A Surprise Package awaits you in Diveagar and Harihareshwar, Maharashtra

I am so a roadie. I can just take my car, head out and drive to any destination. Even though my hands and legs are tied with my corporate responsibilities as a full time banker, I still try to take 5-6 trips in a year including some mini weekend trips in and around my city. It was birthday in May 2016 and my husband was travelling on work abroad and I did not want to spend my birthday alone, so the roadie heart inside me prompted me to take a trip. My sister in law who lives in Mumbai and is as smitten by wanderlust as me shares my love for travel and this year we planned a road trip in Maharashtra on my Birthday to some lesser known places which are not commercially exploited yet and are far from Civilisation.

We hired a car from Zoom car and let me tell you the rental company is very hassle free and so customer friendly and very very professional in their approach. We started the road trip from Mumbai and took the Panvel expressway through Khandala to our first destination Diveagar Beach.

Diveagar Beach is located at about 6 hours drive from Mumbai and is a quaint, calm and peaceful beach destination. The drive towards Diveagar from Mumbai is absolutely stunning with beautiful landscapes and agricultural fields and thankfully very little traffic. Your phone can act funny at a lot of places since the network will be on and off. Diveagar has some very basic hotels and only a couple good semi luxury hotels, so you must ensure you book in advance and go. Some hotels may look decent on travel websites but will be nightmarish in reality. I recommend that the only 2 decent hotels in this place are coco hut resort and MTDC Exotica Beach resort.

We stayed at the MTDC Exotica Beach resort which by the way is the best place to stay in Diveagar and they serve some excellent food. The have some great packages they offer whether full board / half board and trust me the resort is in the middle of nature and gives you that perfect far from civilisation feel.

The MTDC resort has some beautiful huts where one can stay. They are very comfortable and just what one needs to relax and de-stress on a vacation. Post dropping our luggage at the resort we headed for lunch at a local shop and had a yummy Surmai Fish Thali and a veg Thali. Good Food for less.

It was almost evening by then and we headed to the beach to enjoy the stunning sunset. The sky was pink, with hazes of orange and Mauve. Oh Lord! It was beautiful. We walked in the waves and played with the water like two 10 year olds. Oh My it was fun!

The next day, post a delicious Marathi breakfast at the resort we headed to Harihareshwar. The Drive from Diveagar towards the Harihareshwar sea face is killer. And killer is such an understatement. Such a spotless secluded coastline that it leaves you speechless. And if you live to drive like I do, I am sure you will agree that you would trade this drive by the sea for anything. Just anything! The sun, the shade, the sea and noone but us on the road by the sea. It was magic! I have never driven so slow in my entire life. I wanted every moment of the drive by the sea soak into my senses.

I enjoyed every minute of my drive along the ocean as we reached Harihareshwar. There is a Bhairav temple there which you cross while your climb up. And trust me the climb up and down those stairs can be quite a daunting task. At my age too, I was way too tired by the time I reached the perfect spot one wants to be photographed. There is a passage of a staircase which leads to the sea. My God! Its stunning, and you cannot ignore it. You must take a picture there.

Spend time on the Harihareshwar beach if its not very hot or wait by the time its evening, and the sunset will refresh you. What I loved about Harihareshwar is that it is still commercially unexploited and raw. They have some MTDC resorts too where one can stay as well. The place will grow on you and believe me you will love talking to the waves, staring endlessly at the sea and hearing what the waves say back to you.

What's even nice about Harihareshwar is that Pune is a few hours away and if you are looking for a night out in Pune to party you can even do that. And well, that's exactly what we girls did.

So next time you cannot decide where you want to head out for a vacation give Diveagar and Harihareshwar a thought.