Tourist Attractions and Places near Pune and Mumbai

Set over 7 hills, Lavasa calls itself “India’s first planned hill city”. I am sure it will live up to this when the project completes. Lavasa city is in the midst of many mountains and almost every part of Lavasa has its own lakeshore (dam backwaters).

Lavasa is portrayed as the retirement place and it is quite true. I am sure everyone would like to just get up in the morning, go for a jog and spend the day doing nothing amongst scenic surroundings. But, I am not sure whether the concept of a retirement home has still caught on in India.

How to go to Lavasa city from Pune (Magarpatta City): Go to Chandni Chowk. Proceed towards Mulshi Dam. Once you climb down Pirangut ghat, you woul start seeing big blue coloured signboards for Lavasa. After Pirangut, you have to take a left for Lavasa. Once on this road, you would cross Temghar dam. Keep going on this road until you see an arch on the right, which is the official entrance of lavasa. From this point, the road goes down to the dam and the city.

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The distance to Lavasa from the turn on Mulshi road (after Pirangut) is around 30 kms. It is a wonderful hill road to drive on. If the management of Lavasa wanted people to settle down at Lavasa, they realised that they should make this place easily accessible. The road is very smooth (too smooth for indian roads) and the curves on the road make it a biker’s paradise.

The promenade on the lake shore has been modelled on old europe with many stone bridges criss-crossing the waters. This makes the lakeshore an extremely scenic place for photography, particularly in the evening light.

Lavasa entertains casual visitors and it is a good place to go for an evening. You can just walk around the promenade, go for all kinds of watersports, dine at the various restaurants or even stay over for the night at the many hotels inside the city.

Inside their main office, there is a Lavasa experience zone, where you can see about the future plans of Lavasa and other details about the city.

The ekaanth retreat in Lavasa is a good place for an overnight stay or a buffet dinner. Be sure to be at the parking lot of this lodge at sunset. The view from the parking is awesome.

written by Rajaram S

With the recent boating accident in Panshet dam, most the boat clubs were closed on the weekend we went. But we never had the intention of going for boating. We went for a monsoon drive to enjoy the scenery and we got what we wanted.

While Khadakwasla dam is more famous as an evening hang-out place for most Puneites, who come there to swim and have butaa, Panshet dam has always been famous for its boating scene. The backwaters of Panshet extend for a long distance and has high cliffs on the other side. So, even if you don’t go boating, there are lot of viewpoints of Panshet dam where you can have a nice picnic.

While Khadakwasla dam is more famous as an evening hang-out place for most Puneites, who come there to swim and have butaa, Panshet dam has always been famous for its boating scene. The backwaters of Panshet extend for a long distance and has high cliffs on the other side. So, even if you don’t go boating, there are lot of viewpoints of Panshet dam where you can have a nice picnic.

How to go to Panshet Dam from Pune(Magarpatta): Go towards Swargate i.e. on Solapur road vis Big Bazaar. When you reach the end of this road beyond Swargate at a T-Junction, turn left. Take the immediate right (there is a signal and there is a mahalaxmi temple on the left). The road on the right is the Sinhagad road. Keep going on this road crossing Parvati and towards Khadakwasla. You dont need to turn anywhere. This road will take you straight to Khadakwasla. Once you cross Khadakwasla, keep going on this road for another 10-15 kms and you will see signs for Panshet dam boating. Follow those signs and you should be climbing the hills on the other side of Panshet.

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There wasn’t much water in the dam backwater because of the poor rain in June and July until now, but the greenery was very much visible all over the place. We stopped at a place where we could walk over to the edge of the hill sloping gently towards the water. There was few house strategically built on the edge and i can imagine the kind fo view they must be having during the monsoons

We had been there with few friends and their kids. The kids had a gala time posing for our photo requests. The photos with the visibly darker green colour are from Sunil’s camera. All my photos are little bit on the overexposed side.

Akshara wandered all over the place and was up to her usual antics. It was difficult explaining to her that her request to go “keezha” (down the slope) was not something that can be done

Most of the time was spent on experimental photo sessions with us and the kids. It was a good day, could have been better with the Neelkanteshwar visit if only we had been prepared for the rains. More on neelkanteshwar in a separate post.

written by Rajaram S

When i decided to come back to India (pune) one year ago, i heard zillions of stories about the pollution in Pune, the traffic , the bureacracy at work , all trying to convince me not to take such a decision. But no one mentioned about the abundance of natural beauty around Pune. A drive to any such place near Pune is enough to free your mind from the stress caused by any of the above factors. Eventually, the sight-seeing options near to Pune took preference over all other issues and helped me make the decision to come to Pune. .

One such place is the Tamhini Ghat just beyond the Mulshi Dam. Though the roads through this ghat are at best bad, the scenery around would make you forget the bumpiness of the ride. A ride through this ghat is good even during the summer. But, this place opens up in the rains. Waterfalls all around, greens of the like rarely seen, you have to go there to experience this. I drove through Tamhini ghat late last August on my way to the Hans adventure resort. The other members of my team were in a bus and i was following them in my Xylo. The temptation was too much to stop at every corner and click a photograph of the panorama. Below are some photos from that drive.

How to go to Tamhini Ghat from Pune(Magarpatta): Go to Chandi Chowk. Take the road going towards Mulshi Dam. Cross Mulshi dam and climb into the ghat. The bad road usually start here. This is Tamhini Ghat. You can go beyond the Tamhini Ghat towards Mangaon (Mumbai Goa Highway) to reach the konkan side. Btw, it is not advised to go through Tamhini ghat late in the evenings. If you have to cross the mountains in the night, use the Bhor/Varandha Ghat instead.

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written by Rajaram S