Matheran – Review

Matheran is a hill station in Raigad, Maharashtra. It is a slope station in Karjat Town & is also the littlest hill station in India.

This piece would be a two step reviews i.e. 1^st would be giving a glimpse of Matheran the place itself as the place is such that it demands and then the Woodlands hotel for review please CLICK HERE which we stayed in for two days during the last year from 22/10/2016 To 24/10/2016 i.e. Diwali Holidays.

Location: Matheran is a hill station situated on the top of a big mountain of Western Ghat range at the height of 800m from sea level. It lies in Karjat tehsil of Maharashtra and near Mumbai. At the base Neral is situated (Neral is one of the Mumbai suburban railway station falls in central line).

The pristine greenery has been maintained over the years through rigorous policies one of many is no vehicular traffic is allowed a certain point and train also its only narrow gauge, one might be in for a rude shock in first instance as the rates charged by the carts and horse man there. IT almost Rs 400 to 500 per person either man pulled or the horse ride. But its overwhelming when we encounter them for the first time.

We have to pay for the entry at the gate and then enter inside the hill station we put the senior citizens in human pulled carts, as we prefer to walk by the railway track and surprisingly we both reached at the same time. We had booked our stay for two days as mentioned above and the rates are pretty good and not over the board, we had paid Rs. 12335 /- for two nights and three days for two standards rooms.

The Best Time and accommodation:

You can visit Matheran anytime over weekends (Nov to feb is preferable), and for accommodation, generally you are advised to book prior even in weekends, when there is rush of souls to visit the place. We tried going for republic day weekend the rates were very high so decided against it.

What is Matheran and the points:

As the name suggests it is the “forest on top”. And yes, these forests are the beauty of this place.

Below have tried collating some interesting points/places to one can try and visit during the stay:

• Louisa point: – For the amazing view of the city and remains of vishalgarh fort this place shouldn’t be missed. Around this place charlotte lake and echo point are another place of tourist interest.
• Monkey point: – Different kinds of monkeys and langoors can be spotted here. But one must be aware and be careful with the monkeys, they are very aggressive some times.
• Porcupine point: – Like other points, this point also gives beautiful views. Prabalgad fort can be seen from here.
• Honeymoon hill: – Back in the history, it was a honeymoon destination for the britishers and parsis.
• Rambagh point: – It is one of the best picnic spot of the region. It provides spectacular view of karjat nearby city.
• Echo Point: We trekked on foot up to echo point and had great fun hearing our voices echo. Enjoyed some nice cold refreshments from the friendly stall at the point and fed the monkeys also 😊…!

All these points have to be reached by horse if we are on foot it’s pretty tiresome and tend to visit lesser points, its matter of choice how does one want to do it.

Note: Please be careful during your stay in Matheran please reach your respective hotels or resorts before sunsets, as it becomes real lonely and scary. Just a word of caution !