Day 1 – Aug 9th – Drive from Goa on NH66
Monsoon calls for road trips to the Western Ghats of India – which is why we hit off to Mahabaleshwar from our abode in North Goa.
Western Ghats have plethora of choices when it comes to choosing a destination – We chose Mahabaleshwar as we were short on time and wanted to visit a destination which was around 8 hours drive one way. I never drive for more than 8hours (by google maps) in a day – which ends up becoming 12 hours 🙂 because I like to soak in all the scenery and landscapes on the way. One gets attracted to nature’s beauty and it becomes impossible to rush through the magical landscapes that nature offers.
We didn’t choose the Sawantwadi-Kolhapur route as we wanted to ride as much as possible along the countryside. Hence we chose to drive through Anuskura Ghat. I don’t personally like the hustle bustle of the cities.
The moment we started our drive on NH66, we were greeted with lush greenery all around. It kept on raining – sometimes light drizzle to sometimes heavy rains – but we didn’t complain and it were these very rains which were responsible for the lush fields and farms all along on the sides of the highway.
Anuskura Ghat to Ameni Ghat drive – Hit
This was the best and most unexpected part of our drive of the day. I had crossed the very same terrain in winters and it looked nothing as remarkable as it looked this time in monsoons.
This stretch of road between the two ghats – around 40kms which we took 2 hours to cover on purpose – was taken straight out postcards and paintings. We were speechless at the nature’s beauty unfolding in front of our eyes.
Lush green farms and mountains on either side of the road, hardly any traffic and no human establishments nearby – it felt like the perfect place from where one doesn’t want to return ever 🙂
The thought often crossed by mind that India is as beautiful as western world’s most exotic destinations – just that we are not been able to maintain our landscapes properly in eco friendly ways. If we can do this properly, there is lots of tourism potential to tap in this country.
Stay – Oakwood – Miss
Oakwood had wonderful reviews online which had made me select this stay for all three nights of our trip.
However, in reality the property is very old and not well maintained – wall paints need to be re-done, furniture is all worn out and the whole place has a stale flavour. The food and staff was good though.
We were dead tired by the time we checked in around 9pm – 10 hours of drive in total. All we could do was have dinner and pull our blankets and go in deep sleep. The cold weather was a welcome changeover compared to Goa.
We thought of checking out the very next morning to which the hotel agreed without any hassle. Thumbs up to their hospitality for this.
Day 2 – Aug 10th
Mapro Garden
This was our customary visit to Mapro for strawberry-cream 😋 The extent we love it was proven by the fact that we went back at 12pm again when the strawberries were to be sourced, after the failed attempt at 10am 😀 Monsoons is off season for strawberries – season lasts from November to April-May. Mapro being mapro – cultivates small batches in poly houses. We were lucky to get it on Aug 10th after which it didn’t get sourced on 11th and 12th.
Strawberry-cream is must have while visiting Mapro Garden. This time around, we even tried their veg sandwich which is made differently with lots of cheese in it. Slightly on the unhealthy side, still we thought to indulge on it – after all vacation does give oneself special privileges 😁 Almost everyone around was having it and it was indeed very tasty and priced modestly.
Pratapgarh Fort
Next was Pratapgarh fort. We had been to Mahabaleshwar around a decade ago and had missed visiting Pratapgarh due to health reasons back then. Hence, we thought to skip the major touristy spots of the city and check this. Although, Pratapgarh fort also is touristy however as it was at around 1.5-2 hours drive from our hotel – we thought to consider it as a long drive with Pratapgarh fort as a bonus to it.
After a two hour long drive on badly broken roads, we reached the fort parking and it kept raining as if there is no tomorrow all along the way. We somehow felt roads were in their worst condition as we moved closer to the Mahabaleshwar city centre and got better once we moved away from the town. As expected, lots of tourist were at the parking area which was almost full even though it was monsoons. One has to climb stairs for around an hour to reach the top. In the wake of persistent rains and minimal preparations on our rain equipments, we stayed put in the parking area for sometime and decided to return. Due to dense fog, visibility was very low and it made little sense to trek/climb for that long in the rains and still not being able to see anything from the top.
