It was September end and our annual family holiday, delayed this year to coincide with the 40th birthday of my brother, was on the anvil. We had chosen Konkan area (Except Goa) as the timing promised best weather; immediately after rains and before October heat set in.
Konkan is loosely defined as the area sandwiched between the western ghats (aka Sahyadri) and the Arabian Sea and extends from Maharashtra, through Goa and into north Karnataka.
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| *-Image courtesy – Wikipedia |
After online search, it dawned upon us that the hinterland of Konkan is a very underdeveloped tourist area and there is no presence of large hotel chains and resorts in this area. So our trip would be very different from other trips, with our stays in farms / homestay and travel to smaller and less explored areas, away from crowds.
Having decided this, online search for good farm and homestay in Konkan repeatedly brought up Maachli Farmstay in Parule, which is an award-winning place and recommended very highly in reviews. So we decided to stay at this place. However, Maachli is a farmstay and not on the beach, and it would be a pity to return from Konkan without visiting a beach. So we decided to also plan a stay in a beach resort. Tarkarli, Ratnagiri and Ganpati Pule are well known beach destinations in Konkan area. However, online research brought us to Hotel Oceano Pearl in Ganeshgule, a small and secluded beach close to Ratnagiri. We decided to make this our beach-side night halt as we wanted to be away from the popular but crowded and dirty beaches.
Our final itinerary (We are 6 adults including my 60+ years parents and 3 children aged between 4-8 years; total 9 persons) in two Innova cars was as follows:
Day 1: Nashik – Pune
Day 2: Pune – Chiplun
Day 3: Chiplun – Parule
Day 4: Stay in Parule
Day 5: Parule – Ganesh Gule
Day 6: Ganesh Gule – Chiplun
Day 7: Chiplun – Nashik
Day 1: Nashik-Pune – 220 kms.
The drive from Nashik to Pune is as expected. The highway expansion is complete upto Alhe Phata and beyond that is upto your luck. Narayangaon, Rajguru Nagar, Chakan and Nashik Phata are still major traffic bottlenecks.
We had booked our hotel in Hinjewadi, to save time the next day as we had to continue on the Pune-Bangalore highway upto Satara.
Hotel booked: Hotel Holiday Inn, Hinjewadi
Recommendation: 4 /5
Review:
I understand that this hotel has been made mainly for business guests and to that extent the room was good. The wifi has good speed and the hotel allows 3 connections per room, which is very good.
Being a large group with lots of luggage, we didn’t get any help in unloading luggage or in taking it to the rooms. Also, the front office staff tried to give us smoking rooms, even though we were travelling with children and had specifically asked for non-smoking rooms in our booking itself. We were also given rooms on different floors.
Also, some problems like room key not working could not be sorted out for 2 hours, and my parents had to keep sitting in the room till the problem was fixed at 10:30pm in the night.
The dinner buffet was good but refills were not done and as we came late, we had to repeatedly ask the staff to refill dishes. The food was tasty. Breakfast buffet was sufficiently large and tasty also.
The pool was dirty and very uninviting. I couldn’t even think about entering into it.
So for a pure business hotel, it’s satisfactory. But I do feel that the hotel needs to do more for families / groups with children, seniors and luggage to make it at par with other 5star properties close-by.
Day 2: Pune -Chiplun – 250 kms.
We departed from Pune at 10 am and headed to Chiplun. The route we took was Pune – Satara – Karad – Chiplun. The road from Pune to Umbruj, which is little ahead of Satara (NH 44) is 4 lane highway and excellent for driving. We took a tea break just before start of khambatki ghat and then lunch after Satara in Hotel Royal Palace, which comes on the left hand side on the highway. The food here is good and the owner helped us in making special food for children.
Continuing onwards, we took a right turn from Umbruj and drove along NH 148, which is a single lane highway. The road condition is above average.
We came across a tree on the road, which had fallen during road widening work. The blockage was cleared within 15 mins. but the traffic jam took 30 mins. to cross, all thanks to impatient drivers having made 3-4 lanes of traffic on each side.
We drove along the Koyana river for awhile and the views were just breathtaking.
Afternoon tea break was at Hotel Shantai, Koyananagar. The hotel was clean and has washrooms.
Post the tea break, we pushed straight to Chiplun as we wanted to reach before dark. The road condition is average but there isn’t much traffic.
We reached Chiplun at 05:30 pm and checked in to our hotel.
