Trifter

Matheran

Matheran is about 85 km from Mumbai and is an ideal weekend break. Situated at a height of about 800m the weather is always pleasantly cool. Best time to visit would be soon after monsoon owing to multi hued flora and pristine waterfalls. This is the only hill stationed I have visited so far that still maintains its natural charm as cars are banned inside and the only mode of travel is by foot, handcart or horseback.

Welcome to Matheran

Image Courtesy: My Camera

Get There

Getting to Matheran from Mumbai is easy, fast and inexpensive. The fastest would be the train to Karjat/Khopoli. Get down at Neral. From here hop onto the toy train to Matheran. However during the monsoons this toy train is shut down. One can also take a shared cab, the going rate is Rs. 50 a person. Alternatively one can rent a cab or take a bust to Neral. You can find a lot of travel agents in Dadar TT area willing to rent you a cab for Rs.6/7 a km.

Sleep

Lots of options exist in this regard. A simple room in a lodge should cost you Rs.700 thereabouts a night. A resort would be somewhere in the range of Rs. 1500-1800.

Eat

The main market has lot of restaurants that offer varied food choices. Apart from this you would come across an occasional kiosk or two selling tea and snacks. There are some dhabas near Louisa point that serve Kanda Bhaji and related stuff.

Matheran Main Market

Image Courtesy: My Camera

Do

Trekking is the word. You can best experience and enjoy this in Matheran. We walked all across the place, up and down the slopes getting drenched in rain. It was awesome!

You would find local  guide maps on boards all over the place detailing the look out points. You can also pay to be shown around the place on a horseback. Do visit as many as possible for breathtaking views you are unlikely to find anywhere else.

Find your own waterfall and take a bath under it. Let the nature cleanse you of your city inhibitions.

You can explore a lot of old buildings (or ruins). We came across this building called The Homestead bearing the name of Sir Ratan Tata. There is a Parsi graveyard as well, it was good fun and slight chill exploring that.

Parsi Graveyad

Image Courtesy: My Camera

Buy

Peculiarly, Matheran is famous for chappals, I suppose. There are a lot of stalls selling these in the