A Journery To Seeing The Unseen Of Maharashtra

After breakfast at the hotel proceed to the railway station to board the train for Lonavala. We were in the famous and popular hill station of Mumbaiker and the land of crunchy chikki (candy made of peanuts and jaggery- perfect replacement of chocolate) – Lonavala ..!! Upon arrival, transfer to the hotel. Check-in at the hotel. Afterward, a short briefing on the Motorcycle Tour and a quick rundown of road safety precautions and check of personal royal machine, we will start out on the road to Karla Caves. This is your chance to get acquainted with your bike and get to know the roads. Discuss the next day’s program at the dinner table, Overnight stay at the hotel. Karla caves are among the oldest Buddhist cave shrines in India. carved almost 2000 yrs ago around the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. It’s located on the old Pune-Mumbai highway from Lonavala. Around 8 kms, you will come to a junction where the right turn will take you to Karla caves. A few kms from this junction, you will climb up a small hill and come to the official parking of Karla caves. The place is a deadly combination of piety and pav bhaiji with dozens of shops lined all through the way up to the cave. It’s a moderate climb for around 20 mins and you wouldn’t realize the climb as there are dozens of shops on the way for a good drink break. especially hand-made lemon juice adding special spice… it’s a mind booster.. !!

After breakfast at the hotel proceed to Mahabaleshwar “Queen of Sahyadri Hills”, we have to catch the same route which we took to go Karla caves, Old Pune -Mumbai Highway. After around hours of drive, you will come across a mountain cutting across the highway leaving you wondering how to cross it. This is the Khambatki Ghat. The best part about this Ghat section is that it is one-way leaving you free to overtake slow vehicles even on a blind curve. The ascent on this ghat is wonderful and if you can do stop for some beautiful photo opportunities. After around 13-15 kilometers, you are in Wai town. Wai is a small town and has interesting spots. There is the Maha Ganpati mandir and some nice small temples/bridges to photograph! But, the real reason why many visit Wai is a further 3 kms away, in a place called Menavali Ghat (or Menavli). Menavali Ghat, is the same temple that has appeared in Shah Rukh Khan’s Swades. From Wai town, we want straight on to the road of Panchgani/Mahabaleshwar. The road started to wind up and nature started to unfold itself in front of us. We will park our motorbike once and had some photo sessions there. This should be considered as the first viewpoint on the tour!! We proceeded towards Mahabaleshwar through the Pune-Mahabaleshwar Road. On the way, we made a stop at the Mapro Garden. This is the factory of the famous Jam/Squash brand ‘Mapro’. The garden itself is small but the main attractions are the Mapro products. En route visit the Venna Lake. After a min. of drive, we were in one of the most preferred summer gateways ….Mahabaleswar! Check-in to hotel. Later we roamed around the city and market which is quite big and lengthy, experience the taste of “Strawberry with cream” glass was loaded with strawberry flavored whipped cream, huge chunks of fresh fruit, milk, and creamy scope of vanilla ice cream and topped with delicious Mapro strawberry crush!! .. It was just yummy. Overnight stay at hotel.