[vivek95]

Hello Team

I rode Pune--Lavasa and back yesterday,so wanted to share the update on latest road conditions. Couldn't find an exclusive thread on Lavasa in "Route queries" section, hence starting a new one. Moderators can move this post to any relevant section if existing.

Road condition as on 3rd July 2016 :-

We started at 11 a.m from Wadgaon Sheri,Nagar road, Pune and took the Bund garden -- COEP flyover -- JM -- Paud road -- Chandani chowk -- Pirangut road to exit the city. Roads within city remain good, but Chandani chowk to Pirangut Ghotawade phata which is a 2 lane road has many bumpy patches and potholes in between. Needless to say, be extremely careful while passing over the waterpools formed on road, as there might be deep potholes beneath. But overall the road can be termed as average to below average . There was insane traffic with never ending bee line of cars and bikes all heading to beautiful destinations outside Pune. Of course, I am not pointing at others because when I say traffic, it starts first from me !! It rained heavily throughout. We were stuck for long time between Chandani chowk and Pirangut with traffic snarls extending as long as 3kms+. I am sure cagers might have had really tough time to exit the city yesterday. Half the crowd seemed to be heading Lavasa and rest half Mulshi--Tamhini bound.

After turning left at Ghotawade phata and exiting the city, traffic although high got pretty fast moving. Road is a wide 2 lane with a mix of super smooth and bumpy sectors with rarely some potholes. Despite this region receiving heavy rainfall every year, roads haven't gone bad. Infact I would term it as good considering heavy lash of rains. Waterpools galore until the start of ghat, take care. Temghar dam point enroute too saw heavy crowd. The point from where Lavasa maintains the ghat road is also good but there are some rough patches here and there. It is not continuously supersmooth as earlier since rains and traffic over the years has had a brunt on it. But overall, still very good. Last 2 kms or so before the entry point at Lavasa witnessed long traffic snarls again. There is an entry fee levied now for cars as well as bikes. 50/- for a bike and 200/- for a car. Despite the extremely heavy crowd, the Lavasa staff was managing traffic really well and issued entry tickets quickly one after the other. Fast moving traffic from entry point till Lavasa city proper. Total distance from home was 65 kms (30 kms from exit point of Pune) and we took 2.75 hours as against 1.5 hours during my earlier visits. Cagers would have taken an hour extra for the same distance because of heavy traffic.

Needless to say, the ride through hills amidst heavy rains and thick fog was mesmerising. Waterfalls galored along the route. This was my third visit to Lavasa, last one being 2 years back. There was no entry fee back then. I am totally saturated with Lavasa city per se by now, but nevertheless it still remains a good place to hang out. We planned this visit only for the ride and to get drenched in heavy rains. On the way back took the following route within Pune :- Bavdhan--Pashan armament estate--Ganeshkhind -- Sancheti bridge and so on. As expected, Pashan route although tad longer was much better than Paud road in terms of traffic and to get past Shivajinagar onto Wellesley road.

To summarise, the road to Lavasa is good at present but post this monsoons I am sure there would be lot of new potholes and bad patches of road emerging up. Rains are incessant and extremely heavy in this regjon, so the road might need immediate attention by the end of monsoon season. Sunday is surely not a good day to visit but I had no other option. Needless to say, irrespective of road conditions, people would still love to visit any such beautiful destinations in western ghats.

Pune = beautiful city
Pune + monsoons = Fantabulous, awesome, heavenly and what not ! Pune rocks

[silverado]

I visited Lavasa on 6th July 2016.

I was well aware that it would be crowded on weekends , hence choose middle week.

We started early at 8am from wakad.
Early start is crucial since, we can easily avoid crowds.
There is a Lavasa tourist road train which I think is a fun way of roaming around.

Crowds slowly started building up by 1pm onwards.

While coming back, I took wrong exit and had to take U turn after warje.
I think better option is to get in Kothrud, come back towards Lavasa using the highway underpass and then get back on highway towards wakad.

[AYP]

Guys, have any of you been to Lavasa from Mumbai recently? How is the condition of the roads? We are planning to go there next week. I wanted to know if it is better to book a Zoomcar XUV or will a normal sedan suffice?

[//M]

Originally Posted by AYP

Guys, have any of you been to Lavasa from Mumbai recently? How is the condition of the roads? We are planning to go there next week. I wanted to know if it is better to book a Zoomcar XUV or will a normal sedan suffice?

