Have you ever been to Strawberry town of Maharashtra? Wondering which place it it…
Lets take you all to the amazing weekend trip of Mahabaleshwar.
It is famous for the farm fresh raspberries and strawberries along with a wide variety of jellies, jams, handicrafts and more. One would be spoilt for the choices.
If you are planning your weekend getaway to Mahabaleshwar, you have arrived at the right place. Also, we are just a click away for any help you may need to plan out your perfect trip.
In case you don’t know who we are……
We call ourselves Travel Freaks……..
Table of Contents
Let’s start on with this blog with the very first question that might come to your mind….
1. Why Mahabaleshwar?
Mahabaleshwar is located in Sahyadri mountain ranges of stunning western ghats of Maharashtra. Mumbai to Mahabaleshwar is around 230 kms. Hence, it can be easily planned out on any weekend. This time we wanted to relax and explore in the foothills.
Now, you would want to know….
2. How did we reach?
We took a night bus from Mumbai. There are many bus options available which you could book online. Also, you could choose to drive by yourself enjoying the scenic views of western ghats .We boarded our bus around 11 PM and reached Mahabaleshwar around 6AM. As it was a sleeper bus we had a good night sleep.
Now that we reached Mahabaleshwar, you might wonder…….
3. What was the plan after reaching Mahabaleshwar?
As we got down from the bus, it was chilled and windy outside being the month of November. We took a auto from the bus stop to our hotel. The place where auto has dropped us it was still a few minutes walk to the hotel. We enjoyed our morning walk in the hilly roads.
We reached our hotel in next few minutes. After check in and freshen up we had our breakfast.
Now, let’s break this blog into the following attractions we visited during the day. The first on the list was……..
4. Elephant’s head point or Elphinstone point
This famous viewpoint is named after Mountstuart Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay Presidency back then. It takes around half an hour from the parking area to the view point. As we reached the we were stunned to see the view which was so surreal. Scenic Sahyadri ranges are also visible from here. We spent some time here and clicked some pics. Then thought of moving to our next destination.
Next stop was……
5. Mahabaleshwar Temple
It took us around 15 mins to reach Mahabaleshwar temple. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple had beautiful architectural style carved with black stone and had intricate carvings. Also there was a small kund (pool) and another temple in the premises which the priest asked us to visit.
It was Panchganga temple, the name is derived so as the temple resides at the confluence of five rivers: Krishna, Venna, Savitri, Koyna and Gayatri. After spending some time at the divine temple complex, we moved next to……..
6. Mapro Garden
No trip to Mahabaleshwar can be complete without a visit to the famous Mapro Garden. It is located in Panchgani and was around half an hour drive to this place. The place is quite famous amongst both locals as well as tourists.
As soon as we reached, we were amazed to see variety of the candies, squash, jams, syrups and so on. Also, we visited and saw the production of various strawberry products.
The entire area was quite big and we spent out the remaining day there. All the products present there were looking so tempting that we couldn’t resist ourselves trying and buying out a few. 🙂
Once, we were done with our shopping, we grabbed a nearby table and ordered the yummy strawberry shake. It is a must try while you are in Mapro Garden. And the view from there was short of words to describe.
This is a must visit place when you plan for your Mahabaleshwar trip.
On the way back to the hotel, we witnessed a beautiful sunset with the hills on the backdrop. Now it was time for us to get back to our hotel. After reaching hotel we took some rest then went out for dinner.
We enjoyed the cold weather along with our dinner. Post dinner we took a stroll around on the way back to the hotel.
Next day we just kept it for leisure and visited some nearby markets. You could easily plan for a weekend trip to Mahabaleshwar & Panchgani. And on Sunday night we had our return bus for Mumbai.
This weekend trip cost us around Rs. 4500 per person for two days inclusive of food, stay, travel and exploration. We have rented out a car. Also, there are various day trip options available online which you could opt for.
We hope you have an idea about Mahabaleshwar and how to plan it. We are just a click away if you need any help or suggestions. Do follow us for such more exciting stories.
We are not going anywhere without this last question……
7. What kind of help are we going to provide?
Let us inform you that we prepare itineraries not only for anywhere in India but also for Asia. We have been travelling since we were toddlers. So here in our blogs and stories, we will give you a glimpse of our journey and help you plan your trip.
Read about our Uzbekistan blogs.
Read about our Kazakhstan blogs.
Read about our Singapore blogs.
Read about our Vietnam blogs.
Read about our Cambodia blogs.
Read about our Bali blogs.
Read about our Kuala Lumpur blog series.
Read about our Sri Lanka blogs.
Read about our Nepal blogs.
Read about our Char Dham blogs.
Read about our Ladakh blogs.
Read about our day trip to Hyderabad.
Read about our Madhya Pradesh blogs.
Do follow our Instagram handle @mindfulllofvacations and watch for the next destination story of Kerala. For any query related to any trip, drop a mail at @mitkau007@gmail.com.
by mitkau