My first outing in Pune was to the Balaji temple near Narayanpur village. I didn’t take my camera with me at that time, but the place/route was good enough to make a second visit within 2 months. The balaji temple near narayanpur is meant to be a replica of the Tirupati temple in all aspects. The priests there have come from Tirupati and every “sevai” done is similar to the one in tirupati. They even give out one laddoo to every visitor!
The temple is very well maintained and if you visit quite early in the day (they open at 5 AM) , you can see the main deity in a matter of minutes whereas on a weekend or in the later half of the day, quite a queue builds up. In summer, the ground gets really hot and it can be quite an experience to reach the comfort of the shade from the point where you leave your slippers.
Route from Pune to Narayanpur: I stay in Magarpatta, so all the routes mentioned start at Magarpatta! Go towards hadapsar market. Do not go over the flyover, go tothe left of it. Once you see the hadapsar bus stand (to the right, when going from magarpatta), you have to go around it . You have to go on this quite a long distance to reach Saswad village. You will cross a Ghat section to reach Saswad. Once you reach here, you would see a bus stand (a bigger bus stop to be precise!) and also a Sivaji Statue (not a good landmark, as there are Sivaji statues all over Maharashtra, just like the statues of Mayawati and her elephants all over UP). Beyond this bus stand, you will see sign boards for Narayanpur. The moment you take this turn, you will enter a maze of extremely small streets. After crossing this village, the greenery starts to open up. This road will take you right into Narayanpur and to the Balaji temple beyond that.
One of the landmarks you will see on the way is the structure below while crossing a narrow bridge. I somehow get reminded of Angkor Wat whenever i see this photo, dunno why!
The first time when i visited here, the surroundings were pretty dull, but everyone told me that things drastically change with the onset of the monsoons and they were right! The whole route was bathed in green with numerous small waterfalls and streams dotting the sides of the road.
A trip which should normally take around an hour one-way ended up taking almost double the time, because the temptation to stop the car and go out and take photographs was too much to overcome.
Just a few kilometres ahead of the balaji temple is the fort hill of Purandar. A small road goes to the left (with clear signs, albeit in Marathis). If yo don’t know Marathi/Hindi, look for the Sivaji photo! We had not planned a visit to this fort, but i drove towards it just to see the demo version so that i can plan an exclusive trip later. The road was in a pretty bad condition. We met one passer-by and confirmed that this indeed was the road up to Purandar. He confirmed that and said that road condition is much worser further on. It had also started raining heavily by then. So, we turned back. But a walk/trek up to Purandar (a drive, if your car is well insured) is a must on the to-do list!
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December 17th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Nice photos
December 25th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
is der any accomodation available der at the balaji temple….
can i get sum contact no. wherein i can contact n get d further info…
plz can u help me as soon as possible….
December 26th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
hi ..to my knowledge, there is no accommodation at the temple. But this place is just an hour and a half drive away from pune. I guess you can use Pune as your base.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
nice pics sir,
pls inform torist places to pune
January 11th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
hi chal ta hey kya?
February 16th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
good photos , now I’m tempted to visit here soon !
February 21st, 2010 at 9:09 am
Hi…thanks for the post was really helpful ….
February 26th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Good photoes nice environment.
February 28th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
thanks so beatiful
govinda govinda govinda
February 28th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
thanks so beatiful
govinda govinda govinda
March 11th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Hi,
I am Bhavika,software engineer.Beautifull scenes and u took nice photographs really.This photos are very helpful for my websites.Thanks………….
March 20th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
hi…..verry beatiful photo and balaji tempel
April 16th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Good Clips. m more excited to visit this place. Nice briefing up.
April 20th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
plz send all photographs on my email id plzzzzzzzzzzzzz all r the vry beutiful pictures very preety pics
May 4th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
nice photo
May 4th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
send all photo to my email id sir
June 8th, 2010 at 11:16 am
how many distence form mumbai to balaji temple, narayanpur to jejuri to dagdusheth halwai ganpati to ekvira
July 6th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Good Pictures
July 19th, 2010 at 2:37 am
Nice
August 11th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Hi,
I would like to go to this Balaji Temple from Magarpatta City using public transport. I’m assuming a Saswad bus is available from Hadapsar-Gadital Bus Depot. Do you’ve any idea whether any shuttle/bus available for narayanpur from Saswad bus stop?
Thanks,
Ari
>>>
Ari, there are buses directly to Narayanpur. From there, a share auto would take you to the temple.
August 12th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Do you mean direct buses are available from Hadapsar-Gadital Bus Depot only? If not, any idea from where I can get this bus? Also if you can give clue about the frequency of these buses, would be of great help.
>> Ari, no idea about the frequency, but i have seen on many forums that many buses are available to Saswad/Narayanpur from Hadapsar/Swargate.
August 21st, 2010 at 3:07 pm
plz send all that photographs,its really too nice plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz send me all photos soon
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 am
Yesterday I did a drive via this route and believe me it wa pretty good compared to highway driving! Not much traffic beyond Hadapsar. few KM from Hadapsar the road was damaged but drivable. Also after Saswad, the road was kind of problem due to a bridge construction.
But once you are out of Saswad, the drive is real beauty. I highly recommend.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Hi all,
There is direct bus to temple available from Swargate (Pune) to Balaji Temple (Ketkawale),, From 0700, 0715, 0845, 0945 & 1045,
As my experience 0845 is good, you’ll reach around 1045, no big queue, will get Darshan in 20-25 minutes. Get prasad, and you can move to you have your free lunch offered by Trust. (Typical andhra Rice Sambar we’ll be available – taste is also good),,,,,,,,,,, (but don’t forget to take coupons from prasad counter which is inside the temple, they will issue you the same time while you take you laddu (prasad) – present this @ lunch counter then you will get your free food)
Now ,, back,,,, best option will be,
take any mode to come Kapurvol, just 4 km away. then in a minutes you will get direct bus to swargte……………
Direct bus is also available @ 1515 from temple to swargate .