Jal Srushti Island Resort

Each summer in Bombay feels more wretched and scorching than the previous one, doesn’t it ? “Is baar garmi bahut zyada hai” is the common refrain on everyone’s lips in Bombay nowadays. The neverending spells of rain in monsoon seem so alluring right now! But they are still atleast 2 months away …

While we don’t have a solution for the heat, we do have a recommendation for a splendid weekend getaway . Our latest find is Jal Srushti Island Resort (www.jalsrushti.com), near Pune. It is one of the more plush resorts to have come up in the region, in the last couple of years. It is much closer to Pune actually (45 km), and if you are coming from Bombay, better to use Expressway till Pune and then go via Hinjewadi.
(Roads in Hinjewadi have some scary holes, but rest of the roads were great)

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Ark Wellness Retreat

Monsoon is here AGAIN !
Like most Bombayites, we were also waiting anxiously for monsoons rains to start – as this has been a long and hot summer. While Bombay takes a turn for the worse once the downpour starts - as roads gets taken over by potholes, traffic slows to a crawl, trains run late and autorickshaws play truant - but the silver lining are the weekend trips. The Sahyadri hills around Bombay, which were dry and brown and quite an eyesore in the summer months - will turn green, sprout waterfalls and have the most pleasant weather possible

Although rains this year were delayed by a week, Gods smiled on us and we had rains for the day before and on our trip. Our destination was Ark Wellness Retreat (www.arkretreat.in), a new weekend getaway property in the hills around Lonavala. This is somewhere between Pavana dam and Mulshi dam, somewhere in Mulshi district. It is exactly a 3 hour drive via the Expressway from Mumbai, so it can be done without a break – but whats a weekend trip without a McDonald’s breakfast ?

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Mango Beach House, Kihim

With 3 weddings in the second half of 2013, we hadn’t been able to take a travel break since Fratelli ! So when a small cause for celebration came up last week, we decided to splurge on ourselves a bit and drove down to Mango Beach House in Kihim (Alibaug) this weekend.

Mango Beach House (http://www.mangobeachhouse.com) is a very cosy property tucked away near Kihim beach. It is spread over a hockey-field sized plot with 8 regular rooms and two terrace suites. The regular rooms are pretty huge and the bathrooms themselves will put many Mumbai bedrooms to shame. The buildings are in white and each room is very airy with very liberal use of glass in the design

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Kaas Plateau : Valley of Flowers

Most of us have heard stories of the famed Valley of Flowers in the Himalayas in Uttarakhand – where the entire valley is engulfed in wild flowers of all colours, for a couple of months in a year. My father had the good fortune of seeing it for himself back in his younger days and he cannot help gushing about how beautiful it was, every time the topic comes up. However, that phenomenon is not limited to Himalayan peaks alone. Here in Maharashtra, in the district of Satara, there is a plateau of Kaas (locally called Kaas Pathar) which too gets covered by wild flowers, when the monsoon rains recede.

These wildflowers blossom for a very short while – just a couple of weeks – but they cover the full plateau with it. The Western Ghats in the monsoons are already at their most magical, with all the hills surrounding Kaas in a verdant green. Lakes are full and waterfalls in full flow. Amidst all this, imagine a plateau kissed by clouds & fog, covered with pink, blue, yellow and white flowers all over. And if you are lucky, you will have a clear day without the mist – with blue skies above and flower carpet on the ground (as this photo below. Photo credit www.bcmtouring.com)

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Fratellli Winery

As with the Indian wine market, Sula Vineyard near Nasik has the top-of-the-mind recall for winery visits if you are from Bombay. In fact, quite a few people struggle to name Indian wine labels apart from Sula, given how ubiquitous it has become. However, there are smaller, newer winemakers who think they can do a better job than Sula, at coaxing good wines out of the harsh Indian climate.
Vallonne is one such new brand that has impressed us lately. And the other is Fratelli.

