The Journey

A decade back, this corner of Maharashtra had been labelled as under developed. At least that is what I heard from my fellow mates before i embarked on this trip. Frankly I had no idea what to expect. As my childhood buddy and his family invited me to join them, I decided to go without really utilizing the power of Google to blow my mind. Oh Damn good decision it was. This was December 2014 and before I go any further, here is a sneak peek into the city made so beautifully that you will hate to leave.

We left Powai at 7AM via a Taxiforsure cab. Traveling across Mumbai is always an epic experience for me, the race against terrible Mumbai traffic is often real.

The best part of the odd 186km journey is you get to drive along the superbly built Mumbai Pune expressway. Here is a snapshot of the popular joint for a morning snack, with canteens and shops lining across the parking space.

As you move ahead through the road, it takes more than three hours to reach the destination. But the experience begins when you wind up the spiral roads to reach the city ahead. The inclinations are often way too steep to handle. This will be your view as you approach Lavasa.

Lavasa gave me the impression of being built on trademark styles of European township with flavour of precise planning sprinkled all over, Albeit it does follow a mix between Copenhagen and Venice, the city is filled with paved walks and small bridges. Look how clean and well maintained everything is.

Yes. The roads do deserve special mention with spotless sidewalks and children playing around. A string of restaurants adorn this area with popular brands like Cafe Coffee Day and Baskin Robbins. You can also opt for movies in the mini theatre if you are in the mood.

There has been reports on environmental impact study resulting in a political juggernaut that blocked rapid development of this massive project. From a layman perspective, there is no dearth of greenery among this brick and mortar structure. The planning can be so much pleasing to an Indian eye subjected to roadside filth of daily lives.

If you have kids, the options for fun are aplenty. There are Tandem Bicycle, Motor based cars (by XThrill) and Pogo stick on wheels (popularly called Segway Personal Transporter). The expense largely varies around 500 INR for each ride.

Lavasa International Centre serves as an all in one resource for your stay, sports and recreation with detailed information on benefits of staying at a land between the hustle bustle of Mumbai and IT life of Pune.

Although we did not plan an overnight stay, it is recommended you do it as the night can be extremely enthralling. In case you are wondering whether you want to own a home at this beautiful township, here is a view of the stays at a prime location on lakeside.

There are ample number of water based rides at the extreme end with shops selling local goods which opens afternoon onwards. Rowing and motorboating options are offered at rates of around 1000 INR.

With numerous options for children to play and adults to relax, do not forget to carry your camera. For me, it was a Nikon D5200 affixed to 50mm prime lens (most photos are resultant of that camera only) while my buddy Abhishek (in the photo below) took Nikon D3100 with a 55-200mm lens as his choice of weapon.

Tip Offs

• Be ready to spend money on travel only if you have one day trip in mind like us. If you are staying or planning to stay over, expect drastically higher expense.
• Food is reasonably priced. We had food a Chinese restaurant (Oriental Octopus) serving Seven Coursed Meal at 400INR. It was totally worth it and the food was delicious to say the least. Highly Recommended. However other varieties (Indian, Lebanese, Mughlai, Italian, American) are also available
• It is a place designed for you to relax, so if you are a 20 something guy like me planning to come down with your buddies, it can be bad idea. It will be way more enjoyable to come with family, especially if you are planning to stay the night.
• Detailed information is available at www.lavasa.com and International Centre. Have your GPS on in case your driver gets confused with the route while driving (happened to us), Google Maps can be a wonderful thing.

My Recommendation

Try the Australian fruit Kiwi Juice at Oriental Octopus. Its exotic and absolute delight for people with a sweet tooth.

Will be back soon with a new article on trekking.

Until Next time.

Cheers

Sayantan

Update (2020)

The font becomes smaller because that is the new style of blog posts.

I went back to Lavasa couple of times after this. It felt increasingly worse both of the times as the city resembles a ghost town these days. Bunch of chains have shut shops, the maintenance has gone downhill (despite the exorbitant entry fee) and fewer people hangs out here.

If this is your first time in Maharashtra, there are better places you should put on your bucket list.