[jono213]

Hello everyone, after a short delay of around ~9 months, I've finally decided to pen down my first travelogue! Please do excuse any oversights/ mistakes that I might possibly make, thanks!

Let's rewind back to May, 2023. Congress had just won Karnataka and the RBI had just announced that 2000 rupee notes would be removed from circulation by September 2023. Meanwhile, my family sat down to deliberate upon where the last family vacation was going to be, before I left for college.

We've travelled ALOT as a family, ever since we were young, our parents made it a point to travel and show us new places and different cultures which is great and all, but now we had practically very few decent options to choose from. After a healthy dining-table discussion and many vetoes by the president and the prime-minister, a place was finalised. We were going to Mahabaleshwar!

Now the only issue was, my parents could only take 4 days off due to work commitments, which meant that we did not have a lot of time. Since I had just finished my board exams, the burden of planning the trip was dumped onto my shoulders.

The dates were the 3rd to 6th of May, and so the planning began!

Travel Details

There were 2 questions that needed solving; a) How were we going to get there, and b) How were we going to move around once we were there.

I strongly advocated for us to drive all the way but since my dad had to get back to work the very next day, that plan was scrapped. Although a compromise was made, we would catch a train to Pune and then rent a car for the 4 days we were there. This would solve both problems and made me very happy.

Car Rental

Again, the task was delegated to me and after a bit of research, the decision was between Zoomcar and Revv. I looked at alot of reviews online and had read about alot of problems at zoomcar, which is why Revv was chosen. We booked a Honda City CVT (the same car we had back then) so that my dad could get comfortable with the car immediately. Little did we know that a small surprise was in store for us.

Hyderabad - Pune (2nd May)

After a healthy amount of last minute packing, we reached the station and boarded the Duronto express @11pm. The train was comfortable enough and I awoke at around 6am to a beautiful sunrise and random scenery.



Day-1 (3rd May)

We were slated to reach Pune at 9am, and at 8am, we received an interesting phone call. It was a revv representative who informed us that the City would not be available since it was involved in a crash, and that we would get a Maruti Ciaz AMT instead.

Me and my dad made an audible groan from the top berths since we knew lugging that lazy 1.5L with the Automatic was not going to be an enjoyable task. Funnily enough, back in 2011 when we went on a trip to Mahabalipuram, my dad had booked an I10, but it was involved in an accident just the day before, and we got an Esteem instead.

We finally reached Pune @10am and the driver from Revv was already there waiting for us.

Pune Railway Station












There she was! Our companion for the next few days. The handover process was very smooth, and the driver completed all procedure before handing over the keys to us. I did notice however that every panel was a different shade of grey, which was funny, but not unexpected.


1) Pune to Mahabaleshwar



Arguably the most anticipated part of this trip. We set off from the railway station and were almost immediately engulfed in traffic. However, dad is a great planner and we found the most efficient way to get out of Pune and had gone through the route together so many times, that it was imprinted in our heads. After an hour of not-so-great Pune roads, we stopped to get breakfast and then it was highway time!







Smooth roads, Life is a Highway - Rascal Flatts, playing on the radio, and banter is all one needs on a long drive. The car was behaving sluggishly, as expected and we were having a tough time figuring out Overdrive and the gearbox in general. One plus point though, would be the fact that all our luggage fit in seamlessly, and all 4 people were more or less comfortable in the car.



Uh-Oh



What good is a family trip without some amount of drama, eh? The check engine light came on as we started ascending and put a temporary hold on the trip. We called the Revv representative and informed him of the same to which he replied, "It's okay sir, as long as there are no noticeable issues on the car, you can continue on your trip". Which was essentially a more formal way of saying "Saab kuch nahi hoga". We sat and discussed it for a while and then made the decision to continue, while baby-ing the car as much as possible.
We did this because we were already short on time and did not want to wait more time for a replacement car. It was a gamble, but it was one that worked out for us.

Stop 1 - Mapro Food Park

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ehzfq9sJ7NHkmdC69

We were getting hungry as it was already 2pm, and made a last minute decision to stop here for lunch. It turned out to be one of the best places we visited on the trip and I highly recommend it. Great Parking, Lots of interactive activities, Great food, and fresh produce. It was lovely!









I also checked the tyres at this point, and noticed that all of them were on the lower side. The portable tyre inflator we brought along with us proved it's use.



The final 30kms to the hotel were un-eventful, we passed Panchgani and we soon reached the hotel.



Parked!



Hotel

https://maps.app.goo.gl/TEH7r4KkSjSjEEBz5

It's a small property, and it's not in a very crowded area. Overall facilities and the environment were decent, and I have no complaints whatsoever.

We took rest for a while and decided to head out to the next activity of the day, which was go-karting!

