By road
~120-130 km from Pune, ~260 km from Mumbai
West India · Maharashtra
Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra
Strawberry farms above the Krishna's source · ~120-130 km from Pune, ~260 km from Mumbai
Getting there
By rail
Wathar, ~60-63 km, though Pune Junction (~120 km) has far better train connections
By air
Pune International Airport, ~100-130 km
Best time to visit
October to June; strawberry season December-April
Don't miss
Arthur's Seat
Elephant's Head Point
Mapro Garden
Old Mahabaleshwar temples
Things to do
Strawberry-farm picking
Boating at Venna Lake
Pratapgad fort trip
Where to eat
Sources: open-meteo, wikimedia, Photo: Amitban77 · CC BY 4.0
What to pack
Light woollens, walking shoes for point-to-point trails
A quieter corner
Arthur's Seat's floating-cliff illusion on a windless morning
About Mahabaleshwar
- Hills
- Forest
Where it is
Mahabaleshwar is a hill station in the Satara district of Maharashtra, on a plateau of the Western Ghats at about 1,350 m, where the Krishna river rises.
History
The old village of Mahabaleshwar grew around a Shiva temple at the source of the Krishna, and nearby Pratapgad Fort was where Shivaji defeated the Bijapur general Afzal Khan in 1659. The British later made Mahabaleshwar the summer capital of the Bombay Presidency.
People
Mahabaleshwar's people speak Marathi, and farming families on the plateau grow strawberries, raspberries and mulberries and make jams and crushes for visitors. Tourism is the town's main livelihood.
Known for
- Strawberries and strawberry farms
- Arthur's Seat and other viewpoints
- Venna Lake
- Pratapgad Fort
- The temple at the source of the Krishna
Did you know?
Mahabaleshwar and the surrounding plateau produce a large share of India's strawberries, and the Mahabaleshwar strawberry carries a Geographical Indication tag.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.