Saturday, February 11, 2012

Visit to Matheran

Type : Hill Station.
Best Season : Monsoons.
Accessibility : Road / Rail.
Hotels : Available.
Parking : Available.

Matheran is Hill Station located in the district of Raigad in Maharashtra.
Located at a distance of 85Kms from Mumbai and 118Kms from Pune.
Its a very popular weekend getaway for people of Mumbai and Pune.
Located at 2600 ft above sea level.

Matheran is a Eco sensitive region, so vehicles are not allowed to Matheran Hill, you can park your vehicles and go by walk or take Horse ride or Hand Pulled rickshaws to reach top.

Matheran welcoming.
Road to Matheran, from Neral


This is what you get to see on road.


To get better glimpse of nature, its recommended to got by foot instead of Horse ride / Rickshaw.
You will be welcomed by red soil.

Red Soil road to Matheran
This is what one gets to see, while taking a trek

Road to Matheran gives a very nice glimpse of nature.
In order to drive to Matheran one needs to be adept driver as the road is full of hair pin bends and steep valley on sides.

If you pay a visit to Matheran in monsoons, you get to see number of waterfalls in between.


Charlotte lake: Charlotte lake is one of the main attractions of Matheran.
I have never expected a lake on top of hill at 2600ft above sea level.




Toy train: One can take a toy train to visit Matheran, which starts from Neral.
Its a narrow gauge, takes 1 hour to cover 12 miles, which gives passengers ample time to soak in nature.
Its recommend to have advance bookings for this toy train.
Note : Toy train is not operated in monsoons because heavy rains.

While we are at Eco Point all of a sudden black clouds covered the sky, all of a sudden it had become dark, followed by heavy down pour, below is the picture.



Valley Crossing:
Valley crossing is also one of the attractions, can be risky.
The adventure group organizing take care of precautionary measures.



Other Pics from the tour:


Eco Point





somewhere on the way.



Detailed Map of Matheran.


Look Out Points:
There are ~35 look out points in Matheran, every point gives you a unique view.
Alexander Pt.
Rambag Pt
Little Chowk Pt
Big Chowk Pt
One Tree Hill Pt
Belvedere Pt
Olympia Race Course
Lords Pt
Charlotte Lake
Celia Pt (Actually a water fall mouth)
Echo Pt.
Porcupine Pt (Sun Set Pt)
Panorama Point (Sun Rise Pt)
Khandala Pt
Madhavji Garden Point
Matheran Railway Station
Louisa Point
Mayra Point


Reach Matheran
Road: Easily accessible by road.
Check the map below (from pune).


View
Driving directions to Matheran, Maharashtra, India
in a larger map

 
Rail:
Nearest Railway station is Neral, which is approximately 10Kms from matheran.
From Neral one can take a taxi to reach matheran entrance.