Matheran

Matheran is a most famous Hill Station located in Karjat, Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It is a most popular weekend getaway for residents of Mumbai, Thane and Pune region. The word ‘Matheran’ in Marathi language means a forest on the forehead of the mountains or hill on top. This hill station is known to be the smallest hill station located on the range of Western Ghat. The hill lies in a elavated region which has cooler and less humid climate, making it the popular destination during summer months. People also visit post-monsoon to experience the greenery and waterfalls.

The hill station is famous for its cool weather and green dense forest which makes you feel relaxed once you reach on the top. The various lookout points on the hill provides beautiful view of surrounding hills and valleys of Sahyadri mountains. Vehicles are not allowed on Matheran. One has to use horse or hand-pulled rickshaws to visit different points. People also go walking to see various points. It takes longer time but leaves with you a long trekking experience.

The dense forest of Matheran has a large number of medicinal plants and herbs. According to local people, inside the forest animals like leopard, deer, malabar giant squirrel, fox, wild boar, snakes, mongoose are found. Monkeys are found every where in the town. There are variety of species of birds found on Matheran. But one can easily spot Bulbuls, Common Mynas and White-rumped shama.

I had visited Matheran along with my family when I was part of Mahindra Group. The Guest House provided by the company was in a midst of the Matheran Market. The food and ambience in the Guest House was just great. It was a two days trip. We couldn’t cover all beautiful points of Matheran. But the overall time spent along with family covering various points on horse-ride and sometimes walking through forest paths of Matheran was altogether a different experience.

Here are some interesting photos captured during our visit to Matheran.

Matheran Entrance

Tracks of Toy Train

Khandala Point

Khandala Point

Khandala Point

Monkey Point

Beautiful view of surrounding hills from Monkey Point

Myna Birds

Sunrise view from Khandala Point

Beautiful view from Khandala Point

Sunset Point

Charlotte Lake

Pisarnath Temple

Pisarnath Temple

Matheran Monkeys

Matheran Monkeys

Matheran Market

Ice-Candy Stall

Flavours of Ice-Candies, Sodas and Milk shakes

Delicious raw mangoes

Beautiful view of surrounding hills

Beautiful view of surrounding hills

Horses in queue

Beautiful view from Monkey Point

Beautiful view from Monkey Point

Beautiful view from Monkey Point

Beautiful view from EchoPoint

Forest Path

Forest path

Backside of the entrance gate

How to reach:
Distance from Mumbai – 100 Km
Distance from Pune – 120 Km
Get down at Neral Station. Board on a Toy Train which takes you up to Matheran. The Neral to Matheran distance is approximate 21 Km which easily takes 2 hours to travel.

References:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matheran
2. http://www.matheran.net.in/en/about-matheran.aspx?sl=tm