Maharashtra is one of the largest states of India. And just like most of the other states of India, Maharashtra is very diverse and beautiful when it comes to both landscape and experiences. In fact, there are multiple small road trips from Mumbai and weekend getaways from Mumbai (The capital of Maharashtra) that one can explore. Also, there are many beautiful weekend getaways from Pune. However, in this post, I will take you to a complete Maharashtra road trip, that we embarked upon. It was a road trip from Bangalore to Maharashtra. If you don’t live in Maharashtra, and want to explore almost the whole state in one go, you can treat this as your ultimate guide to explore Maharashtra.
Map of our Maharashtra Road Trip
Route taken:
Bangalore -> Kolhapur (NH48 via Hubli) -> Ratnagiri (NH 166) -> Mahabaleshwar (NH 66) -> Lonavala (NH 66, NH 548A) -> Nashik(MH 79, NH 160) -> Shirdi -> Aurangabad (NH 160, Samruddhi Mahamarg Expressway) -> Hospet (NH 52, NH 50) -> Bangalore (NH 48)
Maharashtra Road Trip Itinerary
Day 1: Kolhapur
Halt in Kolhapur and visit some of the major attractions of Kolhapur like – the Mahalakshmi Temple in Kolhpaur – a “shaktipeeth” and a very important Hindu Pilgrimage Place. You should visit here in the morning hours to avoid too much rush, scenic Rankala Lake and the ancient Panhala Fort that you can visit in the evening. And finally spend some time shopping in Kolhapur for the world famous Kolhapuri Footwear and other local items.
Day 2: Ratnagiri
Drive from Kolhapur to Ratnagiri. The drive is just 2.5 hrs. So if you start early from Kolhapur, you will reach Ratnagiri before noon. You can visit some of the major attractions in Ratnagiri like the Jaigad Fort & lighthouse, Swayambhu Ganpati Temple and Pandre Samudra Beach. There are a couple of more forts and a lot of beautiful beaches. But you need to add one more day to your itinerary in Ratnagiri to be able to cover them all.
Day 3: Mahabaleshwar
Via Ganpatipule, do a roadtrip from Ratnagiri to Mahabaleshwar. This is considered one of the most scenic road trips to take in Maharashtra. You can first start from Ratnagiri and visit the beautiful Ganpatipule beach and Ganpatipule temple. And then continue from there to Mahabaleshwar. Arrive in Mahabaleshwar by late afternoon or evening. The day we arrived in Mahabaleshwar, we just took rest for the evening. Relaxing to the views of the mountains and valleys from the lawn of our resort and enjoying the cool evening breeze.
Day 4: Mahabaleshwar
Today, indulge in visiting places to see in Maharashtra like Arthur’s seat, Veena Lake, the old Mahabaleshwar Temple – the main attraction of the town, Sri Krishna Temple – an old temple with beautiful carvings and amazing views of the Krishna Valley , Maple Strawberry Park – for indulging in all things strawberries, Strawberry Farm – for plucking your own fresh strawberries, Cheese Factory to witness cheese making process like you do on a cheese factory visit in Switzerland or France on a trip to Europe. And a lot more. Here’s a complete list of things to do in Mahabaleshwar.
Day 5: Mahabaleshwar to Lonavala drive
On the way visit the Raigad Fort, Lohagarh Fort, Karla & Bhaja Caves – some of the most ancient buddhist caves of India which still stand beautifully, in spite of being more than 3000 years old. You will have to climb almost 500 stairs together for both the caves. So, do bear that in mind. It was a wonderful aerobic exercise. And the views of the city of Lonavala and the valley from up above, even half way through the stairs are something to look forward to. You can also enjoy a beautiful sunset at the Lohagarh Fort or the Bhaja Caves.
Day 6: Lonavala to Nashik
Take a road trip from Lonavala to Nashik. The initial ghat section from Lonavala is very beautiful. With mesmerising views of the Sahyadri Mountain Ranges. And there are a lot of designated view points along the way where you will be compelled to stop. Afterwards, its more of less driving through a straight highway across the plains. But the views of the brown – sandy hills on either sides brought to me memories of the landscape you encounter on a road trip in Spain !! In fact we tried to time our lunch break such that we could stop at a restaurant with a beautiful view of these hills.