Hotel booked: Riverview Resort, Chiplun
Recommendation: 5 /5
Review:
The hotel is very old and part of it was made by Britishers as a holiday destination close to Mumbai. It was initially owned by Taj Hotels and they made the main building with the rooms. Later the resort was taken over by Quality Hotels and it is now owned by a person from Mumbai.
The highlight of the hotel has to be its gorgeous infinity pool and it’s large manicured gardens.
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| Views around the hotel, taken at different time during the day |
The building is showing it’s age but the rooms are very well maintained. We had booked Superior rooms (which have river view from balcony) and the other category is deluxe room, which has garden view from balcony. The TV, A/C and other amenities worked well.
The restaurant is also very good and food is delicious. The regular fares including continental, Indian and Chinese food are available. I highly recommend their fish with Konkani curry and bhindi sol.
The staff is mostly from the time of Taj hotels and their finesse and training is evident. The hotel has some indoor games and common seating areas for groups to hang out together. Their seating area next to the reception, with a piano and French windows to allow the natural air to flow inside is awesome. There is wifi but the speed is awful.
There is a facility for driver stay. But it’s not very well maintained and our drivers had to drive down the mountain to Chiplun city for food and stay in lodge. There is ample parking inside the resort.
Overall, it’s an excellent place to spend some time in and really the only choice to stay in Chiplun. I will also recommend it for a meal if passing through Chiplun.
Day 3: Chiplun – Parule – 238 kms.
The day again started late at 10:00 am. Today, we connected to NH 66 from Chiplun, which is the Mumbai – Goa highway. It is a straightforward drive from Chiplun upto Pinguli on NH 66 and then you have to take a turn for Parule. But there is extensive road expansion work going on and so there are many diversions and bad roads, speed bumps in-between etc.
We took a tea-break around 11:30 am at Hotel Sangamneshwari. It’s a good hotel having rooms and restaurant. The kids enjoyed in their mini-zoo which has rabbits, turkeys, ducks etc.
We drove onwards, and thanks to Google maps got onto a shortcut road before Pali village. We had our doubts about the narrow road, but it turned out to be awesome with great views and scenery and we were able to skip the entire village and avoid a lot of traffic.
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| Sometimes the road less travelled is much better |
We stopped for lunch at Hotel Ankita Palace, which comes after Rajapur on the right hand side. This seems to be the only decent eating place in this area and there were several busses and cars here. We had to wait for a table and still sit on separate tables. The food is ok, nothing to write home about. The washrooms are in very pathetic condition, and best not used.
Driving further, tea break in the afternoon was at Hotel Konkan Vihar, which comes just before Kudal, on the right hand side. The washrooms here are average.
We drove on further and then turned right from Pinguli village towards Parule (Goa is only about 70 kms. from here), and then another right turn on Sagari Mahamarg (With a Shivaji statue in the middle) for Maachli farmstay. The resort gave us very precise instructions and we did not face any issues in finding the place. We reached Maachli farmstay at 05:00 pm.
Hotel booked: Maachli Farmstay, Parule
Recommendation: 4 /5
Review:
Maachli is a farmstay and true to it’s name, it is a very basic and minimal stay experience. Don’t go there expecting TV, A/C, wifi or even bottled water. There is no bellboy and no room service. What you do get instead is a genuine village and farm life experience.
The place is run by Prathamesh Samant and his family. Started 6 years back, it’s got 6 cottages which can accommodate 2-3 adults easily. The cottages are nicely furnished and have a good attached washroom with running hot water. But again, the rooms are basic with few lights, fan and brass water jug with glasses. There is a large window in each cottage.
First of all, the access to this place is not easy and it’s very difficult, if not impossible for elderly and people requiring special access.
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| You need to walk down some stairs, then a forest path and then over a bamboo bridge to reach the farmstay |
The cottages are also at different levels and the access is tight with stone steps at several places. That’s great for privacy but makes access difficult.
The highlight of our stay was definitely the food. The kitchen is run by local villagers, under the supervision of Mrs. Samant (Prathamesh’s mother). You get amazingly fresh fish, made in local recipes, cooked on traditional wood burning chulha. We were also offered various traditional vegetarian dishes, many of which had a Konkani twist on our regular dishes.
Again, no restaurant or service staff here. The food will be placed on the able in traditional utensils and you have to help yourself. The sitting is in thatched huts. It was hilarious watching our children running helter-skelter from spiders and insects 🙂
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| Dining area with decorations put up by us for my brother’s birthday |
There are no cold drinks, soda, juice or snacks available. You can bring your own alcohol and have it in the dining area. On special request, they gave us pakodas to munch on with tea. But the usual savouries aren’t available.
