around the lake..just boating...there are different packages of the boat ride ...we settled for 1 hour ride and enjoyed our boating .they stopped inbetween in a tiny island,you can relax for few minutes,take pictures and go back...there are some 3 hours package which would take you to shooting spots,so pick your package after consulting their boating office people..then headed back to Mahabaleshwar ...but we need to take care as there are no proper sign boards as to which route we should take to reach...we got into a long unknown route but somehow managed to reach mahabaleshwar..uffff Arthur seat::this was somewhat near Mapro and we started our journey...again a very long drive at the end,it was just a view point and nothing more than that..we never expected that we came all the way only to see the grand canyon like mountain from another view/angle :-(...we seriously were very frustrated at this point due to the long travel and decided not to visit any other viewpoints as almost would be the same... Drove towards the famous temples of Mahabaleshwar but again saw the traffic,so took a turn and came out of that place Elephant Head:: atlast we reached the spot which we see in google anytime you searched Mahabaleshwar..hehehe...reached the spot,saw the Elephant head at an angle...had food and started our journey back to Mumbai... This time we used a different route to reach Mumbai and passed through Mapro...ahem we went inside Mapro again,had some pizzas and lovely sizzlers ,filled our stomach and started towards MUMBAI... Pros of Mahabaleshwar (1) I am sure the place would look lovely immediately after the rainy season..A must easy visit spot from Mumbai (2) Loads and Loads of fresh Strawberries...you can keep munching at a very cheap rate cons..there are many I feel (1) Very Poor Maintanance of the place::there are way too many tourists visiting this place but there are hardly good measures taken for the safety of the tourists..No proper safety measures are taken even at one spot..all view points had no safety..any time you can fall down..the path is also not properly maintained,chances of slippage are more...no proper barricades..it was very scary for me ..no proper steps in any spot,(including tapola lake)... (2) too much of travelling is required to visit any spot..you should feel there was some worth in travelling so long but we dint get that...better to take a driver as people can really get tired (3)No proper sign boards.. (4)Traffic maintenance was very poor...the tourists started maintaining the traffic rather than the traffic constables Even though google says these many places to visit I would say the below places are just more than enough.. (1)Mapro Gardens (2)Pratapgarh fort (3)Lingamala waterfalls (4)Mahabaleshwar temples(if you really wish to) (5)Elephant head point (6)venna lake(if you just want to spend your evening/enjoy just boating..nothing to see here) (7) town bazaar (8)any one view point (9)Tapola lake(if you really feel like boating) all the view points would show you the same mountains at different angles,nothing more than that..at one view point,you would see the top angle of the mountain,the other view poitn would show the middle and then the sides and so on..So please dont waste your time on these viewspots,rather chill out and enjoy in Mahabaleshwar..its more of a relaxing place than sightseeing especially with elderly people and kids mainly because of the travel you would make to visit each and every spot.. So Enjoy Mahabaleshwar immediately after the monsoon ,no time before or after(My personal Experience)
Just searched about Mahabaleshwar on Google image and found wonderful images of Mahabaleshwar. I wasn't aware about Mahabaleshwar that is pointed at south of Mumbai. Thanks for sharing such a nice info about Mahabaleshwar
