[RS01]

Driving daily in bumper-to-bumper traffic, some of us Mumbaikars itch to take our vehicles and families on long drives, whenever an opportunity presents itself. One such opportunity came by recently in the form of an unexpected 3-day long weekend and we started deliberating on our options.

While we have been on Lonavala-Khandala trips many times, the Mumbai-Pune expressway still offers a great respite from the city traffic. (Although on long weekends, some stretches are no better than tight city routes&#128522. Mom suggested we go to Bhima Shankar this time, and it made sense as it was slightly off route.

And so, the planning started. While Dad and me took up the task of prepping the Ciaz, checking routes (more on this later), planning stoppages etc., Mum and wife got busy in packing, and the kid jumped around in general excitement.

Bhima Shankar, one of the Jyotirlingas, is in a wild life sanctuary and a quick search for good hotels on popular travel portals resulted in not many options. Staying overnight at Pune or Lonavala was suggested on some websites, but I was not keen on negotiating city traffic at Pune. Moreover, Google maps showed 3+ hour drive from Pune, as compared to 5 hours from Mumbai. Those who travel with family know that no place to stay is a deal breaker. Our plans were on the verge of cancellation when my wife chanced upon a resort marked on Google Maps around 10 km from the temple. We gave it a call and it seemed to be a decent option. We decided to give it a go.

We started from Mumbai at ~11 AM with Google showing 4 hour 45 min driving distance. Sunny weather. Took us 2 hours to reach Food Mall post Khalapur toll plaza. It was sweltering hot outside. Huge crowd due to the long weekend. It took us an hour to stuff ourselves before we were back on the road.

My phone is synced with the Car’s screen and I had downloaded the maps to be on the safer side in case of connectivity issues. When we checked before departure, I remember the maps showing us a detour after Lonavala. But when we left the Food Mall, it asked us to continue on the Expressway for a considerable duration. We were asked to exit at Talegaon. We took a short break at one Indian Oil Fuel Station around 3:15 PM and carried on.

Things got interesting from here.

Digital Map was our only guide and we had no reason to doubt it. However, when it was taking us through the factories of Talegaon, I had a feeling of not being along with any highway traffic. Post these factories, the traffic started thinning further, but I shrugged it off thinking that the destination may be near and being a wild life sanctuary, not many people may be visiting it. After 10-15 minutes of driving through narrow empty roads, we saw an auto rickshaw, who confirmed that the route is ok for Bhimashankar. Along we prodded with the digital maps, which still showed around 2.5 hours of travel time. Roads got narrower and lonelier and weather got partly cloudy with occasional rain drops. Evening sun showed through the clouds. We continued on winding, single-lane village roads with no markings and no phone signals. Not a single soul in sight for kilometers. Although I was enjoying driving through the countryside, family was getting tense as it was getting dark.

After half an hour, we found someone who nonchalantly said that the road would lead us to our destination. Another hour-and-a-half later, we found ourselves at the gate of the resort, which suddenly emerged out of nowhere like an oasis. It was such a relief. What was supposed to be a 5-hour drive, ended up being a 7-hour drive.





Thankfully, the resort was well appointed and well managed. It was fun to relax on the green grass with fresh raindrops. My kid likes to keep a beach ball in the car, which proved useful at the resort.

Next morning, we got up early and visited the temple. It was a wise decision as we could take the Car very near to the temple. Parking, otherwise, is at least a kilometer away and one has to walk all the way. There was a small forest toll collection naka on the way.

After the temple, we came back to the resort. We were planning to return but decided to stay another day just to relax and unwind and make good use of the 3rd day of the long weekend. The cottages at the resort were fun and I had time to give a good wash to the car next morning. We planned a leisurely departure and decided to leave after lunch. Also tried my hand at some auto photography










We enquired at the counter about the route, and narrated about our drive of empty country roads. The manager burst out laughing and said, ‘aap log map laga k aaye they na? maps waale log hi aise bhatak k aate hain’. He then gave us directions and asked us to drive to Manchar and onwards to Talegaon and back to Mumbai.