Day 4: Stay in Parule – 0 kms.
Our day started with delicious breakfast of traditional konkani idli, dosa, sambhar and chutney. The poha with lots of coconut was also delicious. The dessert made from nagli was also good.
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| Breakfast spread |
We went for a plantation walk after breakfast. The property is about 9 acres and has commercial orchards of coconut, supari (nuts) etc. It was a good walk, taking us to the top of the small hill, on which the farmstay is located.
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| The clan out for the walk. Kadam tree on left & fish-tail palm on right. |
After lunch, Prathamesh recommended us to visit Bhogave beach, which is 10 kms. away. It took us 20 mins. to drive there. This beach is the cleanest and prettiest beach I have ever seen. There wasn’t a soul other than us and the beach is spanking clean. I am told that Eureka Forbes company has adopted this beach under their CSR and they maintain the beach.
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| Bhogave Beach |
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| Bhogave Beach |
The ocean is to one side of this beach and the main beach area, where we were is more like a cove with only soft currents entering inside. This made the beach perfect for playing around in the water, without worry of big waves or undercurrents. This beach is the highlight of my visit to Konkan, as it was completely unexpected and a huge surprise for us.
A short video of the beach
After the beach visit, a few of us decided to head to Dhamapur Lake. It’s about 25 kms. from the farmstay and took us 45 mins. to drive there. It’s a small lake with boating. It also has a couple of temples.
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| Dhamapur Lake |
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| The playful sky during sunset, on the way back from Dhamapur Lake |
Unfortunately, we were unable to explore other beaches such as Tarkarli, Malvan and Khavane and forts such as Nivati (It’s supposed to have a gorgeous view of Bhogave beach and ocean) around this area due to lack of time.
Day 5: Parule-Ganesh Gule – 160 kms.
The day started at 10 am after a sumptuous breakfast. The plan was to drive to the hotel and then enjoy the beach, which is attached to the property.
We backtracked on the same route upto Penguli and joined to NH 66 (Mumbai-Goa highway). The condition of road further is pretty good, other than certain patches where road expansion is going on.
We took a tea break in Sindhudurg. Hotel Relax is absolutely new & opened only 2 days before our visit. The owner is also a great guy to talk to.
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| Tea break in a brand new hotel in Sindhudurg |
We decided to skip Hotel Ankita Palace (where we had lunch while going to Parule) to try out new places. Driving further, we reached Rajapur and locals told us that Saraswati hotel is pretty much the only option to eat in in the town. There is another Restaurant Water, but it looked like a cafe where frozen food is fried and pawned off as a meal.
So we had lunch in Hotel Saraswati (or should I call it a dhaba?) and the food was delicious. We had the fish, prawns and chicken apart from the paneer dishes along with home-made chapatis. The sheera in dessert was also delicious and is made by the owner in his own home. So it’s in short supply and we luckily got the last 02 plates 🙂
We fuelled up in a pump adjacent to the hotel. We were lucky as there is no petrol pump after this point.
The turnoff for Ganeshgule onto SH 4 is right next to the hotel. You can also continue on NH 66 up to Ratnagiri and then drive back towards Ganeshgule. But it’s a much longer route and Google Maps also advised us to take the SH 4 highway. The road further is a single lane road with hardly any traffic. In some areas, it’s really narrow. But the drive is very scenic and beautiful.
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| Beautiful roads with lots of monkeys. We decided not to feed the wildlife. Let’s be responsible and not spoil the animals |
Ratnagiri district is famous for it’s mangoes. Unfortunately it wasn’t mango season (It’s between March – July), but we still crossed acres of beautiful orchards.
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| Mango orchards being prepped for the new season |
The Konkan coastline is full of surprises and the road throws up some really fantastic views when least expected.
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| The ocean appeared suddenly in our view |
The road to Ganeshgule is straightforward as there are hardly any vehicles or roads in this area. The Oceano Pearl Hotel is located at the end of the road after turning left at Thikan Chakradev (Hotel board is available at every turn), along with another smaller resort. Make sure to put the route into google maps when you leave NH 66, as there is no mobile range after that.
Hotel booked: Hotel Oceano Pearl, Ganeshgule
Recommendation: 5 /5
This is a small hotel, more like a homestay. It has different category of rooms, the only difference being the availability and location of view from balcony in the room. There is a TV in the room but no mobile service. You can get very slow wifi in the reception area.
The hotel is part of O’Nest hotels and is run mainly by Akshay & Sagar and the support staff. The guys did a marvellous job in catering to all our needs and demands. Hat’s off to their attitude and customer service.