While most wine makers – old stalwarts like Chateau Indage and Sula, as well as newer entrants Zampa and Vallonne – have made the valleys surrounding Nasik their base, Fratelli has chosen to set up its vineyard near the town of Akhluj, in Sholapur district. Best way to describe its location is midway between Pune and Sholapur.

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Satara

After the superfun monsoon-trips to Koynanagar and Vikramgadh this year, the independence day weekend beckoned us to another trip out of Bombay. The incessant rains for the last month meant that the whole state had received a good dose of rainfall, and so we didn’t have to worry about things not being green enough. And when the turn came to pick a destination, without much deliberation, Satara emerged as the automatic choice.

Situated at about 110 km from Pune and about 262 km from Mumbai, Satara has been on our radars for sometime. Satara is famous for a lot of things – like the Kaas plateau. Sometimes referred to as poor man’s Valley of Flowers, Kaas plateau becomes covered with wild flowers of different hues and colours at the end of the rainy season. While this wasn’t the end of the rainy season yet, we figured we’d see at least some flowers, if not the entire plateau-full of them (didn’t quite see any flower actually).

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Koyna Dam

The miserable months of summer were spent waiting for the first showers of rain to appear, so that we could get out into the greenery again. And since the first raindrops started falling in the first week of June, discussions began about possible weekend destinations. We have just two criteria - natural beauty and the minimum of creature comforts (clean bathrooms). Thankfully, hitherto unknown locations have started popping up on the tourist map, with newer resorts enticing travelers like us looking for the next new location

Koyna Dam was the destination of this weekend’s journey. A little over 300 km from Mumbai, the dam on Koyna river forms a 65 km long Shivsagar lake which is magnificent in its own right. The lake stretches all the way from the small town of Koynanagar, 50km away from Chiplun, to almost Mahabaleshwar apparently. Our drive till there was really good – the NH17 is in wonderful condition. We were fortunate to get underway by 0615 hrs and it took us 6 hours to reach Koynanagar. It included almost an hour long breakfast at Kamat’s and a couple of butt-breaks

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Elephanta Caves

It is probably one of the most touristy destinations in or around Bombay, but as we discovered to our delight, Elephanta caves can be a very nice day outing. An early morning trip to Gateway of India on Saturday morning, followed by a nice ferry ride in the Mumbai Harbour, and finally the caves themselves (which seemed to be in much better condition than I remember them). Lunch at the delightful MTDC Chalukya restaurant near the caves themselves and then the ride back home.

Part of the Elephanta caves popularity is due to the ferry ride from Gateway of India to the island itself. In February, when the sun is not too hot and the sea winds are still somewhat chilly, it was nice to experience the clean air and the ever-present breeze, sitting on the top deck of the launch. The ferry charges Rs. 130 for a to-and-fro ticket to the island and you do not have to come back by the same boat – so you can spend as much time as you want on the island. It costs Rs. 10 more to sit on the upper deck once you are on the ferry (which I am sure is not an MTDC charge). But you get a great view of the Taj Palace hotel and Gateway of India from there.

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Karde, Dapoli

Maharashtra's Konkan region is dotted with innumerable beautiful beaches - some are too small to be named, and others are more famous (like Alibaug & Kashid). Obviously, the more famous beaches lie closer to Bombay, but they are also the most crowded and commercial - Alibaug being the case in point. The beaches further south are cleaner, less commercial and more importantly, empty. In some of these places, you can have the entire beach to yourself for hours. It might not be everyone's idea of a beach holiday - most of our contemporaries seem to prefer the familiar comforts of Goa. But we like the idea of an untouched beach where there is nothing but the waves or seagulls to distract you. If that interests you too, then read on

This weekend, we found ourselves at the beach of Karde, 15 km from the town of Dapoli in Ratnagiri district. Many mistakenly believe that Dapoli is a beach destination itself - it is not. Dapoli is about 10km from the sea and from Dapoli, you have the option of visiting four beaches - Anjarle, Harnai, Murud & Karde (going north to south, within 25 km of each other). Murud is the largest among these, and the most 'touristy' - it gets quite crowded in the evenings and we thought the beach was the worst - more black mud than sand. Harnai has a nice beach stretched along a small bay. But, it is also adjacent to the fishing village of Harnai - and every evening the fleet comes in with the catch of the day. While it is supposed to be nice to watch, it makes the entire place reek of fish. Anjarle is a town more known for its Durga Devi temple and its beach was ok, nothing fabulous. Karde, seemed to the best beach among the four - it is more like an extension of Murud beach, but devoid of the crowds and the black sand. It extends a long way, more than what we could walk ...

