A group of 5 of us went to Matheran hill station near Mumbai in April. This place is famous for the forests, lack of vehicles and tar roads on the hill (everyone has to walk/get on a horse on the muddy roads) and a long trekking experience it provides with spectacular view points. The main season to go to this place is Oct to May. But the heat is unbearable in the period Mar-May. It is better if someone visits in winter.
We caught a fast local from Ghatkopar (in Mumbai central railway line) to Neral. Usually Trains from CST to Khopoli/Kajarat stop at Neral. It was an 1.5 hours train ride (70kms). We got down at Neral and took a sharing taxi. There is a toy train to take us on to the top. Because of the extreme heat and 2 hours journey uphill compared to 20 mins drive by taxi, we chose to go by sharing taxi who charged 60/- per head. One disadvantage of going by taxis is the 4 km long trek to reach the market as vehicles are stopped 4 kms from the main market.
We got down at the entrance and walked uphill which took an hour. Then we went straight to the hotel for taking rest. There are lots of options to stay but weekends are a busy time so it is better if pre booking is done. We took rest for an hour and went for lunch. There is a huge market with plenty of restaurants and options to eat.
After lunch we started to walk in the forest. We moved from one view point to the other. The view of deciduous forest and hills from these view points was spectacular. Due to extreme heat, we could not enjoy much but in winter this will be a very pleasant place to be. The trekking experience in the forest was similar to the one we had at David Scott Trail in Meghalaya, only that there was no hilly terrain.
The best of all the 16 view points is the sun set point. We saw few of the view points on the next morning and in the afternoon we started back. We came back to the taxi stand on horseback and took a local train back to Mumbai. Overall, it was a decent trekking experience in the forest for about 10kms. I guess many people go there for a get away place from Mobile Phone disturbance as there is no network coverage on the entire hill.
We caught a fast local from Ghatkopar (in Mumbai central railway line) to Neral. Usually Trains from CST to Khopoli/Kajarat stop at Neral. It was an 1.5 hours train ride (70kms). We got down at Neral and took a sharing taxi. There is a toy train to take us on to the top. Because of the extreme heat and 2 hours journey uphill compared to 20 mins drive by taxi, we chose to go by sharing taxi who charged 60/- per head. One disadvantage of going by taxis is the 4 km long trek to reach the market as vehicles are stopped 4 kms from the main market.
We got down at the entrance and walked uphill which took an hour. Then we went straight to the hotel for taking rest. There are lots of options to stay but weekends are a busy time so it is better if pre booking is done. We took rest for an hour and went for lunch. There is a huge market with plenty of restaurants and options to eat.
After lunch we started to walk in the forest. We moved from one view point to the other. The view of deciduous forest and hills from these view points was spectacular. Due to extreme heat, we could not enjoy much but in winter this will be a very pleasant place to be. The trekking experience in the forest was similar to the one we had at David Scott Trail in Meghalaya, only that there was no hilly terrain.
The best of all the 16 view points is the sun set point. We saw few of the view points on the next morning and in the afternoon we started back. We came back to the taxi stand on horseback and took a local train back to Mumbai. Overall, it was a decent trekking experience in the forest for about 10kms. I guess many people go there for a get away place from Mobile Phone disturbance as there is no network coverage on the entire hill.
