Tourist Attractions and Places near Pune and Mumbai

If you are looking for a good weekend trip out of Mumbai/Pune, Daman is a nice option. It has a bit of everything – a clean (and calm) beach, hangout place for families, free flowing alcohol (for those interested in wiling away the weekend drunk), nearby hill station (Silvassa), old forts and much more.

First a lesson in Geography! When we started research on places to go for the new year weekend, one of my friends suggested Daman & Diu, which was immediately lapped up by all as a visit to an Union Territory seemed as exotic as Kilimanjaro for all of us And so began the process of finding out the details. A simple google search gave the usual suspects – Daman Fort (moti and nani), Diu fort and some gardens. Next, we moved to Google maps to plan the exact itinerary based on the distances. Having zoomed on to the forts in Daman, i next typed in Diu fort. I was in for a shock. the maps applications zoomed out and kep on scrolling westwards and over the sea (and lots of sea!) and finally zommed into the Diu fort. I kind of blamed it on google. It was then i realized that Daman & Diu, though being a single entity in terms of a UT are hundreds of kilometres apart – 600 kms apart by road and around 300 by sea! If you already knew this, be proud. If not, be happy that you learnt something new

Where is Daman and how to go there? Daman is to the north of Mumbai and it would take (approx) 3 hrs from Mumbai and around 7-9 hrs (depending on how much you get stuck in Mumbai traffic) from Pune.

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Beaches in Daman: There are two beaches in Daman, Devka beach and Jampore beach. An amusement park is also there at Devka beach, but we found that most of the play-area items were broken or in a condition that you wouldn’t want your kids to go near them. We went to Devka beach a little after noon and the water had receded a long way. This was the first time i had ever seen the effect of tides. I had never seen a low tide before. Devka beach is a very rocky beach and not considered safe for swimming or wandering into, particularly during high tide.

Jampore beach is a much better option. A very clean beach with soft sand, Jampore beach also has many sporty things to do. We went there early in the morning and the light was just beautiful. The water was still coming in slowly and it was amazing to watch this.

Mirasol lake garden, a few minutes drive from Devka beach, is a nice place to spend the evening with family and kids. There is also the Mirasol water park next to it. The lake garden is an artificial one with all the elements of so-called paradise – a lake, many bridges on it, boating and even a swan boat! There is also a toy train going around the garden.

Daman is split into two by the Daman Ganga river- Moti Daman (big) and Nani Daman (Small), though Nani Daman is much bigger than the moti one! Moti Daman is entirely inside a fort, a beautiful one. Driving inside the fort is like driving inside a movie set. The portugese influence is very visible in the architecture in the dwellings inside the fort. Driving on the narrow road outside the fort will take you to the lighthouse. We went a bit late in the night, otherwise, you can climb up the light-house for a wonderful view of Daman. Jampore beach is close to Moti Daman. Both the sides are connected by a bride. You can also take a boat ride from one side to another.

The pier/sea front on the Nani side is beautiful. The main highlight is the fort of Nani Daman right next to the river bank. The church of Our Lady of the sea is the main building inside the fort.

The boats anchored on the river banks change position based on the tide. When we were there (around evening), it was low-tide and all the boats appeared beached on the river bank.

There are many sandbars which get exposed during low tide and you can take boat-trips to each of them. Depending on the distance you want to travel and also whether you want to get down on the sandbars (more time), the price ranges from INR 20 to around INR 50 per person. We just went for a short 15 min ride into the sea. The evening breeze was awesome and we also got good wide-angle views of both Moti and nani Daman

and of course, the last sunset of 2010 on the Arabian Coast. This should also go down as my first encounter with the Arabian sea as i don’t remember anything from my only prior trip to Mumbai (when i was in 2nd class!)

written by Rajaram S

If you have an hour or two to spare and want to go for a short drive, then a visit to Ramdara temple would fit perfectly. We were at the newly opened Kumar Pacific mall and finished at around 4.30 pm. I had been mentioning about Ramdara for quite some time and since we had a few hrs in the day left, we decided to go. We were back in Pune by around 6.30 pm. A short and sweet drive!

