Lovavala, Khandala

We visited Lonavala, the popular hill station of Maharashtra for a day. There are many hotels and resorts available for stay. You need to hire a taxi for sight seeing. They charge around 1500 to 2000 INR to show all the points including Khandala ghat.

The Ekveera Devi temple is about 6 kms from Lonavala and is located on a hill and next to the famous Karla Caves. You need to ascend around 500 steps to reach the temple. You get an excellent view of the surroundings from the hill top.

Ekveera Devi Temple Hill

After we visited the artistic Wax Museum. It contains around 32 celebrity wax idols. It is a real fun being here. The ticket is 100 INR per head. 

Wax idol of Mahatma Gandhi at Wax Museum

In Lonavala, there is a Botanical garden, having so many ancient trees. We saw one tree was reclining for about 15 feet in length, and the other had a hollow trunk and inside some other tree had started growing. 

Reclining tree

Tree inside of a tree

There is a beautiful Bushi Dam located a few kilometers from Lonavala. In monsoon this dam overflows and the water flows over a series of steps on which everyone can enjoy the flow of water.  

Way to Bushi Dam in rain

The Mumbai-Pune express highway passes through the very famous Khandala ghat.  There is a public garden on the top of the ghat, from this garden you can see an artistic view of hills, Highway and many small waterfalls. The highway actually passes beneath this garden, making a long tunnel.

View from Khandala Ghat

View from Khandala Ghat

Khandala and Lonavala both are famous for their seemingly innumerable varieties of chikki. There are many local shops, where you can taste and buy them.

Marvellous Monsoon at Goa

This time we planned the trip to Goa in monsoon. Goa is popular for its long and clean beaches and also churches. Goa turns really beautiful in monsoon. You can see the colors of dark clouds over the huge sea.

Goa beach covered by monsoon clouds

We stayed in Goa for 3 days and 2 nights. There are huge numbers of hotels and resorts ranging from budget to super deluxe rooms. On the first day we visited Calangute and Baga beaches. These both are the most crowded beaches among all. Still you get so much fun being here. Calangute beach has very good shopping market nearby. You can buy good swim wares and local handicraft items.

Calangute Beach, Goa

Baga beach, Goa

On the second day, we visited very old and famous lighthouse and fort. At this place, you feel like being on an island. The view of the sea is amazing from here.

Light house, Goa

View from Light House, Goa

We also visited Vagator beach and Anjuna beach. Both these beaches have their unique beauty and natural scenery, and they are favorite places for movie shootings. Miramaar beach is cool and calm, famous for various kinds of food stalls.

Vagatore beach, Goa

Anjuna beach, Goa

The Dona-Paula beach is also famous as suicide point, as lovers named Dona and Paula had committed suicide here. This place is very well developed now and has become a favorite tourist place. In the evening, we chose to go for dance party on cruise. The ticket is 150 INR per head. You can enjoy for 1 hour on the cruise boat. They also perform some local dance arts.

Dona - Paula statues, Goa

On the third day, we visited The Basilica of Bom Jesus church. It is famous for patron saint Francis Xavier's tomb. The Church is very big and beautiful from inside. After that we visited Municipal Market at Panjim to buy famous Goan Cashew nuts.

Saint Francis Xavier's tomb, Goa

The Basilica of Bom Jesus church, Goa

Panjim city

You cannot enjoy different water sports in monsoon, but it is the cost you pay to enjoy wet and green Goa!
More photos of Goa are at Marvellous Monsoon at Goa - Picasaweb

Monsoon at Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar is a very famous hill station in Maharastra, India. It is situated on Sahyadri mountain range. Mahabaleshwar has beautiful natural surroundings and large number of tourist points. 

Hilly surroundings of Mahabaleshwar

We stayed in Mahabaleshwar for 2 days. There are many hotels available for stay, but it is good to select near the market or bus stand.

For sightseeing, we hired a taxi. The taxies have fix rate cards for different tours here. They show you the card and you need to select the tour accordingly. They have special tours only for monsoons also.

On the first day we visited Panchgani, which is famous for its strawberry gardens and Jam - Chocolate factories. We visited Manama and Mapro companies and their gardens. You can taste and buy the products like jams, syrups, squashes, fruit jelly and pulps, etc.

Strawberry garden, Panchgani

Panchgani is also famous for its Table Land point. The place is called table land because there is 4 KM wide flat area, on the top of the hill. 

Table land point, Panchgani

 Then we visited Parsi point, here you can get an excellent view of river Krishna flowing through the wide range of hills, and also its dam.

View from Parsi point, Panchgani

On the other day, we went for local Mahabaleshwar sightseeing. The main points we visited are:

Echo point - A fabulous point over the hill, the view of river and dam, you can hear echo of your voice if you shout loudly, amazing experience.

Echo point, Mahabaleshwar

Elephant's Head point - You can see an elephant's head and trunk shape in the hill, beautiful sight.

Elephant's Head point, Mahabaleshwar

Lingamala falls - You can totally enjoy this place if you be here in monsoon or after monsoon. There are 3 small waterfalls adjacent to each other, a good family picnic point.

Lingmala falls, Mahabaleshwar

Panchaganga Mandir - An ancient temple is dedicated to five sacred rivers namely Krishna, Savitri, Gayatri, Koyna and Venna. All the five rivers together flow out from the Gaumukh, the holy cow's head.

Mahabaleshwar temple - The very big and famous Shiv temple, the shivlinga is believed to be around 500 years old and Swayambhu (Self Oriented). It is in the shape of Rudraksha and it is honoured by the title ‘Mahalingam’. 

Venna lake - The Lake is surrounded by greenery, is a popular hang out at Mahabaleshwar. Numerous amusement activities like boating, fishing and horse riding are available here. Various food stalls and fruit stalls attract tourists.

Venna Lake, Mahabaleshwar

Connaught Peak - It is the second highest point of Sahyadri Mountain Ranges, from here we can get an amazing view of the whole Mahabaleshwar, the Krishna river and its surrounding mountains, and even the clouds running below you. 

View from Connaught Peak, Mahabaleshwar

Babington point - Here you get an excellent view of Koyna Valley and Chinaman's waterfall. 

View from Babington point, Mahabaleshwar