Lonavala, One day sightseeing of the alluring hills

Monsoon during – June to September

Distance from Pune: By Road – 64km – 1:20 hr. journey

By Train – 68km – There are 23 direct trains from Pune to Lonavala

Many buses are available from Pune – it takes approx 2:45 – 3:30 hrs.

Distance from Mumbai: By Road – 82km – 1:40 hr. journey

Many buses are available from Mumbai – it takes approx 2:00 – 2:15 hrs.

By Train – Approx 2:00 -2:45 hr travel – There are 25 direct trains from Mumbai to Lonavala

Lonavala station is the origin of Lonavala – Pune Suburban Trains. 17 Suburban trains operate on the Pune – Lonavala Route. It’s a halt in Mumbai Pune Route. Station accesses many nearby areas tourist point. Khandala hill station is also just 8km from Lonavala.

Lonavala is a town & a hill station in Pune District with greenery all around, located in the western part of Maharashtra state near Mumabi, i.e. Western India region. It is among the set of a twin hill station i.e. lonavla & adjacent hill station Khandala, a hill station became more popular after the song “Aati kya Khandala” from Gulam movie. The hill station is in slopes of the Sahyadri mountain range. The weather in Lonavala is mostly pleasant.

This place is famous for its production of the hard candy chikki which is a sweet eatable thing made from different nuts mixed with jaggery. The story about Lonavala chikki: Initially called as gurdana or guddani, a mixture of jiggery & groundnuts, prepared with ghee. This sweet nutrient ascribe to Maganlal Agarwal & family. The sweet was initially prepared as a “energy bar” for the workers, who were laying railway track for Lonavala, which is a major stop on the railway line which connects many trains.

We were also traveled by train in morning hours from Pune and reached Lonavala around 9am in the month of August which was a rainy day. By the time we reached Lonavala, it was raining heavily, but still it couldn’t stop us from embracing its beauty. So we booked a cab for a day which did cost around Rs.2000.

Started our journey and enjoyed the serene beauty of hilly areas:

1. Rajmachi Point / Khandala Ghat View Point

Our first destination was Rajmachi Point, top most tourist place in Lonavala, located just before starting point of the Khandala Ghat. It has a mesmerizing view of valley & waterfalls in the beautiful mountains. The place also has a temple & children’s park. We could see the express way also from vintage point. Rajmachi fort is situated opposite to this point where the Chatrapati Shivaji ruled for a long.

2. Lonavala lake view, Bhushji Dam Bridge

After spending an hour over Rajmachi, we moved towards Bhushi Dam, but while crossing the Bridge we came across one more scenic point which is known as Bhushi Dam Bridge, constructed over Lonavala Lake. Stopped the car at the center of the bridge and cherished the amazing view all around. Wonderful lake view at both sides looked mesmerizing; this water is used for Power plant also. The cool wind flew through lake felt so amazing over there. A grand row of clear mountains along the lake was an add-on feature & also witnessed dozens of small waterfalls in lush green mesmerizing hills.

3. Bushi Dam

Then again we continued to move towards our destination Bushi Dam. We parked the car and moved towards Dam. The base point has food stalls from where we did start our small journey which was so crowded. We were surprised by knowing from people that the low lying areas of the way to Dam are water locked. Some area has water till knee as well as till waist too so, got confused to see the dam but finally I & my father decided to go. Slippers on rent were provided by the stall people for this small track as fancy footwear doesn’t work in that slippery way. The dam was at some distance with wavy way & didn’t have any idea about looks also. Finally we started this adventurous small track towards Dam. By struggling & holding hands of each other crossed the flowing water & yeah I was enjoying a lot this small adventure. As reached near destination saw the Dam stairs view. The stair base has much food & snacks umbrella stalls. The water overflew through stairs was looking beautiful which was actually add-on the beauty to this place. That place was so crowded all the people around were enjoying in the flowing water, clicking pictures & having fun. Top of the stairs has the beautiful view of dam. Small Mountains around the water body looked so mesmerized. We spent around 45 minutes over there. The shower of the flowing water felt so great which makes me to spent much time over there & had a lot of fun. Return to the stalls around 3:30pm & we were hungry a lot so, took a break and had food. And then again we moved towards over next destination.

4. Tiger Hill / Loins Point

Tiger hill is a vantage point in the midway of Bushi Dam & the famous Ambey Valley, which was our next destination. The peak of the hill looks like a pointed Shivling. This place is around 1 hour distance from Lonavala railway station. It was around 4:00pm. We were excited for the tiger hill. Crossed the scenic hilly areas on the way so, stopped for a bit but couldn’t saw till far, as the weather was cloudy and views gone blur so, decide to move fast to reach the hill top but, as we moved forward, cloud became too dense and at certain we couldn’t even saw the road clearly. We were in mountains had one side valley. So, it was risky to move on and the people who were returning from the lions point said that they couldn’t saw that due to cloudy weather & suggested us to get back. So, it was our bad luck. After sometime it started raining heavily. We had a plan to visit one more place but due to bad weather that place was also invisible. It was around 5pm & couldn’t see any more places so, decided to catch a train & return to Pune as we had to catch the train in the next morning for home town.

This hill station is worth visit for nature lovers. Other than this there are many visiting points in Lonavala. Many waterfalls, forts, caves, lakes are there on the hill station of Lonavala as well as kids, youngsters & elder’s favorite Imagica theme park for fun. On this trip I had visit 4 places. I will visit rest of places in my next trip.