I, with my wife visited Matheran last weekend. I want to share with you all that its been the best weekend gateway for us till date.
From Pune to Matheran:
We traveled by NH4 but not by expressway.We started early in the morning from Pune at around 7 AM.At around 9 we reached the Neral by NH4. Till Neral the road is very good and easy to drive. At Neral we had breakfast and started to Dasturi naka(parking place of Matheran). The road is good but with steep turns and strictly not for the ’L’ board drivers. If not confident enough, park the vehicle at Neral and travel by toy train or a cab (plenty of cabs shuttle between Neral and Daasturi naka).
From Dasturi naka, it’’s your choice to reach Matheran by foot or by horse ride. Its not that tough by walk. It takes maximum one hour by walk to reach the market place. We had a booking at hotel Panorama and reached there at around 11.
Detailed way:
Pune – Pimpri –Akrudi – Nigdi – Military Hosp – Vadgaon BY PASS – Kamshet – Khandala – Kamath – Khoploli – Khalapur – Karjat – Neral - Daturi naka - Mathran.
About hotel Panorama:
The booking price is 1800/- per couple for one night stay with break fast, lunch, evening snacks and dinner included. This hotel is very near to market yard, toy train station. I can easily rate 4 out of 5 for this hotel for their hospitality, food, and eminities (Swiiming pool, gym, indoor games). There is massage and steam bath facility available for 150 bucks. Food was excellent with lot of varities in offer.
http://www.hotelpanorama.in
Matheran place:
I can say that its a thick forest on the hill with out any co2 vehicles around. If you can walk and treck ...
you can cover all the view points in 2 days by walk. The Charlott lake is beautiful so as all the points. If you rent a horse, you can cover all the points in 3-4 hours.They will charge around 350/-.
We covered most of the places on the first day ... we started at around 2 PM and came back to hotel by 6PM. Had a good night stay. Then next day morning back to Pune. In between covered some view points at Khandala, Lonavala.
Its not about the points and lake: Its all about the carbon free nature, horn free sounds and humming birds, hissing noise of the water flows ... If you want to relax for a couple of days, visit ths place and go for little walks or horse rides. Its simply wonderful.
I feel that best time to visit this place is during monsoons and winter. In summer u will find lots of red sand for sure.
Must carry rain coat, umbrella, shoes, torch light.
Go ahead and have a great time !!!