Ramdara Temple is an old temple with idols of many deities. The main shrine is that of Shiva, but the statue is famous for the idols of Ram, Lakshman and Sita. Next to the temple is also an ashram of Shri Devipuri Maharaj also known as Dhundi baba. The temple also has am impressive Nandi. There is a small pond next to the temple. The location of the temple along with the abundance of trees in the vicinity makes this place very calm and beautiful.

How to go to Ramdara Temple from Pune (Magarpatta): Ramdara temple is around 20 kms from magarpatta city. Go on the Solapur Highway (towards Solapur), cross Hadapsar, proceed towards Manjiri. Once you cross the toll gate, you will cross a bridge. Just after the bridge, you should see two boards (on the left of the road) pointing to the right, one having “Loni Kalbhor” and the other “Ramdara Mandir”. Take this turn, proceed into the village for around half a km, take the first right in the chowk and this road goes directly to the temple (and nowhere else!). The landscape changes a lot within this 7 km and the latter part is kms of emptiness on either side of the road. You don’t see temple until the last minute as it is hidden within few hills and the last turn will take you to a big parking lot covered by trees.

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The temple as such is very colourful and the right light will make it enjoyable to take photographs. The trees in the area (as there are no other trees in the vicinity) attract lot of birds. On the whole, a relaxed drive to a beautiful place.

written by Rajaram S

Harihareshwar, also known as Devghar (House of God) or Dakshin Kashi (Kasi of South India), is a small temple town on the Konkan coast. It is not only a popular pilgrimage destination, but also popular for its beaches and the famous pradakshina marg around the temple. Themost popular place to stay at Harihareshwar is the MTDC Hotel, but the beach next to the hotel is rocky and not good for having fun. In fact, the harihareshwar beach is itself not recommended for swimmers as there are strong currents close to the coast and the general public are advised against swimming. We stayed at Diveagar and drove over, a short wonderful drive on the coastal road for around 30 mins.

How to go to Harihareshwar from Pune: Harihareshwar is around 190 kms from Pune. Irrespective of whether you are staying at Diveagar or Shrivardhan or harihareshwar itself, the easiest route to take would be through Tamhini Ghats, then Mangaon on the goa highway, then the road to Mhasala (it is called as Masla and not as masala as we were referring to, when asking for directions!) and then onwards to Diveagar (turn right at a fork) or Harihareshwar (turn left). The stretch from the goa highway down to the coast is also a ghat section and pretty remote. So avoid a late night trip on that.

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I had heard a lot about the pradakshina marg and was more interested in that rather than the temple. So, the religious/tired among us decided to stay back at the temple and the rest went on this tour around the temple. The steps start right behind the temple. Check with anyone around the temple about the conditions of the tide as it is quite dangerous to go on this train during high tide. The trail starts off with around 60 steps – 60 long steps and then you have to climb down around 140 narrow steps (a beautiful cut in the cliffs) down to the sea.

We were there at the wrong time of the day, just after noon and hence it was not good both in terms of energy as well as good photography. Otherwise, the 60 steps are not much of a hassle and they offer great views of the harihareshwar beach. The coastal rock formation just at the bottom of the stairs are amazing. We had to pull ourselves out of the place ( as we had a long drive back to Pune) , otherwise we would have spent the entire evening monkeying around on the rocks. Also, my research about the pradakshina marg was incomplete. I thought that it would be from within the temple and photography would not be permitted. So, i left my SLR back in the car and took along a compact camera, which doesnt work that well in such conditions.

As you go around the cliffs, you see lot of interesting sea caves. The waves were quite strong and the splashing of the waves against the rocks was wonderful to look at. I definitely want to go back in the monsoons and see how bad/beautiful the conditions are here. The whole Pradakshina should take around 30 mins with minimal stops and comes back in front of the temple on the beach. If you do visit the temple, don’t forget to go on this trail

written by Rajaram S