Last week I visited saputara with my family. We got two nights package at hotel Vaishali (Booking 9322241065 / 9969266715) and alongwith one of my friend’s family, eight of us headed to Saputara.
Mumbai to Saputara
Dadar -> Nasik, Gitanjali express (6:15 am -> 9.30 am)
Nasik -> Saputara, Taxi (10:30 -> 12:30 pm) (Buses are also available from CBS bus stand, which is about 8 km from Nasik rly station and can be reached by local bus from rly station) Best idea is to drive if you have car. Else you may end up spending more money and wasting lot of time. I repented that I didn’t take the car.
Saputara
The month of May is absolutely wrong time to visit the place. We didn’t opt for AC rooms as many people suggested us that AC is not required even in summer. But it was wrong decision. It is not possible to roam around in afternoon and equally difficult to stay back in room.
The place is so small that entire saputara can be covered in about 4 hours. Except ropeway and sunset/sunrise points, everything else can be done walking. Shared vehicles are available from circle (near museum) to ropeway @ Rs 10/head. Few places to visit are as follows.
Lake (for boating), Echo point (Biggest disappointment), Sunrise / Sunset point, Ropeway (The only and must enjoy place), Tableland, Museum, Step garden (Tiny garden)
Overall the place is OK for overnight stay. The scenario may be different in monsoon and winter. I feel for mumbaikars M’shwar / Lonavala / Matheran are better places as Saputara is little away and makes no sense to travel so much.
If anyone wishes to visit for a change, I would suggest following itinerary.
Day 1 – Reach at about 1 pm. Have lunch and rest for some time. @ About 4:00 PM start for ropeway. Enjoy the cable car ride. Earlier they used to drop people at the other end to enjoy sunset. This is now stopped. So after cable car ride go to tableland, which is just above the ropeway. Camel/horse ride can be enjoyed here. And now sunset also has to be witnessed from here.
Day 2 –Boating (Spend more time here. Not too costly, Rs 60/- per half hr), Museum (Rs 2 per person), step garden, echo point etc.
In one of the posts I read that petrol pumps are not available in Saputara. But now there is one on the outskirts of saputara on nasik road. No ATM is available at Saputara and credit cards are not accepted at many places. So have sufficient cash with you.
May 08, 2009