To our surprise, this route was full of small hotels, shops and houses all along the route. There were even plantations of sugarcane etc. and a Dam on the way and light traffic was encountered all along. After a while, we saw a dam and a small water channel along the way. Rest of the drive was good. Stopped back at Food Mall for dinner and reached back home at night, ready to go back to work the next day.

Some statistics:

Onward Journey: 225 km, Mileage achieved: 15.03 kmpl

Return: 239 km, Mileage achieved: 19.1 kmpl

Overall Trip: 464 km, Mileage achieved: 17 kmpl

Resort was named Blue Mormon, which we later learned is named after a butterfly of the same name.

Sharing some pics from this trip.

[ruzbehxyz]

Thanks for sharing.

Bhimashankar is a regular temple site.

Bhimashankar is also regularly visited by trekkers from Mumbai, Pune, Nashik via Karjat. From Karjat you reach Khandas village and there are primarily 3 routes from here, the more famous being “Shidi ghat” or ladder route, where ladders are placed over tricky patches. This is a very famous trek and dangerous in the wet season. The second route is via Ganesh ghat or temple and easy but long.
Another offbeat trek to Bhimashankar is from Bhorgiri via Gupt Bhimashankar, through thick forest.
Nagphani and Bombay point are good places to see the hills.

[RS01]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Thanks for sharing.

Bhimashankar is a regular temple site.

Bhimashankar is also regularly visited by trekkers from Mumbai, Pune, Nashik via Karjat. From Karjat you reach Khandas village and there are primarily 3 routes from here, the more famous being “Shidi ghat” or ladder route, where ladders are placed over tricky patches. This is a very famous trek and dangerous in the wet season. The second route is via Ganesh ghat or temple and easy but long.
Another offbeat trek to Bhimashankar is from Bhorgiri via Gupt Bhimashankar, through thick forest.
Nagphani and Bombay point are good places to see the hills.

Thanks for the info Captain. Missed the trekking part. May be for a trip next time.
Did visit the Bombay point though.

[RashmiRathi]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Thanks for sharing.

Bhimashankar is a regular temple site.

Bhimashankar is also regularly visited by trekkers from Mumbai, Pune, Nashik via Karjat. From Karjat you reach Khandas village and there are primarily 3 routes from here, the more famous being “Shidi ghat” or ladder route, where ladders are placed over tricky patches.

I did this trek once in 2006. It was just beautiful. Offcourse its 15 years ago, so I was quite young and energetic then.

based on this blog, have made a plan to visit Bhimashankar next week and staying in same resort. Will put updates once the visit is done.

[RS01]

Originally Posted by RashmiRathi

I did this trek once in 2006. It was just beautiful. Offcourse its 15 years ago, so I was quite young and energetic then.

based on this blog, have made a plan to visit Bhimashankar next week and staying in same resort. Will put updates once the visit is done.

Look forward to your visit updates. Suggest to make prior reservations as the resort is generally booked on weekends.

[SID7115]

Nice blog.
Even I had made a trip to Bhimashankar from Pune. We took an alternative road through Rajgurunagar town towards the back of the Bhima River (I suppose the same one you took), instead of going through Manchar and Narayangaon.
It was extremely scenic in the monsoons. Additionally you should have visited Ganpati temples of Ozar and Mahad. The route from Bhimashankar to Ozar is full of ghats and it takes you through the Dimbhe Dam on the Bhima River.

[RashmiRathi]

Originally Posted by RS01

Look forward to your visit updates. Suggest to make prior reservations as the resort is generally booked on weekends.

Just returned from the trip to Bhimashankar....

Did onward trip through Thane-murbad-Malshej- Junnar-Ghodegaon-Bhimashankar

Return through Manchar-Chakan-Talegaon-Navi Mumbai-Thane.

I was lucky to not get any traffic on both onward and return journies. Both trips took around 6 hours with a half hour break.

Stayed in Blue Mormon. The resort is very nice....nestled at the edge of a wooded valley, it offers very good views. We were group of 4 adults and 3 kids and we stayed in executive villa for INR 9k/night. Rate was very reasonable in my opinion.

Weather was just perfect. Not hot and not too wet. It was overall a great weekend trip from Thane.

[arun_112]

I visited Bhimashankar by road in January 2024. If anyone wants latest road conditions and other tips to visit Bhimashankar please see this video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFDTqhb7u60