Day 7: Sightseeing in Nashik
Indulge in one day sightseeing in Nashik which can include a visit to the Trimbakeshwar Temple – one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Temples of India and one of the most important Hindu Pilgrimage destinations where Mahakumbh takes place every 12 years. The more than 2000 years old Pandavleni Caves – one of the finest examples of rock-cut temple architectures of India. A visit to the MTDC Club on the banks of the Gangapur Dam on Godavari river and even enjoying a boating. And a visit to one of the largest and finest vineyards of India. Or, even enjoy a vineyard stay in Nashik like you would in Tuscany when on a trip to Italy.
Day 8: Nashik to Shirdi
Today visit another very important pilgrimage place in Maharashtra – Shirdi. The drive from Nashik to Shirdi is just 2.5 hrs. And the expressway is in excellent condition. It is part of the newly built Nagpur – Mumbai Expressway, also called Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg or the Samruddhi Mahamarg. Chances are, Shirdi temple will be crowded. So, you should keep the whole day for visiting here. And afterwards you can stay overnight either in Shirdi or in Aurangabad.
To travel to Aurangabad, you can take the same expressway. And reach in 1 hr from Shirdi.
Day 9: Aurangabad
Today, visit Ellora Caves – one of the finest examples of monolith rock cut temples in the world – and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And the Grishneshwar Temple, right besides the the caves. Which is yet another of the 12 Jyotirlingas of India. Visiting the Ellora Caves will take up at least 4 hours of your time. Try starting as early in the morning as possible. And first visit the Grishneshwar Temple. The earlier you reach the temple, the lesser will be the queue for entry.
After visiting the Grishneshwar temple you can proceed to Ellora Caves. And spend rest of the day there.
PS: there are some basic accommodation available near Ellora Caves. You can stay in one of these the previous nights which will help you save time. Also, there are not many food options near Ellora Caves, only snacks. But you can pack your own lunch or picnic and carry it with you. You can have it inside the campus. Although the whole premises is very clean, well maintained, with drinking water and restroom facilities. And there are vendors selling bottled drinking water as well.
After your visit to Ellora Caves, stay overnight in Aurangabad. Again, either near Ellora Caves or in the city.
Day 10: Visit Ajanta Caves from Aurangabad
Visit another of the world famous rock cut cave temples – Ajanta Caves – on the 10th day of your trip. It’s like saving the best for the last 🙂
Ajanta caves are also as huge as Ellora Caves. While the Ellora Caves are a mix of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist caves, the Ajanta Caves are primarily Buddhist caves. They consist of prayer halls, meditation rooms, rooms inside the caves where the disciples must have resided. All of these have beautiful, unparalleled carvings and amazing painting work on the walls and roofs. It’s simply unbelievable how such structures were carved out in single pieces of monolith rocks with such carving and painting details and that also more than 2500 years ago !
To be honest the Ajanta and Ellora Caves left me completely spellbound. When I visited Badami Cave Temples on my trip to Badami Pattadakal and Aihole last year, I couldn’t imagine any cave carvings being more grand than that. But, Ajanta and Ellora Caves proved me wrong. They are like our own version of the Petra structures that rank amongst the wonders of the world. And although world famous and a UNESCO World Heritage, I strongly feel the Ajanta and Ellora Caves ought to draw more attention and publicity.
Ajanta caves visit will definitely take up 3-4 hrs of your time. And if you are staying in the city of Aurangabad, it will take you around 2 hours to reach from Ajanta Caves to Aurangabad. You can self drive or take a cab. There is ample parking facility near the Ajanta Caves.
If time permits, after visiting Ajanta Caves, you can also visit Bibi ka Maqbara – another beautiful medieval structure – which resembles the Taj Mahal and looks like it’s mini version.
Day 11: Back to your home
Finally comes the time to wrap up and with unlimited memories, head back home. We did our Maharashtra Road Trip from Bangalore. So, on the way back home, we followed this route :
Aurangabad -> Hospete -> Bangalore
Drive from Aurangabad to Hospet is very smooth, all through on NH 52 till Vijayapura and after that on NH 50. And both the NH are in excellent condition. Although when we started on our road trip from Aurangabad to Hospet, the expected driving time was 10.5 hrs. But, in spite of a long breakfast and a lunch break, and few other loo breaks, we were able to reach Hospet in around 10 hours!!
