I went to Amboli with my husband. We took train from Panvel (Navi Mumbai) to Sawantwadi. You should do the reservation one month before else have to take tatkal ticket. We caught the ’Kokankanya Express’ of 12am on thursday night which was 2 hours late, came at 2am.
It is almost 12 hours journey from Panvel to Sawantwadi. I had read that from sawantwadi station auto-ricshaws take 300-400 rs for sawantwadi. But no one was ready to come below 600rs. We went to Sawantwadi bus depot by auto which is at around 30 mins distance from railway station.
He charged us 50 rs each. From depot we catch KSRTC ST bus for amboli. We had already booked MTDC Green Vally resort online. Bus passes from this resort so we got down directly at resort. It was around 1 hour journey.
Resort is well maintained run by private. Rooms were clean. Bathroom was clean. You will not find any 3 or 4 star service or interior there. But its a clean hotel with good connectivity with most of the points. We had booked delux AC room costed us 1800 +tax.
At first found AC was not properly working, there was no picture on the TV, TV remote was not able change channel, and phone was not working. Service guy came to ask if anything is needed. I was so irritated because of this disappointment that I stated shouting at him pointing out all these defects. He was speaking very politely. He changed the phone first and tried to set the picture on TV.
After he went picture was not that clear and remote was still not working. AC had same issue. We called up at reception. He sent another Guy and finally everything stated working. I think they should check the room before check in of customers.
Surrounding of Green Valley is really nice. Everything was foggy there at Amboli. I had ever never experienced such a foggy climate before. Even when we were coming from ST we found it very risky as from the bus we were not able to see anything in front.
We had lunch at Green Valley. We had chicken curry and bhakari. Costed us around 180 Rs. Food was really tasty. I had heard that quality of food at MTDC resort is not good but they must have raised the standard of food as food was really awesome.
After lunch we took rest at room and went out in the evening for roaming around the resort. It was a nice walk. You will feel amazing while walking through the fog. Here rain fall is continuous but not with heavy force like Mumbai. In Mumbai you will get completely wet within 15 mins of heavy rain. Here rain was falling continuously but with light force...completely enjoyable.
Next day (Saturday) we hired auto to see points nearby. Autowala took 600 Rs to show 5 points.
1) Hiranyakeshi Temple
2) Nangarta Falls
3)Kavleshet Point
4) Swayanbhu Ganesh temple
5) Amboli ghat waterfall.
They also show sunset point but because of rainy season there was no point of seeing this point.I liked all 5 points. Kavleshet Point, Amboli ghat waterfall, Nangarta Falls are simply superb and should not be missed. It took around 3-4 hours for us to see all 5 points.
Journey was too good. We had lunch at ’Narvekar Khanawal’. Food was awesome there and cheaper than MTDC. Prone thali - 200rs, Chicken thali 100Rs, Bangada thali - 180rs, Surmai Thali - 150. Only prone plate 150 Rs. They serve one bhaji, one plate non veg, rice, roti, sol-kadhi, curry for rice.
Both nights we had dinner at MTDC as could not dare to go out in that foggy dark atmosphere. You have to carry one big torch as you will not find any road lights and foggy atmosphere will increase the darkness more.
Shopping:
You can only shop Shev -laddus at local shops near Amboli bus stand. You will find them tasty. Also opposite to Sawantwadi railway station there is one shop for ’Kokani Mewa’. You will definitely find good stuff over there.
While going back to Mumbai we did not get bus on time from Amboli depot so we hired auto for 600rs from Amboli to direct Sawantwadi. We caught ‘Mandavi Express’ at 10 am from Sawantwadi station and returned back to Mumbai.
Mohana