Tourist Attractions and Places near Pune and Mumbai

Tikona fort, also known as Vitandgad, is one of the easier forts to climb and would be a good introductory, yet interesting trek. The fort is close to Pavana Dam. The fort is on top of a ~3500 foot hill and offers unhindered views of the entire region including the forts of Tung, Lohagad and Visapur.

How to go to Tikona Fort from Pune (Magarpatta): Go towards Swargate, then tilak Road, karve Road and then Paud Road which will take you to Chandni Chowk. Then go in the direction of Mulshi/Tamhini. You will first cross Pirangut (Ghat) and then reach Paud Village. You have to take a right towards Pawna dam in this village. There are signs marked as Tikona/Pavana for this turn. After this, it is one long straight road until you start seeing Pavana dam on your left. Here you will see signboards for Tikona. You have to take a right towards Tikona Peth, the base village. the distance is approx 70 kms and should take you approx 2 hrs to reach there. Other alternate route is through NH4-Kamshet-Pavana-Tikona.

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There are 2 paths to trek up. One starts right behind the houses in Tikona Peth. This is the slightly tougher, but shorter, one and can be avoided if you have newbies in the crowd. To reach the other path, you have to go ahead of the village on the dusty road for around 0.5 km and you will reach a clearly marked parking spot. From this place, a path goes in the direction opposite to the one where you see the fort. It is because this path is a gradual switchback which goes up and turns 180 and then stedily climbs towards the fort.

This is an easy trek because of many factors. One is the presence of a clearly marked trail. The other is the presence of many shelters/small caves after you are halfway up on the trail. Once you go up the initial slope and turn towards the fort, you are on a ledge with valleys on either side. You keep walking on this ledge for quite a while before you reach the base of the hill on which the actual fort resides.

At one point, you will enter a darwaza(gate). There is an overhanging tree next to it. This makes for an excellent photo stop.

Around the halfway point, you will see a shall shrine and also a cave. If you had taken the other path, you would have reached this place. After this, the paths converge. There is also the remnant of a stone grinder, the kind pulled around by animals. From this point, the final (and a little steep) ascent to the top begins.

The final stretch called “Shivaji Trail” has recently been restored and hand railings have been added on the steep sections. The steps are split into 2 sections. There is a viewpoint at the end of the first stretch. If you wander to the sides, you can see small caves which are again good photo spots with Tung Fort in the background.

The stairs are steep, no denying that. Each step is much bigger than a regular step and it is broken at many places. But, the good part is that the entire stretch is in shade and is not more than 15-20 steps. This part would easily be the talking point when you get back home. There are steel ropes attached at the sides to help you climb. Do not hold on to them! if you do, you will get your knuckles scraped against the rough stone walls. Instead, just put your palms on the stone walls for support. Again, a photographically beautiful place. We spent a lot of time in crossing this as everyone wanted photos in all sorts of poses. Check out the video to get a better idea of the difficulty/ease of the stairs.

There is not much of the fort remaining except a few walls and gates here and there. Once you reach the top of the plateau, the view is amazing. It should be pretty cold in the winter months as there is nothing around the plateau and the wind is pretty strong. From here, you get an excellent view of Tung Fort with Pavana dam in the foreground. One can also see Lohagad and Visapur forts from the top.

The way down was much faster and of course, we stopped for more photos on the steps An enjoyable trek with colleagues!

written by Rajaram S

Bedse caves would complete the trio of Buddhist caves around Lonavala and Kamshet along with Karla Caves and Bhaja caves. But the bedse caves relatively lesser known to the touristy crowd and gets much lesser visitors than the other two. This was actually a good reason for me to go and visit this place.

How to go to Bedse Caves from Pune (Magarpatta): Take the NH4 towards Mumbai (Don’t go on the expressway). Once you reach Kamshet, take the road going to Pavananagar or Pavana Dam. Keep going on this road for around 7-9 kms until you see a turn to the right marked as “Bedse”. The bad road starts here. For the next 2-3 kms, the road is pretty bad, but some patient driving can get you across. Then you will reach the village of Bedse , which is surprisingly big for its remote location. Park your vehicle here and then walk on a clearly visible trail for around 0.5 km until you see the stairs leading to the top. If you have Google Earth, use this KMZ File to see the exact location. Once you open this in Google Earth, zoom out to see the roads from Kamshet.

I went to this place in early winter. It was still green. Judging by its location and its surroundings, this place should be amazing during the monsoons. But, the last 2.5 kms road would be pretty tough during the rains. The stairs are very properly laid out. The climb is easy and you should reach the top within 20 mins. We did, with so many small kids with us!

There was also the remnant of a huge waterfall just next to the steps. This should be a great sight in the rains. Akshara insisted on climbing herself for quite a distance and the steps were not so huge that it was possible for her to do so.

The actual caves are smaller than Karla or Bhaje, but interesting nevertheless. The unhindered view from the top is good. Also, the side walls of the caves are very conducive for climbing up and displaying your i-originated-from-monkeys skills. Akshara was pretty keen on climbing up the rocks and she actually did a decent job of it!

A good half day trip from Pune. A must-visit during the monsoons for its scenic location and remoteness.

written by Rajaram S

Karla and Bhaja caves are kind of sister caves, as in most tourists visit both of them in a single day as they are less than 10 kms apart. Karla caves are also of Buddhist origin and look similar to the excavations at Bhaja.

How to go to Karla Caves from Pune: Take the old Mumbai-Pune Highway (NH4) from Pune. Around 6 kms before Lonavala, you will come to a junction where right turn will take you to Karla and a left will take you to Bhaje. Few kms from this junction, you will climb up a small hill and come to the official parking at Karla caves.

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Karla caves are actually much bigger than Bhaje, but the presence of a temple outside the cave makes this place extremely crowded and noisy. The place is a deadly combination of piety and pav bhaji with dozens of shops lined all through the way up to the cave. I don’t know whether it is us, the people of India or the government (or Archeological Survey of India) which is to blame for the utter lack of appreciation of places of natural or historical significance. There were large groups of rural and urban party-goers who had parked their vehicles all over the place. One particular group’s actions were to utter disbelief. The men in the group had sat down by the side of the road consuming alcohol, the women were cooking on a makeshift open-air kitchen and the kids were happily defecating in the open, all within a few metres of the so-called ASI office. If you dislike all this, skip Karla and go over to Bhaje. Otherwise, the climb is good, especially in the monsoon. it is moderate climb for around 20 minutes and if you take pav-bhaji/cool drink breaks, you won’t be even realize the climb.

Photographically, the place is beautiful with many small openings in the rocks to give you that perfect light, especially in the evenings. You can climb to the upper level through stairs , also cut on the rocks.

The adventurous can go to the side of the main caves and there is path which goes all the way to the top of the rock. I heard that it is pretty narrow and there may be lot of snakes in the undergrowth. But, i saw lot of guys going on that path. We too went ahead a small distance, but turned back as there were lot of dragonflies and it was difficult to balance on the narrow path while carrying Akshara.

It is a good half-day outing and if you have the energy and time, you can combine it with Bhaje caves.

written by Rajaram S