Lonawala, Mahabaleshwar attractions with family, amazing holidays so far in 2020

It is essential to take a refreshment break from mundane work life especially after fighting COVID-19's usurping power to drain minds mentally and physically. Although our escape destinations need no introduction as these are extensively travelled,explored,famous among INDIANS as well as FOREIGNERS. But this holiday itinerary of LONAWALA and MAHABALESHWAR is definitely worth experiencing in the back drop of coronavirus outbreak.We are travelling from Surat to Maharashtra amidst unlocking process in the whole of country.Despite unplanned and anxiously stepping out from home it turned out to be one of the gala,joyous and adventurous journey in the new normal.I hope you get fair idea and get connected to my diary as I reveal in subsequent sections divided in days.

DAY-1 (19-11-2020)

We were 7 person to cruise on Toyota Innova. After long deliberations with family members it was a tough decision to go on a journey in difficult time that of virus outbreak.This time our preparation was instantaneous and cautious keeping in mind safety precautions,not to mention face masks and hand sanitizers. In order to avoid eating in restaurants we had all the ingredients,utensils in place to cook our food and have authentic house taste while away from house.

It was already 3:00 PM by the time we started our journey from Kamrej,SURAT and headed towards NH-8 connecting to MUMBAI.Just a nearby town called NAVSARI somewhere around 35 kms from Surat we savoured Umbadiyu(steamed vegetables) and it was very delicious.The weather was pleasant to drive and enjoy some scenic beauty of Manor forest ghat road where the sun already fell below its horizon.

We encountered severe traffic of Mumbai around 7:00 PM,though it is advised not to reach Mumbai during peak hours.Now that everyone was hungry we decided to stop at road side stall of Mumbai's famous Pav-Bhaji and bypassed Mumbai sight-seeing sky-scrappers and magnificent corporate houses.We took Mumbai-Pune Expressway to reach our first destination LONAWALA around 11:30 PM. After sitting for 8-9 hours covering distance of 355 km at one stretch everyone was tired. We found one decent hotel in Lonawala named "Laxmi Residency" whose tariff was Rs.2700/- for 2 rooms per night.

DAY-2 (20-11-2020)

With a fresh day and wonderful soothing weather in Lonawala we had our breakfast at hotel.It's time to explore Lonawala now. The must watch attractions include Bhushi Dam, Lions Point, Karla caves, Bhaja caves. The sky was clear and there was bit of heat at noon and not much crowd seen.It was time to taste Lonawala's famous "Maganlal's Chikki" and truly it was culinary in itself. 

The much revered and holiest shrine in Lonawala "Ekvira Temple" around 12 km from Lonawala was worth visiting.Some 500 steps to reach the temple I was sole traveller as my family members denied doing physical work to climb up the stairs. It was very pious and one can see water dripping from huge boulders of  Karla caves.It took me 1 hour standing in queue before praying goddess's idol.And it was very physically drenching exercise,nevertheless sense of satisfaction completing 500 odd steps with ease.

It was already 12:00 AM and we left for Pune to reach Mahabaleshwar. On our way we saw hard rocks of Deccan and by playing games in car we reached Pune by 2-2:30 PM. There we took lunch in Pune city,"it was Misal Pav". It was observed that Pune city is known for education and  corporate  offices.After that we were all excited to reach our final destination and feel the coolness of Sahyadri and one of the places in India getting maximum rainfall i.e., "MAHABALESHWAR". 

After evening snacks on highway around 4:00 PM we headed to cut through mountains observing the glaring view of Pune city.After "Wai",from where the the road diverges to reach Mahabaleshwar ,ghat section starts.We were all elated and nervous as well, but soon gathering all positive vibes and prayers it was an wide and nice road to Panchgani.

Panchgani-named after five tablelands was sidelined for visiting in return.We enjoyed beautiful sunset on our way around 6:00 PM.After inquiring best hotels in Mahabaleshwar, we came to beautiful "Garden Cottages & Lawns" where the tariff was Rs.4300/- for 2 rooms per night.The hotel staff was cooperative to allow us to prepare our own food in hotel campus. Let me tell you Vegetable, Roti and buttermilk was a perfect desi appetite in a not so cold weather.

Night life in Mahabaleshwar market was not that buzzing as it was earlier used to, because it shuts by 10:30 PM. But it is norm by travellers to explore local handicraft and have cuisines which otherwise is not available at their places.We decided to eat Paan which was epic.After that we got to our hotel rooms and slept to explore Mahabaleshwar next day.