Stay – Amora Premium – Hit
Amora was where we had stayed on our overnight visit to Mahabaleshwar with a very special couple friend in September 2022. After Oakwood had disappointed us, we wanted a fuss free comfortable stay without taking any chances. This made me dug up my google timeline to unearth the name of this hotel, the name of which i was unable to recollect or find in my bookings history.
We made it a point to stay in the very same room like in 2022 and nostalgia swept all over me. After all, what are we when all our happy memories are taken away from us 🥹 As Tokyo said in Money Heist – “We lead many lives in one life.” And this life was when I was probably the happiest of all my lives – short but most memorable.
The hotel is great in all regards, spacious with ample parking. Tucked away from the busy surroundings and having open spaces all around the property with mountain views. Staff is courteous and helpful.
One strange thing happened on the second night of our stay here which happened to be Sunday. We were the only reservation in the complete 3 storied hotel that night. Frightening? 😁 not so much. Night went smooth and event free. We realised that Mahabaleshwar tourism runs mostly with Pune/Mumbai tourists who come here to stay just on Saturday nights, have fun and return back on Sunday.
Day 3 – Aug 11th
They rightly say that the most beautiful things happen to us when we least expect it to happen. Same is the case with our discovery of this gem of a beauty – Medha village and landscapes on either side of Rajmarg (the road which connects Kas Plateau to Mahabaleshwar). Rajmarg is depicted on Google maps as Kas-Mahabaleshwar road.
A brief pretext – Yesterday while checking in into Amora, we had asked the manager about any offbeat scenic places to visit. He had hesitantly proposed Medha village however, due to rains it might be a risky drive as the roads are narrow – this was the caveat we had received from him. We didn’t want to visit the regular tourist spots at all. Later on in the day, we enquired more on the “risk” factor and didn’t hear anything ominous about that drive. So the fate was sealed – it will be a drive to Medha the next morning. So happy now that we decided to go for it.
Nirvana Agro resort
We typed Medha Bus stand as our destination from our hotel Amora on maps and set off for a day which would turn out to be a memorable one. Lovely views started to unfold in front of our eyes as soon as we started driving. What made it even more special was its seclusion – it felt as if we were the only people on this drive. A motorist or a car would cross us occasionally, very few and far in between.
On the way we had hot tea in the cold misty weather at Nirvana. It is a great property if you want to escape the rush and crowd of Mahabaleshwar town. Quietly tucked away on Mahabaleshwar to Medha road, the place has great views on all sides and is upscale with all amenities including pool and spa.
Medha Village – Hit
Few of the shots on the way to Medha.
We were told that the scenery till 5kms from Amora towards Medha is beautiful, post which we had planned to return back to Mahabaleshwar on the same road. But being greedy about nature and beautiful landscapes as I am, I kept on driving and around 7 kms before Medha (Amora to Medha is around 25kms) we realised a huge bulge in the front left tyre of our car. That was screaming for repair 🥹 Puzzled between the options of returning back to Mahabaleshwar (18km) vs continuing driving to Medha (7km) – we chose Medha as it was shorter. Luckily we found a mechanic in Medha town who helped us replace the spare tyre in no more than 10mins and for just 100 bucks. 😁 By this time, we were famished and asked the mechanic for a good hotel. He suggested us to go to hotel Pooja.
Drive towards Kaas Plateau – Hit
Food was great at Pooja and what was even better was the guidance the owner provided on nearby places to see. He quickly opened his instagram page and showed us how beautiful Vajrai waterfalls looked. Apparently, it is the longest (the height from which water falls) waterfall of India. He suggested us to see Kaas Plateau and return by Rajmaarg (Kaas-Mahabaleshwar road).
This was our serendipitous moment – Kaas and Raajmarg or even Medha village itself wasn’t even on our plan till a couple of hours back. I guess this is the beauty of life. To make the most of it, we need to enjoy the flow.