We stayed overnight in Hospet. And drove from Hospet to Bangalore the next day. Reaching home by afternoon. Since, we had already visited the Ruins of Hampi near Hospet a month back, we just halted in Hospet for the night. But, if you are interested and you can add few extra days to your trip, I suggest exploring Hampi as well. Read my complete guide to explore Hampi.
Unique travel experiences to gain on a Maharashtra Road Trip
There were some very unique experiences that we had on our Maharashtra Road Trip. And I highly recommend making place for them in your own itinerary. As they are very unique to Maharashtra –
- Visiting a Strawberry Farm in Mahabaleshwar. During the strawberry season, when you can yourself choose and pluck ripe strawberries from the farm, weigh them, buy them and then enjoy them fresh out of the plant. Of course, for this experience, you need to visit during the strawberry season. Mahabaleshwar and the surrounding regions are the largest producers of strawberries in India. And you will find the best strawberries here.
- Do a trip to a cheese factory in Mahabaleshwar. Learn the cheese making process and enjoy tasting different varieties of cheese. Something that reminded me of my cheese factory visit in Switzerland on my trip to Europe years back.
- Do you wish to stay in a villa in Tuscany overlooking vast expanses of vineyards with greenery all around you? You can experience that in Nashik in Maharashtra. Out of all the vineyards of India, more than 70% are in and around Nashik. Many of the Nashik Vineyards have top notch accommodation overlooking the Vinery. And they also provide vineyard tour and wine tasting as a part of the package! We missed visiting a vineyard on our trip to Florence, but made up for it on our Maharashtra Trip
- Out of 1200 cave temples that exist in India, 900+ are in Maharashtra. Do ensure to visit some of these like Karla Caves, Bhaja Caves, Pandavleni, Ajanta and Ellora Caves on your trip to Maharashtra. (btw, “leni” in Marathi means “Caves”)
- Buy the world famous “Kolhapuri Chappals” (footwear made in Kolhapur) when you halt in Kolhapur
- Last but not the least, try some of the cuisines of Maharashtra that are world famous. Including Misal Pav, Pav Bhaji, Vada Pav, Bhel Puri and many others.
What we did not cover in our Maharashtra Road Trip
While we covered many places to see in Maharashtra on our road trip across Maharastra. If we had more time, I would have loved to cover some of the beaches of Maharashtra like Alibaug beach, Juhu beach, Tarkale Beach, Murud Beach and Marina Drive which are very famous and beautiful. And I would love to explore the coastline of Maharashtra. But due to lack of time, I couldn’t accommodate all of these in this road trip.
If you want to, from Ratnagiri, you can continue along the coast all the way till Mumbai. And then return to Mahabaleshwar from there. In 3-4 extra days, you can cover most of the beaches and also tick off your list of things to do in Mumbai.
Since I live in a metropolitan city, I was not keen on staying in any other city on this trip. But, if you will like to do that, you can spend a few days in Mumbai. And a few more in Pune. Both these are large thriving cosmopolitan cities in Maharashtra. And each one has a lot of things to see and places to visit.
General information on doing a road trip to Maharashtra
When is the best time to visit Maharashtra
Summers are harsh in the central and eastern Maharashtra. The best time to visit Maharashtra is post summers and heavy monsoons season from September to February. The monsoons time is also good time to visit isolated places like Nashik and Aurangabad where it doesn’t rain too much but the days are pleasant when its cloudy. However, heavy rainfall can cause landslides on the ghat roads. So, I will suggest, if you are exploring the whole of Maharashtra, visit anytime from November end till February for a mild summer experience.
When we visited Maharastra in the last week of December, it was hot in the day for most part (27-30 degrees C) and cool in the evening and at night (14-18 degrees C). Overall it was not uncomfortably hot.
What to pack for a trip to Maharashtra
- For the temple visits, carry traditional attire like sarees and salwar kameez for women and dhoti or pyjamas with kurtas for men. Although there is not dress code anywhere, it is good to show respect to the culture whose place of worship you are visiting.
- To visit rest of the places, you can carry light breezy cotton cloths.
- For evenings, when visiting in summer months, carry a light jacket. Kids might require heavier jackets and woollen caps for the evenings.
- Carry with you mosquito repellant, hand sanitiser, face masks and wipes for general hygiene and safety.
- Don’t forget your sunscreen and sunglasses. You will need them a lot 🙂
- It is good to cover your sleeves like how you would do on a beach vacation, unless you want to get heavily tanned 🙂 Particularly when exploring the caves.