The restaurant on site serves the regular Indian, Chinese and continental fares. They source their fish from Ratnagiri, which is 26 kms. away. So there is no fresh fish or catch of the day.
We had Indian food in dinner & buffet breakfast and all meals were tasty. The breakfast is complimentary and served misal pav (Maharashtrian favourite) and vada pav (again a Maharashtrian favourite, but now pretty famous all over India). Tea and coffee was available from 07:00 am onwards.
They provide room service and you can carry your own alcohol, but they do not permit alcohol in the restaurant. You can have it in your room.
There is ample parking available. There is no facility for drivers close to the hotel, but the hotel allows them to sleep in the reception area, where they have to sleep late and get up early. The hotel does have clean shower and washroom for drivers.
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| Parking |
The Ganeshgule beach is attached to the property. It’s a public beach, but since there is noting around, it’s pretty much only for the occupants of the hotel. There is a straight walkway leading to the beach. There is a very good treehouse, very close to the beach (which has to be rented like a room), but it was under renovation during our visit. What a pity 🙁
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| Walkway to the beach |
Like I said, the beach had only the families staying the hotel. The waves are quite big and the undercurrent very strong. The staff at the hotel advised us to stay at the very edge of the water. There was also a lifeguard on duty.
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| Ganeshgule beach at dusk |
A short video of the beach
The sunset at the beach was spectacular.
Day 6: Ganesh Gule-Chiplun via. Gangapi Pule – 130 kms.
I again headed to the beach in the morning. This time I was the only person on the beach along with a few local fishermen. It was fun to be alone and I also got to interact with the fishermen.
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| Ganeshgule beach in the morning |
After a hearty breakfast, we departed from the hotel. On the suggestion of our mother, we decided to visit a famous Ganpati temple in Ganpati Pule, which is 50 kms from Ganeshgule and takes about 1 hour and 30 mins. Ganpati Pule is also known for having some of the best beaches in Konkan.
And it turned out to be a great decision. Why? Because in order to go to Ganpati Pule, we had to take the coastal route through Ratnagiri town, instead of driving back to Rajapur and taking NH 66 to Chiplun. The coastal route has amazing scenery.
The drive out from Ganeshgule is also very pretty with lots of lush greenery.
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| The trees make natural tunnels for vehicles |
Soon after leaving Ganeshgule, we came onto Aarey and Warey beaches. These beaches are opposite to each other and the highway runs alongside. Great for a visit and no one seemed to be on the beach. I will definitely recommend a visit to these beaches instead of the crowded Ganpati Pule beach.
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| Aarey beach |
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| Warey beach |
Beautiful fishing boats can be seen all along the coast.
Eventually we drove into Ganpati Pule. We crossed many beach view resorts along the way, including Nakshatra resort, which is also owned by O’Nest hotels. But these resorts are all perched on the mountaintop and have beach view. I feel we made a great decision to stay in Oceano Pearl, as it is on the beach.
In Ganpati Pule, only MTDC has a resort close to the beach. The beach is also right next to the temple, but we didn’t go there due to the crowds and the heat in the afternoon.
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| At the temple |
After visiting the temple, we headed back towards Chiplun, which is about 80 kms. and takes 02 hours. We took SH 106 and had lunch on the way. It’s a very secluded road and there were no vehicles. The road condition is also below average. I suggest traversing on this road only in day time. The SH 106 goes and connects to NH 66 (Mumbai – Goa highway) near Sanganeshwar, and it’s a straight drive to Chiplun from there.
Hotel booked: Riverview Resort, Chiplun
Recommendation: 5 /5
Review: Please read the review above in Day 2.
Thus, our Konkan odyssey came to an end. We took a train back from Chiplun to save time and reached back to Nasik on Day 7 evening.
In my experience, Konkan is one of the least developed and explored tourist destination and it’s a must visit place because –
- Each season in Konkan delivers a very unique experience (mangoes in summer, heavy rains in monsoon and tepid climate in winters).
- It’s beaches are second to none.
- The coastal Konkani cuisine is very unique and fresh seafood is to die for.
- Good infrastructure with government bus service everywhere and above average road conditions.
- Great location. Within driving distance from Mumbai / Pune and close to yet away from the hustle and bustle of Goa.
- Good driving diversity, from the rugged Sahyadri mountain roads to highways running along beaches, it’s all here.
I hope after reading this blog, more people will take the opportunity to experience this beautiful gem of a place.
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