Hello Guys! Namaste, Flavours of India is Back with Travel
blog. In this blog, I will be sharing the most blissfully free city from Motor
vehicles and non-polluting city of India. It is Asia’s automobile-free hill
station. So, lets get more detail on Asia’s first automobile-free hill station
which is famously known as ‘MATHERAN’.
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| Image By-Yash Bhavsar | Image Editor-Yash Bhavsar | Copyright Infringement |
About Matheran
Matheran is a hill station and it is all about scenic and
panoramic view from hill station. It is place where you can relish, laze and
refresh yourself from all your busy schedule of life, noisy atmosphere, air
pollution and get reinvigorate yourself from all green lush with zero pollution
of hill station. It amidst the Sahyadri range on western Ghats. It is smallest
hill station of India. It is cosy little hill station that located at an
elevation of 2600 feet (800 m) above sea level and it is around 100km away from
Mumbai and around 120km from Pune. Which make perfect weekend gateway. Matheran
means ‘overhead forest’.
When you step into this small hill station ‘Matheran’. You
will be transported back to a picturesque old era of red-soils roads, free from
pollution, automobile free place, and green lush jungle around hills. Because,
of its all green lush, automobile free and sustainable environment that attracts thousands of Tourists every day. Matheran is one of few
automobile-free hill cities in world.
The best thing about Matheran is Toy Train. These toy-train
transfer the passengers from Neral station to Matheran among the shady
greenery, which also gives the best scenic view from train. The toy train of
Matheran is one of the five historic mountain railways currently operating in
India.
Image By-Amboeing747 | Image Source-Wikimedia
Below are five historic mountain railways of India. I am sharing the list of 5 historic mountain railways for information purpose only.
- Kalka-Shimla Railway, Himachal Pradesh, India
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, West Bengal, India
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Tamil Nadu, India
- Matheran Hill Railway, Maharashtra, India
- Kangra Valley Railway, Himachal Pradesh, India.
What else you need? When you are surrounded with most
sustainable environment with all green lush and passing through the hilly terrain in
toy train with all scenic and panoramic view.
Top sightseeing to explore in Matheran
- Panorama point
- Monkey point
- Echo point
- Alexander point
- City Shopping
- Matheran toy Train
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| Image By-Yash Bhavsar | Panorama Point |
This point itself says lot about it, ‘Panorama means-it gives
wide view’. if you want extreme adventure in life. you have to visit this
place. How to reach this place? One can take a horse and have a great view of
main city and while going through the hilly terrain of mountain just enjoy
jumpy ride on along the rocky unpaved road, and which will take around one hour
from main city. The other option is to take Toy-Train and trek for around 2km
on rocky path. When you reached at this point, you will explore the great
panoramic view from the mountain and capture the 360ᴼ view from your camera and have look from your eyes too. It
offers the sunset with a perfect vivid hues of orange sky in evening and sunrise with vivid hues of blue
sky in morning. Just take a panoramic picture of this Point and save it in
memories and your travel Diaries.
Monkey point
Image By-Yash Bhavsar | Monkey Point
As the name suggests, this place is frequented by gangs of
monkeys. Monkey point is best place to explore in Matheran for sightseeing
tour. The moment you step in for monkey point. You have to be careful from the
gangs of playful monkeys who might pull out your food from your bag as well as
sometimes spectacles and cameras too. The gangs of monkeys are very fun and
frolic in nature. the monkey point is set on top of cliff and carpeted with
green lush. The best to time to explore this Monkey points is from July to
December. When the place gives you the most charm views of cheerful waterfalls
striding down through cliff and thus, capture all beautiful scene on Camera and
save it in memories and your travel Diaries.
Echo point
Image By-Yash Bhavsar | Echo Point
As the name suggests, this point is famous for the resonance
and echoes it generates. The echo point in Matheran creating its own
illustration of physics lesson of the acoustics of echoing. This place is for
foodies who love to eat all local foods. The place has variety of shops that
provide flavourful local Maharashtrian snacks at a reasonable rate. The
destination is also famous for its natural beauty. and thus, capture all
beautiful scene on Camera and save it in memories and your travel Diaries.
Alexander point
Image By-Yash Bhavsar | Alexander Point
Alexander point is almost 2km from marketplace and easy to
reach in terms of distance. You walked through narrow path of red soils and
passing between green lush and interacting with green trees. It is perfect
picturesque place. This point has some snacks stall which serves fresh juice,
soda and local Maharashtrian snacks to fill your hunger. The view of sunrise
from this point is mesmerising and which make us feel very fresh and energetic.
It offers a great view from the top peak point of it. and thus, capture all beautiful
scene on Camera and save it in memories and your travel Diaries.
City Shopping
The city shopping is very famous for tourist attraction. One
can shop here leather Goods, Kolhapuri Chappals, Dried Wildflowers, cane items,
chikkis and local honey. All these items are available in local stores of
Matheran Hill station. The place has plenty of local items to offer to the
tourists. Whenever, you visit Matheran just buy these local items and try to
support #Vocal for Local.
Matheran Toy Train
Image By-Yash Bhavsar | Toy Train Railroad
Image By-Yash Bhavsar
The Matheran hill Railway is narrow gauge heritage railway in
Maharashtra. The distance from Neral Station to Matheran Station is 21km and
passes through forest in Western Ghats. The toy train has three halts in
between. i.e. Jummapatti, Waterpipe and Aman Lodge. The Journey time is 2
hours, 30 minutes. All these four stations are provided with solar power plant
and wind mill including energy efficient light and fans. These things make
‘Matheran’ a perfect Sustainable Hill City.
Image By-Yash Bhavsar
Image By-Yash Bhavsar
How to reach Matheran?
By Air- The nearest airport is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai.
and, you can Book a cab from CSMIA to reach Matheran, nearly 100km.
By Train – The nearest Railway Station to Matheran is in Neral (21 kilometres). From there, you can take Toy-train which runs on daily basis. The journey time in Toy-Train is around 2hours,30minutes.
Fares Details of Toy-Train-
- Second Class Ticket fare
- Between Neral and Matheran: Adult Rs45/-, child Rs30/-
- First Class Ticket fare
- Between Neral and Matheran: Adult Rs300/-, child Rs180/-
By Road – you can hire taxi from Neral and reach Matheran by
road in less than 30 minutes and if you, have your own car you can easily reach
from anywhere across India to Matheran by road.
Best Season to visit Matheran
The best time to visit Matheran is post monsoon between
October to December. When the monsoon has just retreated and winter has just
begun and the temperature is cool and perfect for sightseeing.
Visit this beautiful, scenic, sustainable hill station
whenever you plan for your short trip of 3 to 4 days and Just create your beautiful lifetime
memories with your family, friends and loved-ones at Asia’s first automobile
free hill station famously called as ‘Matheran’.
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