- There are ample food outlets even on the highways in Maharashtra so you really don’t need to pack any food with you.
- Every other necessity including medicines etc. will be widely available in the major towns like Kolhapur, Nashik, Aurangabad etc.
- Drinking water is available at most of the places to see in Maharashtra. And bottled water is also widely sold.
Here’s my packing tips and tricks and how I pack on most of my trips, that might be of help to you.
How is the road condition in Maharashtra
- Bangalore to Hubali is excellent NH 48, 4 lanes till Tumkur and 6 lanes till Hubli
- After Hubli, there are lots of diversions till Kolhapur at the time of this writing as the NH widening work is going on
- The road from Kolhapur all the way till Mahabaleshwar is good. Since some of this is ghat section, it is narrow but very good.
- The NH that we took from Mahabaleshwar to Lonavala is very scenic and passes through some very beautiful landscapes, also passes through the outskirts of Pune
- From Lonavala to Nashik, we had few hiccups on NH 160, wherein road widening work is again going on. And there was lots of traffic.
- The drive from Nashik to Aurangabad was the most excellent in our whole trip. As, the Samruddhi Mahamarg is a newly built 8 lanes expressway which is in an excellent condition. And there was hardly any traffic on this route.
- From Aurangabad to Bangalore via Hospet, the highways are mostly 6 lane and in excellent condition.
There are lots of resting options and food outlets on all highways in Maharashtra, more than what I have seen on my multiple road trips in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Overall we paid ~ INR 3000 in toll fee across this road trip across Maharashtra.
What kind of food do I get while travelling in Maharashtra
Maharashtra has a very rich and diverse cuisine of it’s own. While fish based dishes are famous in the coastal areas, you will get mainstream Indian staples in most of the places across Maharashtra. Some of the maharashtrian cuisines like a “thali” (platter) and many street food like misal pav, pav bhaji, vada pav, strawberry with cream, bhel puri etc. are famous across the country. Apart from this, most of the resorts and hotels will have South Indian delicacies like idlis and dosas with sambar that tasted slightly different from the one found in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, continental and Indo-Chinese options abound as well. The “chikkis” of Lonavala are also very popular. And you get 10+ flavours of “chana” roasted with different spices and even caramelised versions to snack on. Something to definitely try out.
There is no shortage of food outlets even on the highways. And the towns and cities abound in food options from street side carts to fine dine options. In short, you need not worry about food at all when in Maharashtra.
Which of the above places can I visit on a weekend getaway from Mumbai
If you live in Mumbai or Pune or want to base yourself there and visit some of the above destinations as a weekend getaway from Mumbai or a weekend getaway from Pune, you can easily do the same.
Following would make for perfect weekend getaways from Mumbai or Pune –
- Lonavala and Khandala
- Nashik – Vineyard stay
- Nashik – exploring caves and temples in Nashik
- Shirdi
- Aurangabad, including the Ajanta and Ellora Caves
- Ganpatipule
- Ratnagiri
With the Mumbai – Nagpur expressway, it is possible to even visit Nagpur on a weekend getaway from Mumbai.
And once the Pune – Bangalore expressway completes, Bangalore and Pune can serve as a weekend getaway for each other. I am definitely waiting for that day to arrive.
Conclusion
After doing a beautiful road trip across Madhya Pradesh and a road trip across Kerala , this Maharashtra road trip was our 3rd major road trip exploring a state of India. In which we drove almost 3000 km. In the previous road trips, we have covered several beautiful historical places like Sanchi Stupas, Khajuraho Temples, Padmanabhapura Palace; hill stations like Pachmarhi and Munnar, backwaters of Alleppey and riverside stay in Orchha, and even tiger safari in Bandhavgar, and majestic waterfalls like the Athirapally Waterfall in Kerala and Bhedaghat Waterfalls near Jabalpur.
Overall, Road trips have become our absolute favourite. There’s definitely a lot of advantage and flexibility in doing road trips with children. Hope you have enjoyed the armchair journey of these road trips with us as much as we have enjoyed them. And we hope to soon take you on another road trip in India, exploring yet another state of India. If you also aspire to do similar road trips, particularly with kids, here are some of our resources that will help you out –
Travel friendly snacks for kids
tips to travel safely with kids in UK
Our tried and tested Travel friendly products for kids and toddlers
Travel Medicine Kit that we always carry with us