I’m hillstations like matheran , mahabaleshwar and lonavla . Of recent I got really bored at going tothese same places all the time so I decided to try something new inmaharashtra so I surfed the net and landed at the anandvan website which is a hotel there.The webiste description seemed interesting and made me want to visit the place .
So I headed out from mumbai and reached there in my car in about 3-4 hours (thanks expressway). And it was quite simple to find the place. Unfortunately I was going to stay there only for 2 nights so I could not do much and anyways had just come to relax.
The hotel which I was staying in was more expensive than MTDC government hotel but it was worth every cent or paise . It was not a hotel but really a resort with a nice restaurant , cottages and playroom.
Now , let me tell you about bhandardhara. This place is not yet commercialised as lonavla or matheran and in that lies the beauty of it. It is not much known among mumbaikars and im sure it will be thronged to when it becomes well known.
This place has excellent scenery and is surrounded by mountains on all sides . Lake arthur is the lake in bhandardhara and it is the largest lake or so in india . Just add mountains , the sun , greenery around this lake and you have beautiful bhandardhara. And rent a boat and the experience is even better.
I saw some guys fishing too . The climate of bhandardhara is cool -cold in the nighttime and its a little less hotter than mumbai in the day time.The power here might go off sometimes but restored quickly.
Now the other places that I visited were the Wilson dam or umbrella dam and then kalsubai mountain . And later I went trekking on a nearby hill . I wouldnt want to venture out at night as there isnt enough lighting to go about and can get quite dark.
Fortunately the wilson dam was open when I visited and water was flowing out of the dam at a breathtaking pace and volume. I went quite near to the bottom of the dam and the experience was simply mindblowing. I wish I could describe the feeling in words . We took pictures and roamed around and then had tea nearby. Some people were enjoying lunch in the park with the dam just a small distance in the background , unfortunately I had already had my lunch .
Mount kalsubai was pretty big and nice to see. And later I went trekking and it was fun.I wished I had visited bhandardhara in the monsoon as the locals say its a great place during that time.
As I wanted to relax I limited myself to arthur lake , kalsubai , wilson dam and a hill for trekking otherwise I was pretty much in the resort , which I would really reccommend to all with its great food , scenery ambience and service.
So to sum it all up this was a refreshing experience and really a relief from the crowds of people at lonavla and matheran . I would give this place two thumbs up from my side.