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Dabhosa

When the monsoons come to Bombay, it brings with it nonstop rain, waterlogged roads and general chaos all around. But it also gives us the reason to look towards our weekends afresh – because it is at this time that the surrounding Sahyadri range gets splashed in a brilliant bright green colour – a shade more vibrant than what you have seen before (if you aren’t from Bombay). Hence it is a common sight to see Mumbaikars get into overloaded Innovas & Taveras and driving out to Lonavala or Mahabaleshwar on weekends.

With our penchant for going to lesser crowded (and hence lesser known places), we found ourselves in Dabhosa this year. Dabhosa is a small village in Thane district in the northern part of Maharashtra, 160 km away from Bombay. The nearest town from Dabhosa is Jawhar, about 20km away. Jawhar lies in a forested hilly area at the edge of Sahyadris with comparatively sparse habitation. With the rains, the entire countryside is awash in green, which makes sights like these common along the road

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Native Place resort

Among the many hidden retreats tucked away in the hills surrounding Bombay, the Native Place resort is probably the most serene and relaxing I have visited yet. It is situated on the banks of Vadivali lake in Uksan village, one of the countless dam-lakes in the Sahyadris. It is somewhat similar to Bhandardara, but on a smaller scale. What makes this place alluring is the emptiness around the lake (except for a couple of private bungalows next door) – the sound of water gently lapping at the shores, the stillness of the lake which makes the surface look like glass, the mind-blowingly beautiful sunsets – everything which makes it a detox destination for the city dweller (www.nativeplace.com)

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Tarkarli

India is blessed with a lot of beaches along its coastline. But Indian beaches are usually not what you'd call breathtakingly beautiful - the sand isnt usually white and the water can range from brown to grey, but never the beautiful blue-green or even plain blue. So when we reached Tarkarli, we were not prepared for the beautiful & empty white-powder-sand-beach that stretched off in both directions and the deep blue seas. Even with our limited travel experience, we would like to bet Tarkarli is probably the best beach you can find on the Indian mainland

Tarkarli is a jewel in the Konkan region of Mahashtra, less than 100 km from Goa and about 500 km from Bombay. The name Tarkarli means the bank of Karli river - the Karli river is more like a backwater, very tranquil and flows into the sea at Devbag, at one end of the Tarkali beach. It is just 8 km away from the town of Malwan - which lends its name to the spicy cuisine and is famous for its seafood as well. Its distance from Bombay means it is an extended-weekend destination rather than a overnight stay option. And Tarkarli has enough to offer to keep everyone involved for a couple of days

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Malshej Ghat

From relative obscurity till about 10 years ago, Malshej Ghat has now become one of the more popular monsoon destination for Mumbaikars - a destination of choice for people who are bored of the traditional trio of Lonavala, Matheran & Mahabaleswar. We had been thinking about Malshej Ghat for a while, till one beautiful sunday morning in the monsoon of 2009, 9 of us piled into two cars and headed out to Malshej Ghat to see if it was all that was promised

The way to Malshej Ghat is to take NH222 going towards Ahmadnagar. After travelling for a while on relatively flat land, suddenly a line of hills covered in clouds seem to loom up in front of you. The knowledgeable among us pointed out - Malshej Ghat stands at the top of this hill range. The place gets it name from a mountain pass - a natural pass cutting through the formidable Sahyadris mountains - on which a road was built through. Historically, this was one of the natural trade routes used by people from the Deccan plateau to reach the coastal regions. Now Kasara Ghat and Malshej Ghat are sites of national highways - the NH 3 to Nashik and NH222 to Ahmadnagar respectively

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