The roads are pretty good, no need of a higher Ground Clearance car. A low slung sedan will also manage fine. However, currently only the road upto the Lavasa gate is accessible. The drive beyond the gate to Lavasa city is 8-9 kms approximately and due to a landslide, the road beyond the gate is closed temporarily since last one week. You may chose to park your vehicle near the gate and walk down till Lavasa city but it would be an arduous walk uphill on your return. Plus due to the landslide, all the shops/stores/eateries in Lavasa are closed.

Another alternative road goes via Panshet Dam. The road was bad when I last went there sometime in 2015. No idea about the current condition of this road, but I am pretty sure it would be a bone-jarring journey.

[Subroto Bhowmik]

Originally Posted by //M

The roads are pretty good, no need of a higher Ground Clearance car. A low slung sedan will also manage fine. However, currently only the road upto the Lavasa gate is accessible. The drive beyond the gate to Lavasa city is 8-9 kms approximately and due to a landslide, the road beyond the gate is closed temporarily since last one week. You may chose to park your vehicle near the gate and walk down till Lavasa city but it would be an arduous walk uphill on your return. Plus due to the landslide, all the shops/stores/eateries in Lavasa are closed.

Any idea whether the roads post Lavasa gate are accessible, have a booking (non refundable) for 4th September and would like to know the current status please...

[gautamkhadse]

Originally Posted by Subroto Bhowmik

Any idea whether the roads post Lavasa gate are accessible, have a booking (non refundable) for 4th September and would like to know the current status please...

HI Subroto ,

All home owners and those with active hotel bookings are being allowed inside the gate .

You may want to call up the hotel desk and also Lavasa Citizen COntact Centre @ 95619 95619 to check if you can enter .

I was allowed to go inside as we own a house there , the roads that lead to ekant retreat are in a very bad shape in some places . Heavy land slides being cleared up extractors . THis is being monitored on a daily basis so atleast smaller vehicles can ply .

[Subroto Bhowmik]

Thanks Gautam for prompt response. The same thing was confirmed by the hotel where I have my booking. Also just wanted to know the state of roads from Pune and how much time will be needed to reach Lavasa from expressway exit point on a Sunday under sedate driving conditions from my end since I want to soak in the surroundings rather than just race up the hills!

[Subroto Bhowmik]

Hi Guys, I went for a 1N stay at Lavasa on 4th Sep 2016. As advised by some BHPians, indeed Lavasa is now out of bounds for day picknickers as the personnel at the entrance gate checked the hotel confirmation vouchers before letting them in. This meant that scores of day picknickers were left stranded at the gate as they were not aware of this new rule.

Well I drove from Vashi, Navi Mumbai and its approximately 180kms drive took me 4 hours with one breakfast break after toll. My Skoda Rapid performed excellent giving me mileage of 20+ on both the drives.

The drive is quite curvy and thankfully it wasnt raining meaning visibility was excellent. Roads are excellent throughout with a few patches made rough due to the landslides in mid August. Once we were in Lavasa, it started raining making the climate even more beautiful.

We stayed at The Waterfront Shaw in a 1 BR apartment. We were famished on reaching so immediately dashed off to Chor Bizarre restaurant. Later on we realised that most of the cafes and eateries on that waterfront are owned by the same owner i.e. hotel owner!!! After a sumptous lunch, we retreated back to our cozy rooms. The hotel is indeed well maintained with special emphasis on cleanliness. Since it had started to rain heavily, we decided to take our afternoon nap and hope that weather clears in some time. It was not a nap rather a 2 hour sleep induced by the wonderful punjabi lunch. Woke up to see bright weather and then we dashed out to check out the activities if any.

Sorely disappointed that there was no watersports. Even the ATV's at X Trill had punctured tyres and so no adventure sports as well. My son started getting jittery since nothing to so at all to spend the evening. He cycled for half hour, then took out 2 wheel self balancing scooter, took some photos and selfies. Went for a short drive up to Ekaant which offers the best view of Lavasa but the roads leading to this resort was not that good.

We saw the sunset behind the mountains and after sunset was shocked to see that even the streetlights on the waterfont were struggling to light up. The local municipal corporation is doing its best to kill this tourist spot and I am afraid if proper timely action is not taken then Lavasa will become a ghost town soon!!!