DAY-3 (21-11-2020) 

We were all dressed early morning to search and visit some of the less travelled attractions in and around Mahabaleshwar. So after getting lick smacking breakfast our first target was Babington Point.Not much to endure other than scenic view but we met with one of the government employees living there and invited us to stay at his property which was awesome but we had to move on before coming back to Mahabaleshwar by evening watching "TAPOLA" aka Mini-Kashmir.Cruising through jungle road and sweet cold breeze gave pleasant and mesmerizing view of water-springs oozes out from the mountain.We certainly drank water from one of the springs as suggested by roadside vendor and advised it contained all the necessary minerals required for our body. So we decided to refill our 20 litres water jug we carry to avoid purchasing packaged water bottle.

A small village observed distant from the roadside clean and people performing activities in their fields was awesome.There were many resorts and hotel for night stay on the road. Before reaching Tapola we get to see Strawberry Farm and stopped our car to see how they are produced.The farm owner lucidly explained and asked us to self pluck strawberry.Not only Strawberry but there were other organic vegetables also planted in his field.Thinking to support small farmers we purchased some fruits and vegetables.

On our way we saw meandering of river surrounding the mountain which was hitherto not experienced.Almost 27 km from Mahabaleshwar, this site is awesome for peace loving people.Then we decided to perform a boat ride in the river Koyna for 1-hour.The boat's engine noise was irritating but the scenic beauty of Sahyadri Mountain range was splendor and our boatman took us to Triveni Sangam of River Kadaki ,River Sorsi , River Koyna before returning to starting point.There are many speed boats too for adventure loving people.At a point we were all stunned and wanted to pause the time indefinitely for the serenity of beautiful nature.

It is noon and we were back on road to Mahabaleshwar. We were in search of nice spot to cook our food near roadside and we enjoyed River view savouring Pulao and the experience was on cloud nine level.Exactly after 2 hours drive we reached Mahabaleshwar at 4:00 PM. The old Mahabaleshwar temple called "Panch-Mahabaleshwar" some 5000 years old is believed to be the confluence  of five rivers. It was late and we were sceptical to reach Arthur Seat point but in the end we saw many points such as Hunter's, Malcolm, Marjorie, Savitri ,Elphinstone, Tiger's Spring, Echo, Arthur seat, and Venna lake where we enjoyed watching horse ride.The sun was set and we decided to stay in Mahabaleshwar to visit the Pratapgarh Fort the following day.This time the hotel was "Green Park Cottage" where we cooked our food for dinner and stayed night,tariff was Rs.4000/- for 2 rooms per night.Again we visited Market at night and urged to get that paan for refreshment. 

DAY-4 (22-11-2020)

This Morning we needed lot of energy to climb up the Pratapgarh Fort some 22 km away from Mahabaleshwar. Don't forget to visit this place just because of historical perspective but endure the hard work of workers and mind blowing tactic of Guerilla warfare to fight the war with Mughals of Mighty Shivaji. There were guides to describe about the history of fort but it would be long to describe in here.

Now we are returning back from  Mahabaleshwar and in between came Panchgini. A flat-topped tableland where different activities were carried on such as Segway ride, Scooter ride,Horse ride and so on.I decided to walk as far as I can and turned back where my family was waiting for me.Then on the way there is a company called MAPRO producing all kinds of chocolates,ice-cream and Fast food items.We decided to taste their Pizza and Sandwich which was average in taste but too much expensive.

It was a long way to cover to reach our home town Surat, but after enjoying so much the excitement of reaching home and get back to work was also there.We halted at "New Kathiyawadi hotel" after crossing Mumbai around 10:00 PM for Dinner.Then again we started to cover the last phase of holiday sleeping in car except Driver to see our lovely city of Surat at 02:30 AM the next day.

IN A NUT-SHELL

I tried to explain how to plan a journey visiting Lonawala, Mahabaleshwar economically and safely with family of 7 person in a bountiful of joy.

Expenditure of full Journey:-

Hotel tariff, Breakfast,Shopping:- Rs.17000/-

Diesel for 1238 km travel:-Rs.8550/-

Toll Tax:-Rs.1400/-

Entry fees, Parking:- Rs.550/-

Total :- approx. Rs.28000/-

I hope you get a brief idea about the expenses and beautiful attractions not to miss visiting this places.