Enjoy the flow is exactly what we did. The landscape around Medha town was beautiful and serene.
After driving for an hour and getting lost on the way (courtesy maps. Asking locals for directions when venturing on offbeat tracks is always a good idea – never rely completely on maps is what we learnt the hard way) – we reached Kaas plateau. Kaas lake was also on the way but we couldn’t spend much time here as it was already getting dark and we had a long way to return.
Kaas plateau was beautiful, flowers were beginning to bloom. One should visit this in early winters (Oct-Nov) to see it in full glory. Due to dense fog, we couldn’t enjoy Kaas as much as we would have liked. Nevertheless, it was a still a great experience.
Vajrai Waterfall
We didn’t have enough time to go to the waterfalls which was a huge disappointment. It is recommended to save 2-3 hours and have raincoats to visit it in case you plan for it in monsoons. One has to trek around 2kms one way to reach the waterfalls – this is what learnt from the locals.
Drive from Kaas to Mahabaleshwar on Rajmarg – Hit
This drive in one word was – epic! Wish we had one full day to cover it. Lush greenery with so much peace – we had the complete area to ourselves 🙂
Day 4 – Aug 12th
Kates point (the only touristy point on our itinerary since it was on our way while returning from Mahabaleshwar temple)
The views from Kates point were remarkable – however it had the usual rush which comes as a package deal with any touristy spot. We just clicked the pics and soaked in the nature for 15 mins and started our drive towards Kaas.
Yessss!!! Kaas again. We couldn’t have enough of Kaas-Mahabaleshwar drive yesterday – so planned our return to Goa via Kaas – an hour extra to reach Satara but definitely worth it. Time would testify.
Wax museum made by visually impaired – Hit
This museum was on our way to Kaas from Mahabaleshwar temple. We had a long way to drive home however something in my mind told me to visit it.
Here we saw myriad types of wick lamps made of wax, several household goods and decoration items made of wax such as chessboard and chess pieces weighing 20kg 😱. Noteworthy were huge life like sculptures of Amitabh Bachchan and several others. Even Lord Hanuman’s and SaiBaba’s sculptures were made completely of wax and some of these sculptures was weighing in excess of 200kgs!!! All beautifully made and painted.
While we were in awe of the workers here who have never let the visual limitations stop them in any way, we met Mr Bhavesh Bhatia who himself is completely blind – the man who has created employment opportunities for thousands of visually impaired people, has been awarded by President of India multiple times, has been a speaker at big corporate events and to top it all – winner of hundreds of medals for India at Paralympic games. Talking to him for 15 mins was so inspiring, the man was so humble inspite of being so successful in every walk of life. He told us what his mother said to him in childhood – it gave me goosebumps –
Don’t you worry son that you can’t see the world – Do something that the whole world can see you.
Thats exactly what he has done. Take a bow Mr Bhavesh. One can google his name and you will have his complete story in front of your eyes.
Drive from Mahabaleshwar to Kaas via Rajmaarg again 🙂
This drive is a must do for every traveller visiting Mahabaleshwar in monsoons. The calmness and seclusion of the whole stretch makes it even more beautiful.
Kaas Lake
While driving from Mahabaleshwar to Kaas Plateau, we were taken by surprise to see such a huge lake just next to the road at that elevation. We stopped by, took a few pics, had lunch next to the lake and then set off towards Satara. The area has just one eatery after crossing the lake towards Satara side. Food was delicious and the views serene.
Drive from Kaas to Satara – Hit
This was a bonus experience for us. We never expected the drive from Kaas to Satara to be so amazing as it turned out to be. After driving on narrow and not so well maintained roads for last 4 days, this was a welcome change. Mesmerising landscapes coupled with impeccable roads – this drive was a total delight for us as long as it lasted. I would say, the complete stretch from Kaas till Satara is breathtaking.
We did spot some resorts and hotels on the way with full 360 degrees view of the mountains and greenery. We would definitely come back and stay for a couple of days in one of these hotels some time soon. Fingers crossed 🙂
Tales of a traveller 
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