We ended our day with some pizzas and good doughnuts from Granma's!!

We checked out the next day after a lavish breakfast and then proceeded towards Mumbai with a lunch halt at Sunny da dhaba on old Mumbai highway. We treated our gastro cravings lavishly and then touched base home with only memoirs of the hills and nothing else about Lavasa!!!

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Subroto Bhowmik

Lavasa is now out of bounds for day picknickers as the personnel at the entrance gate checked the hotel confirmation vouchers before letting them in.

Is that the case still? Anyone been to Lavasa recently? I'm going there next weekend, i have hotel accommodation so there's nothing to worry.
Mumbai hasn't seen much rain in the last week, just hope weather is ideal there & it doesn't rain too much.

[manishmk]

Originally Posted by PPS

Is that the case still? Anyone been to Lavasa recently? I'm going there next weekend, i have hotel accommodation so there's nothing to worry.
Mumbai hasn't seen much rain in the last week, just hope weather is ideal there & it doesn't rain too much.

I went there March, 2017. There was no such rule. You just have to pay a fee at the entrance that's it.

[Epic]

Hey everyone!

So I plan to do a 02 night trip with family (my wife and 18 month old daughter) in the last week of June or first week of July 2018. Was considering Lavasa or maybe Sula Vineyards. However, I assume Sula may not have interesting activities for kids so Lavasa seems to be the better option as it has a lot of activities as per their website.

Anyone who has visited recently and can help with information on activities available for toddlers?

[maverickxx2006]

Originally Posted by Epic

Hey everyone!

So I plan to do a 02 night trip with family (my wife and 18 month old daughter) in the last week of June or first week of July 2018. Was considering Lavasa or maybe Sula Vineyards. However, I assume Sula may not have interesting activities for kids so Lavasa seems to be the better option as it has a lot of activities as per their website.

Anyone who has visited recently and can help with information on activities available for toddlers?

Avoid Lavasa if possible. Its bit of run down now and doubt there will be any activities, its like a ghost town.

I had been there last year and its deteriorated compared to my earlier visits. There were also a bunch of rowdies drinking beer on the road winding down in Lavasa, dancing and sitting in middle of the road and creating quite a ruckus.

I avoid taking family to Lavasa and Mulshi/Paud during moonsoons due to the traffic and the increased rowdies.

[Maddy3008]

Originally Posted by Epic

Hey everyone!

So I plan to do a 02 night trip with family (my wife and 18 month old daughter) in the last week of June or first week of July 2018. Was considering Lavasa or maybe Sula Vineyards. However, I assume Sula may not have interesting activities for kids so Lavasa seems to be the better option as it has a lot of activities as per their website.

Anyone who has visited recently and can help with information on activities available for toddlers?

Sula is a bit costly in my opinion for what it offers. Lavasa is now a ghost town as others have mentioned.

May I suggest Bhandardara instead. The MTDC resort is at a lovely location and there are couple of forts in the vicinity if you want to try hiking. The roads were very poor, but we still managed our trip in a fully loaded Fiat linea back in 2016. Request for a bonfire at night and enjoy the beauty with some nice food !

[Epic]

Originally Posted by maverickxx2006

Avoid Lavasa if possible. Its bit of run down now and doubt there will be any activities, its like a ghost town.

I had been there last year and its deteriorated compared to my earlier visits. There were also a bunch of rowdies drinking beer on the road winding down in Lavasa, dancing and sitting in middle of the road and creating quite a ruckus.

I avoid taking family to Lavasa and Mulshi/Paud during moonsoons due to the traffic and the increased rowdies.

Originally Posted by Maddy3008

Sula is a bit costly in my opinion for what it offers. Lavasa is now a ghost town as others have mentioned.

May I suggest Bhandardara instead. The MTDC resort is at a lovely location and there are couple of forts in the vicinity if you want to try hiking. The roads were very poor, but we still managed our trip in a fully loaded Fiat linea back in 2016. Request for a bonfire at night and enjoy the beauty with some nice food !

Thank you guys for your recommendations. I have decided to play it safe and have confirmed my trip to Alibaug. Will be staying at the Radisson Blu Resort & Spa for 02 nights.

[Samurai]

This is the story on Lavasa now. It is officially a ghost town.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/lava...idents-1869661