This is my give back time to thank Mouthshut by writing the review for fellow readers. I went to Harihareshwar and Diveagar based on Mouthshut reviews and found it better than expected!
Total of two nights between 3- 5 Jan 2008.
Diveagar(1Night) and Harihareshwar(1 night)
*Journey time/distance/quality
*Around 200kms from Mumbai and took me 5hrs to Diveagar from Vile Parle and same for return jouney from Harihareshwar. I was quite worried of the road quality but fortunately, road conditions(as of Jan08) are quite good except for a few kms of rough patches in between.
NH17 between Panvel till Mangoan is the main highway and is good all over.
From Mangaon till Diveagar - Avg speed comes down to 50km/hr due to ghat area and bad patch of road(not more than a few kms). The ghat area drive is quite enjoyable with pretty less traffic.
Diveagar
Worth visiting the Sone ka Ganesh Temple as its defintely Unique and given the temple is open till 8pm, its pretty easy on schedule.
Stayed at Exotica Beach - which is run by a father and son duo on leased Property taken from MTDC. Great Location, but not very well maintained. Still worth the stay for its location you can hear the soothing sound of waves in your room! Beach is clean though has got a blackish sand but still soft and enjoyable.
For eating - best choice is to have Lunch/dinner at Suhas Bapat which is a short walk from Exotica and do book it well in advance as he only serves around 150 people on each meal. Mobile number is available in another review on this website. Other famous name is Kelkar’s in the same locaility. Suhas Bapat food was excellent esp the Modak. The food(for Rs 57/- per person as of Jan 2008) includes two vegetables, Dal(lentil), Buttermilk, Chapati, rice, pickle, papad(excellent Poha papad), Modak. They serve it very nicely and even served dal without spices for my 2 year old daughter.
You can buy Poha Papad and a few other things on payment.
For breakfast, I guess Exotica is probably the best place and we liked the food they served, but surely its not a great choice for lunch as vegetables were full of oil and not great.
Beach front is great with options of a camel and horsecart ride. Would recomment sunset view on beach as well.
Harihareshwar
MTDC property at Hariharshwar is really the best location and its a pretty big propety with nice Konkani cottages, but they are not sea facing. If you want sea facing rooms - go for Deluxe tent house which is smaller in size as well as height than cottage.
The restaurant is run by a private contractor who I must doesn’t believe in providing good service level, but VEG food is average- good(dont know about non veg options). But as per the manager, he will be out in two months(ie. by March 2008) so you may get a better one! no beer is served by the current contracts which is quite sad as that property makes you feel like having one. you may better pick it up from Sriwardhan enroute to Hariharshwar and consume in your room.
Water Scooter and Speed Boat are other activities available at MTDC Harihareshwar resort.
Not sure if I would like to recommend any of the home meal places like Suhas Bapat for Harihareshwar. Mohan Kutumbe is supposed to be the best, but the couple was out of town during our stay, so we had all meals at MTDC only.
*Other things
*One if interested can visit the temple in Sriwardhan, which is hardly a km in the town and also visit Dev Khol, a 2km detour on the Diveagar- Sriwardhan road. Its a small ancient shiva temple, which is supposed tobe more than 1000yrs old.
Duration
From mumbai - would recommend a two night trip as given a 5hour drive it may be a bit hectic for one night stay.
Enroute halt - Open Umbreally on NH17 near Mangaon is defintely a good place to eat and serves excellent Dal fry.
Final word - A good value for money vacation