Picnic Spots & Places to Travel around Pune

Bhide Baug, Sinhagad Road,
Wadgaon-Budruk,
Pune 411046

Kondhwa Budruk,
Survey No 37,
Kahdi Machine Chowk,
Pune 411041

Sambhaji Park,
J.M. Road,
Pune 411005

Campus of the SRP Group 2,
near Army School of Physical Training (ASPT),
Ramtekdi, Hadapsar, Pune 411028

Express Garden,
Near Race Course,
Camp, Pune 411001

On the Pune-Nashik road turn off at Aale Phata-the road leads to Aurkuni, at the base of Harishchandragad.

Bhandarkar Road,
Pune 411004

Mumbai or Pune:
* State transport buses are available for Junnar from the Shivajinagar bus stand of Pune and from the Mumbai Central bus stand of Mumbai. Lenyadri is 5km from Junnar. Rickshaws, jeeps and buses are available from the Junnar bus stand for travel to Lenyadri.
* On the Pune-Nasik Highway, Lenyadri is 94km from Pune.

You can take a tourist bus (Volvo) from Mumbai, departing from Dadar East, Sion or Vashi. The ride will take you 6 hours and will cost around Rs 350. An ordinary AC bus will cost Rs 200. The Volvo bus from Pune is currently operated by two private companies (Neeta and Konduskar), and they charge approx Rs 200 each way.

Mahabaleshwar is also accessible by road from Mumbai, about 247 kms. It takes about 4 to 5 hours by car if taking a route via Panvel through Mahad and Poladpur.

You can also reach Satara by train from Mumbai/Banglore. Mahabaleshwar is 47 KM from Satara and takes little more than one hour from there.

Try to arrive here in the morning because most of the hotels have a check-in time of 9 AM. If you arrive later you may have to wait until another room becomes vacant.

Mahabaleshwar is built on a plateau and getting around is quite easy. Taxis, autorickshaws and buses leave from the center of town near Irani's petrol pump opposite the Club. The main destinations are the "points", named after prominent British administrators who found these splendid locations with unbeatable views. The points are located at various edges of the plateau in different directions. Rental cars and taxis can get there quickly. For the more adventurous, horses are available in town and there are lovely shady bridle paths for delightful rides.

Opp Tol Hospital,
Karve Nagar, Pune 411052

By train
You can catch a Karjat bound local train from CST(a.k.a. VT Mumbai, India) on the Central Railway to Neral Station. From Neral Station , there is a toy train which runs to Matheran about 4 times in a day. This toy train is not operational when railway route in under maintenance or when there is a perceived hazard e.g. the monsoons. The only way to know about it is at the Neral Station. Alternately, there are many share-a-cabs which take you to matheran from Neral. The distance from Neral to Dasturi Point(last point to which vehicles are allowed in Matheran)is 6 km.

The drivers that ply through the roads have immaculate driving skills, so a real advice here is not to keep eyeing the blind turns and foot-to-brake co-ordination, but to just enjoy the breath-taking views as you climb up towards the Dasturi point.

By car
Cars are not allowed within Matheran. However you can drive up and park your car at Dasturi car point and take a 20min walk/horseback/Man-pulled rickshaw to Matheran along a mud track.

As motor vehicles are banned, there are two ways of getting around in Matheran.
* By walk -All the trails have signboards marking the way and the locals are quite helpful.
* On horseback
* Man-pulled Rickshaw