2) Saj on the Mountain - Velocity Entertainmentz







Great fun as always, the track layout was good, but lots of sections were unpaved, and ALOT of the track was extremely bumpy. Exhilarating, but people with back issues should probably stay away.

After go-karting, we went to have dinner at JK Garden Family Restaurant

https://maps.app.goo.gl/nr3SJXh5oWpu3eN68

Polite people, and amazing food. Really helped us wrap up the long day. With that Day-1 was done!

Parting pictures

[jono213]

Day-2

1) Cycling

I woke myself up early, only to go cycling on those twisty mountain roads .
The hotel had a bunch of electric cycles, but the "electric" part was missing, unfortunately. I used to cycle as a hobby, so it didn't really matter to me.







After a scrumptious breakfast, it was time to explore again!

2) Saj on the Mountain - Main Market Mahabaleshwar



The Main Market of Mahabaleshwar is like a small city itself. There are TONS of shops with everything from food, to clothes, shoes, you name it. I had to mentally prepare myself to not get bored since I knew my mom was going to spend an eternity here.







Lunch was had at Farmhouse Bistro. Its a very peaceful restaurant, with good food and drink. Highly recommended.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/CTmABrP9Aks1DaGS7







3) Main Market Mahabaleshwar - Bombay Point



We got lost multiple times while trying to reach the parking for Bombay Point. With the help of various strangers, we were finally able to reach. Roads leading to the point were pretty bad. I had to get down multiple times to guide my dad through extremely broken patches.



The parking was AMAZING! Great views all around. We were tempted to just stay there and chill .





Another thing we noticed was the hilarious naming scheme of the many horses that were used for rides.







We then proceeded to walk towards the point. Its a very long route with ALOT of uphill, and downhill sections. The latter part of the route was just horrible, even young people were struggling to get past.







It took us around 20 minutes of speed-walking to finally reach the summit, and it did not let us down. The weather was great, and the sunset was beautiful. What more could one ask for.









4) Bombay Point - Saj on the Mountain

After a nice drive back, we decided to have dinner at Barbeque Bay, which was the "flagship" restaurant of the resort. I will let the pictures do the talking









And with that, Day-2 was done!

[jono213]

Day-3

1) Hotel - Venna Lake

Today's agenda was visiting Venna Lake!, We headed out at around 9am with high hopes and a boatload of energy



Parking was okay-ish and the ticket wasn't that expensive, there was an option of choosing a pedal boat or a chauffeur boat and we chose the former. The boats themselves were very cute "mapro" themed vessels, which I'm pretty sure means that mapro sponsors them.











This was definitely one of the to-do things in Mahabaleshwar! It was pretty hot so it is recommended to get out your sunglasses and sunscreen, but the lake is very clean and the boating is very organised, would definitely do it again if given the chance.

2) Hotel to Kate's point



After lunch, we had one final place to visit for the trip and we chose to head towards another viewpoint. Kate's point overlooks the Krishna river which is what we were eager to see.











Kate's point is definitely more accessible than Bombay point with a view that is just as good, if not better. The scene was an absolute joy to witness and the area was great too with ALOT of monkeys. Which resulted in the photography session above.

With that our sightseeing stint in Mahabaleshwar had come to an end and we had to head back to Pune the next day.



Parked!


Day-4

It was unfortunate that our stay was ending, and with a heavy heart we packed all the luggage into the cavernous boot of the ciaz. The check engine light had still not gone away but after what the car had been through, we were confident of making the last leg of the trip.









We started at around 11am and reached Pune at around 5pm after stopping for lunch. We were staying at a guesthouse as our train back to Hyderabad was the following morning.

Final goodbyes





I've got a lot to say about the Ciaz after this trip. It's not the most comfortable, or the most feature equipped, or the most potent engine - gearbox combo, but it can seat 5 people adequately and does have a cavernous boot. It ticks all the right boxes, it does the bare minimum without being too dramatic or needy and that's what the Ciaz is. I will miss it a little though

After nearly a year since embarking on this adventure, I've finally gotten around to documenting the experience through this post. Mostly due to the fact that I'm now a college student but laziness admittedly played a role in the delay. I hope this can serve as a helpful travel guide for anyone interested in retracing my footsteps.

Signing off.

[KarthikK]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[GForceEnjoyer]

Absolutely top class travelogue, a very enjoyable read. Great photos too, those are some stunning views you've captured!

Intersting to read about the (thankfully harmless) warning light scare; I'd still say Revv was the right choice, since all of our Zoomcar experiences in any city post-2019 have been horrendous.

Great job. Waiting for the day you post a travelogue about a trip on which you drove.

[RM Motorsports]

Originally Posted by jono213

Lunch was had at Farmhouse Bistro. Its a very peaceful restaurant, with good food and drink. Highly recommended.

Farmhouse Bistro has been my favorite since many years. Delicious food, awesome ambiance and friendly staff.