Weekends are the perfect window of escape from the hassles of everyday life, as we found out in our first edition of the Hyundai Weekend Getaways. We took the Korean marque’s popular Creta compact SUV to Murud on the Konkan coast followed by Mahabaleshwar
Story: Harket Suchde
Images: Sanjay Raikar
We set out early in the morning and headed towards Tamhini ghat picking the more scenic (and slightly shorter) route to Murud – the little fishing hamlet in the Raigad district. The drive there covered about 160 km and took us through the gorgeous forest-flanked roads of Tamhini, which, with the sun’s rays filtering through the leaves and the sound of birds chirping as we drove along, gave us a great start to the whole trip. The roads aren’t great but the scenic beauty around more than makes up for it, and soon enough the trees gave way to a glimmering coastline – our destination was near.
There are lots of things to see in Murud so we got cracking. The first stop we made was at the Khokari Tombs – five hundred year old tombs of the former rulers of the village and then occupants of the Janjira fort. Janjira Fort is the biggest tourist draw in the city, and with good reason. This fort is essentially a fortified island that has a rich history and is accessed by ferry. Get there early though because the number of ferries are limited and the line starts to quickly grow as the day progresses.
We also visited Ahmedganj Palace situated on a hilltop nearby, and it looks splendid from the outside. You can’t go in though because the palace, belonging to Murud’s former nawabs of the Sidi dynasty in the 1800s is still owned by their descendants today. Finally, we headed for my favourite part of the whole trip – the beach. Murud beach boasts of fun family activities like horseback and carriage rides, camel rides, quad-biking and more. But go towards the end of the beach and you find pockets of serenity where you can just sit and watch the glorious sunsets, which is exactly what I did.
The next morning we set off for Mahabaleshwar taking some interesting back roads and avoiding the highway as much as possible. I had to succumb to the traffic-filled chaos of NH6 eventually though, but luckily the distance I needed to cover before taking the Mahabaleshwar exit wasn’t much.
Once you take the exit, the twisties are a hoot to drive on, be careful though because transport buses drive like hooligans here. Pretty soon you’ll find yourself at the top of the hill and you can chose to take a tiny diversion and visit Pratapgarh Fort before entering Mahabaleshwar. Once you enter the town, the most famous spots here are the Venna lake, where you can boat, the little market where you can buy strawberries and baby carrots, and the huge ground nearby where you can again enjoy some horseback riding. There are also adventure sport options abound in the vicinity. there are plenty of eateries to choose from as well, we went to the famous Mapro gardens and sampled their wood-fire oven pizza and delicious deserts.
On the way out we also stopped by one of the area’s famous vistas or “points” when we visited Harrison’s Folly in nearby Panchgani. From there on, it was time to head back home. A great two days spent exploring, and made that much more fun thanks to the excellent Hyundai Creta.
