Yet another off-beat trip in Maharashtra - Kolad

Searching for another off beat location - one that isn’t too far & within your budget? (Atleast for someone like me who’s not fond of crowds, a mainstream location in the NYE holiday season would be the worst possible choice.)

Being fond of the zostel culture, we search and find one closest to Mumbai! - Zostel Kolad.

After doing some research on it, we found a few good locations, picked for ourselves and noted them.

Coming to How to reach there: You take a local train to Panvel.. from where you’ve to book an express train to Roha, which apparently lies on the way to Goa. I've observed this how so many exotic/offbeat locations lie en-route Goa. Two of which I’ve been to are Tarkarli and Kolad. And these are infact the places you'll get the best of the localised experience typical to Maharashtra and Konkan.

After almost missing one of the multiple trains to catch, we finally reached Kolad. Only upon arriving there, we realized that every place we decided to go to from our stay at the zostel is 20-30kms away... yeah one of the major drawbacks to this offbeat location. Travelling here makes sense only if you are traveling by your own vehicle, which makes it convenient and easier to visit the places nearby.

Apart from that, let’s discuss the weather and stay at the Zostel: The weather is really pleasant but only in the mornings and at night, while the rest of the day it's the hottest. The sun is right above your head literally baking you. So be prepared accordingly and yeah, this place is filled with water sports which one could definitely give a try!

Now coming to the stay. It was pretty good. Zostel Kolad has done a great job keeping it's area, rooms and the common places maintained and hygienic. It felt like a rehab centre located on an island with a playground in the centre, a common room, cafeteria and camps along side. Overall a good stay I would say.

After just having reached the stay all tired from travelling by multiple transportation, we settled ourselves in our bunk beds, chilled for a while and the urge of wanting to do something throughout the rest of the day led us to discover the places nearby. First we decided to feast ourselves with something local. So we decided to try some authentic malvani food. Spicy as hell atleast for someone who can barely bare spicy food. But but but, one should definitely try the local food.

Bellies all filled we tried to hunt more places to visit nearby. A local guy suggested us the Kolad Dam which was quite nearby, yet far enough as there was too much to walk to reach the place but was better than not doing anything so we went ahead. The way to Kolad Dam was from inside a village/ locality. I'm glad I understand Marathi, else I would've simply got lost in this place. Was a typical rural area around us, the farms, the mandirs and the huts eventually led us to the Dam, which was quite disappointing but yeah we still managed to cherish the local authenticity of the place. Sitting besides the Dam, enjoyed the sunset and off we went to the stay.

The only and the main reason I love to stay in a zostel is because of the people you connect/ meet with. Later in the evening, there was a bonfire at the stay. People gathered, we played games and shared our different stories and just had a wonderful time :)

Before coming to Kolad, one of my colleagues had mentioned a maharashtrian traditional dish called Popti. Now what is Popti? Popti is a one-pot harvest special dish made with seasonal vegetables, tubers, beans, some local spices and/or chicken and eggs. Well it sounds tasty, doesn't it? One popti (pot) can feed up to 4-5 people at once. So we had to gather people to join us for this feast and we did! Cold weather, popti and some beer called for the night.

Wanting to tick something off the bucket list, we also solo kayaked in the river which you cross to which was a decent experience and definitely a fun one!