It was a three day weekend holiday on 24th Jan to 26th Jan and my wife and I decided to go take a break from our work and take a trip to Mahabaleshwar.
I am sharing my experience on how I planned the entire trip, what are the places to see and miss at this hill station and some tips to help you save that extra penny.
HOTEL
It was in the month of December I started to make hotel and bus bookings with my cousin who runs her own travel firm. It turned out that all the hotels which I wanted to book were already full, including Valley View Resort. So, I tried my luck with travel portals like makemytrip.com and yatra.com to see if they can come to my rescue. To my surprise, Valley View Resort was available for booking.
I went with this hotel because the hotel pictures looked good, reviews were decent (but not too many) and more importantly, it was within my budget and available. So, I booked this hotel through makemytrip.com, which was my first transaction with this portal. It turned out to be quite a nice experience with the hotel stay.
Hotel: Valley View Resort
Website: http://www.valleyview-resort.com/
Booked from: makemytrip.com
Costs: Rs 3500 (inclusive of taxes and meals)
Rating 4.5/5
Recommended: Yes
Positives: Near to market, quick service, excellent food and decent room.
I am sharing my experience on how I planned the entire trip, what are the places to see and miss at this hill station and some tips to help you save that extra penny.
HOTEL
It was in the month of December I started to make hotel and bus bookings with my cousin who runs her own travel firm. It turned out that all the hotels which I wanted to book were already full, including Valley View Resort. So, I tried my luck with travel portals like makemytrip.com and yatra.com to see if they can come to my rescue. To my surprise, Valley View Resort was available for booking.
I went with this hotel because the hotel pictures looked good, reviews were decent (but not too many) and more importantly, it was within my budget and available. So, I booked this hotel through makemytrip.com, which was my first transaction with this portal. It turned out to be quite a nice experience with the hotel stay.
Hotel: Valley View Resort
Website: http://www.valleyview-resort.com/
Booked from: makemytrip.com
Costs: Rs 3500 (inclusive of taxes and meals)
Rating 4.5/5
Recommended: Yes
Positives: Near to market, quick service, excellent food and decent room.
BUS
Thanks to my iPhone. I searched Neeta Travels on my iPhone Maps and to my surprise I found a travel agent in Dadar. I booked the bus tickets with him. The bus was very comfortable while going (although it arrived quite late) but little disappointing while coming back. I don’t know how they allot these buses. There were five Neeta Travels buses that left on the same time on 26th Jan from Mahabaleshwar. We were unlucky to get this untidy bus while coming.
Bus: Neeta VolvoBooked from: Neeta TPH Travels
Cost: Rs 500 per person
Recommended: Yes
Best time to travel: Take a night journey (10.30 pm form Sion)
Caution: There are other buses like Dolphin, Nakoda etc but there did not look comfortable at all.
Mahabaleshwar Market
In the market you will find ladies footwear (every third shop), gaming parlors (slots machines, video games etc), restaurants and retail stores selling Mapro / Mala juices, chikkis etc.
Sight Seeing
If you like seeing different sight seeing points then you are in for a treat. There are tons and tons of sight seeing spots like Echo point, Needle Point, Wilson Point and many more. We thought there was no point in seeing so many points. Hence, we took a tour which had a mix of sight seeing spots along with Strawberry Garden and Table land.
There are seven different tours you can take from Mahabaleshwar. Each tour covers three to ten different tourist spots depending upon the distance location and closeness of the tourist spots. The charges for these tours range from Rs 355 to Rs 500. There is a fixed rate card hence no tension of cab driver taking one for a ride.
Places worth seeing: Venna Lake, Parsi Pont, Table Land, Mapro Factory, Needle Point, Kate’s Point, Echo Point, Lingmala Waterfall.
Place you can give a miss: Babington Point, Mala’s Factory, Plato Point, King’s Chair.
Some Pictures
Smart Travel Tips
· Plan your holiday, if possible in non peak season. You will save costs on hotel which is usually the most important component of the tour. Also you will get your peace and space since it is less crowded.
· Plan atleast two month in advance in peak season and one month prior in non-peak season to get hotel and bus of your choice.
· Take a bus with a night journey to and fro.
· Bargain with the taxi guys for the sight seeing fares if you want to do more than one tours. This will work in non-peak season.
· Make sure you leave early for sight-seeing since the taxis are limited during peak season. Drivers will go where there is more money.
· Ensure the hotel in near the market. Or else you will have to take cab each time you want to move around.
· Mahabaleshwar is closer to Pune (2.5 hours) so plan the trip from there and preferably have your own vehicle.
Happy Journey!
1 comments:
thanks alot for your blog and tips and other suggestions..
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