Mahabaleshwar Trip - I: Panchgani
It was Monday morning on June 23rd when we
started from Pune at early morning 6am. After facing the worst experience with
CelCabs in our previous trip, we decided to do a lot of search and decided with
TCabs this time and I must say TCabs provide very generous and decent service.
We reached Panchgani by 10 am, having had breakfast on the
highway in Vithal Kamat restaurant. Our first stopover was table land. This was
my second visit to Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar.
In my first visit I had been to Harrisons Folly, Parsi Point
in Panchgani and Mapro Garden, Panch ganga Temple, Venna Lake, Elphinstone
Point in Mahabaleshwar.
Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani valleys have numerous view points,
which can be as high as fifty. Although important ones were of interest for us
with least efforts.
Top 10 Attractions of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani:
1.
Elephant's Head/Needle Hole Point
2.
Arthur's Seat
3.
Mapro Garden
4.
Table land
5.
Venna Lake
6.
Elphinstone Point
7.
Lodwick Point
8.
Panchganga Temple
9.
Parsi Point
10.
Lingmala Waterfalls
Other attractions include Harrisons Folly, Pratapgad Fort,
Sydney point, Savitri Point, Castle Rock Point, Wilson Point, Dhobi Waterfall,
Bombay Point, Hunter's Point, and Cannought Peak
While Panchgani is popular for its adventure sports,
Mahabaleshwar is more popular for its natural beauty, with deep valleys and
forest.
Just about 100km from Pune, is the hill station Panchgani in
Satara district, which is also the gateway to Mahabaleshwar. It is about 3
hour’s journey from Pune.
Harrisons Folly:
Nearly 10km after crossing the town Wai is the popular
picnic spot, Harrisons Folly, to the right side of the Wai-Panchgani Road. This
is the first attraction in the route, and is quite popular for its horse rides.
This is actually a flat land sliding on its three sides into the valley down,
overlooking the Dhom dam. The significance of this place is in its greenery
around, so the best time to visit is during monsoons and post monsoon, during
summer the region is usually dry.
The horse rides are high on bargains, and we had bargained
for 150 Rs for a small ride.
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| Panoramic view of the surrounding hills as seen from Harrisons Folly |
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| villages down the hills |
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| Children getting dirty at Harrisons Folly |
Table Land:
Table land is about 5 km from Harrisons Folly in the town
Panchgani, while Sydney point was on the right side of the road, table land was
on the left. We decided to go to Table land, as it was a more popular
attraction.
Since we left from Pune we were happy with the A/C in the
car, but as soon as we got down from the car at the table land, we felt it was cooler
outside and not inside the car. The feel was amazing, with cold breeze blowing
our way. It took us a free walk with open arms against the breeze.
This was quite similar to my previous visit to Harrisons
Folly, with all the adventure lined up including the popular Horse rides. This
is the best place for horse rides, with a lot of bargain we agreed for a long
ride for 500 Rs, which I think was expensive. He took us over the Table land
towards north and showed us Dhom Lake. At times it feels a little unsafe to
ride the horse on yourself, since it is almost like a table, and the table ends
at a steep valley. It was just about 15mins ride, and very enjoyable.
As the name suggests, this is a very flat land and at the
end of the table has a steep fall. It can be tiring to walk all around the
table, as it is about 1km from its ends. Vehicles are not allowed beyond the
parking space.
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| Typical horse ride and the flat lands of Table land |
Parsi Point:
Just about 3km from Table land is another popular view point
locally known as Parsi point. If you missed Sydney point on your way then it is
still worthwhile to stopover at Parsi point. It is just on the right side of
the main road. The view is mesmerizing with a long visibility, as the hills are
mostly covered with grasslands. Both Sydney point and Parsi point overlooks the
krishna Valley and the backwaters of Dhom Dam. Don’t miss the hot Vada Pav sold
at the entrance, best experienced with the view of the Krishna valley and the
blow of cold breeze. Spent time relaxing under the trees whilst enjoying the
panoramic view, with hot Vada-Pav and cold orange juice. Didn’t forget to throw
the trash in the Wastebaskets located near the shop.
We were feeling hungry still, and checked the clocks, it was
already 12 pm. Luckily our next destination was Mapro garden Restaurant, which
is just under 6km from Parsi point.
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| View of Krishna river valley and the backwaters of Dhom Dam as seen from Parsi point |
Mapro Garden:
This is one of the best garden restaurants I had been too.
Visited for the second time, it is definitely among the top attractions in
Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani. I’ve become a big fan of this restaurant, with the
clear and decently priced menu, it has very well maintained gardens with a
small orchid garden too, a chocolate factory and a chocolate shop, well
maintained restrooms, pond, shopping center, ATM, kids games and great food,
what more you can ask for from a restaurant?
It is a pleasure to watch the open kitchen while the
preparation of your delicious sandwiches or Pizzas are being prepared. The
sandwich preparation happens once in a while, so don’t miss it, about 25
sandwiches prepared at once which was quite amazing for me. Next best thing on
the menu was the farm fresh ice-cream’s.
Watch out for the size of the sandwiches and Pizzas, as one
large sandwich can fill your stomach.
Another must do here is glancing from the glass walls of the
chocolate factory. Although not allowed inside, but can still learn how the
chocolates are getting prepared as you pass through the glass walls. The
passage ends at the chocolate shop itself. Where they sell some exclusive
chocolates dipped in nuts and raisins.
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| The chocolate factory at Mapro Garden |
The last thing to do here is shop some fruit crush or
strawberry candies to name a few. It is advised to shop in your way back, to
avoid carrying them all though your tour. They also give free sample drinks
here for all the flavors they sell. Trust me they have more than ten flavors of
fruit crush sold here, with 10% discount in all seasons.
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| The strawberry world |
After a relaxing and exciting food, we started towards
Mahabaleshwar at about 1pm.
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