As the New Year was approaching I was in search for a place which would be both refreshing and far away from the madding crowd.its then that I came to know about Matheran. I feel more and more in love with the place as I saw the pictures of Matheran on the net. I decided that this would be the place where I would be spending my new year weekend. Then began the frantic search of a good hotel with proper facilities. Then I came to know about this particular hotel named “Woodlands hotel”. It was just the thing I was searching for. Nestled in thick woods and had a colonial kind of look which interested me. I took an instant liking for the hotel. It was 27th Dec and as expected I found all the rooms booked at the place. But fortunately due to some last moment cancellations we got the standard rooms for about 3500 bucks which was quite a deal considering the time of the year. The site of the hotel where you can find all the necessary information regarding the hotel: https://therightsite.com/woodlandshotel
The rooms are spacious and clean. The hotel has game facilities that include carom, table tennis and badminton as well as a play ground for children. The hotel is also conveniently placed within walking distance from the bazaar, taxi stand and some of the main points. I would recommend the standard rooms which I found equally good as any other room. As the other rooms would cost you more and give almost the same kind of facility as that of the other rooms. The hotel is very neat and clean with a very good ambience, and it was because of this hotel that out stay in Matheran became more enjoyable. The food was also too good. It was just “ghar ka khana”, specially their sweet dishes. The food is completely veg, but the quality and quantity will make up for it. I am a non vegetarian myself, but I thoroughly enjoyed the meals.
We began our journey on 29th dec, at 8 am from vashi station. We got down at kurla to take a karjat bound train. The karjat bound train was a little crowded, but within half an hour the crowd became less and one could then take a window seat and sit down to enjoy the beauty of the fast changing landscape. The jungle of concrete and cement was fast disappearing and their place was taken by hillocks, green patches of trees and red soil.
We got down at the Neral station. From vashi to neral it took about 2 hrs, since we got the back to back train from Kurla. Once you are in Neral you will begin to feel the tranquility in the atmosphere. The famous toy train ride from neral to matheran, was discontinued from past one year due to heavy landslides. We became a bit disappointed hearing this. Then we took a shared cab from outside the station. The initial disappointment of unable to ride the toy train was soon gone when we started our ride uphill, through the meandering roads. The view of the deep valleys, steep mountains fringed with greenery is absolutely mesmerizing.
Matheran *is one of the only few places in the world where all vehicles are banned which makes the place unique. This place takes you over a hundred years back in time when there were no cars. So the taxi dropped us at the Dastoori car park. From there ponies are the favoured means of transport to the hotels. The rickshaws(pulled by humans), is also another option. But if you want to really enjoy the beauty of this place always opt for a walk. We were going there for the first time and didn’t know how to reach our hotel because there are no concrete roads in matheran which will directly lead to your hotel. So we decided to ask the passer byes and reach our hotel. Fortunately we met another family who were also going to the same hotel and we joined them. The trek up to the hotel was quite an experience. Though we lost our way but finally when we reached woodlands I was very pleased to see that it was really the kind of weekend getaway I always dreamed of.
We checked in the resort and after freshening up had sumptuous lunch and retired to bed. In the evening we had a quick coffee and started off to see the first point.
Matheran is dotted with around 33 lookout points - from where you get spectacular view of the plains below or across the Western Ghats. You can hike your way to these through the **Panorama Point**, **Hart Point, ** **Monkey Point, ** **Porcupine Point, ****Panorama Point**., **Coronation Point**, **Lousia Point, ** **Echo Point, ** **Tree Point**, **Shivaji’s Ladder**, **Chowk Point, ****Alexander**** Point**, **Khandala Point**, **Mount**** Barry** .The main drinking water for the town comes from **Charlotte**** Lake**, away from the edge of the hill top. The lake has a splendid view with the dam at one end a temple, ’**Pisarnath Mandir**’ at the other. The Main Mahatama Gandhi Road is lined with shops of all shapes and sizes, that form the main bazaar, called **Kapadia Market.** You could shop around for the famous "chikki" sweet and local honey. There are other things of interest too, especially the footwear.
As far as clothing is concerned loose cotton attire is suitable and comfortable during summer and in winter light woolens are preferred. But the place is made up of red soil so make sure that you take mostly dark colored clothes so that your clothes are less dirty by the end of the day.
The unpolluted air, beautiful surroundings, charming shady walks, magnificent panoramic views are what make a stay in Matheran a totally different experience in itself.