Kas / Kaas near Satara

patilsushant001

Some addition to this wonderful post.. As you all know, the season has already started.. One of my friend's relative in Satara told him that it would be best in first week of October..

But, anyways you can visit it now as well..
By the way, I am also planning to visit Kas in the first week of October!

new_traveller

Satara is a small town and you need not worry too much about understanding the tunnel or routes at the moment. Also please do not worry too much about the hotels. They wont be booked out and the rates would be competative as its a small relatively place.
Greenfield, Hem executive (Aakar), Maharaja, Rajtara etc are a few of them. I will check the approx rates and quality with some old friends and updat you.

I am not sure what you have in mind when you say wild flowers as I have never been following the flowers trail and like someone said it might depend on the season. But over all its a lovely place.

My Recommendation -

Day 1 - Drive from mumbai to Satara the highway is fantastic except a few patches.
Check in some hotel and go to Kaas (might be noon) Spend some time wandering around the lake and cruise on the road till you desire. Bamnoli would not be possible and I think its okay to give it a miss. Dont forget to visit the yeoteshwar temple on way of Satara- Kaas. This is an ancient temple with some decent stone sculptures.
Back towards Satara by eve watching the small town light up as you look at it from the hills.
Back to satara have some dinner and rest.

Day 2- Go to Thoseghar falls- be carefull its slippery if its raining.
Visit Chalkewadi (windmill project)
Lunch at some small hotel at thosegarh if you are you used to eat out in india. Else carry your own lunch.(personally I will opt for the prior)
Go to Sajjangarh on way back to Satara if interested.
It is associated with ramdas swami who was the mentor of the great maratha warrior of all times - Shivaji
Note- there is a climb of around 100/150 steps so if you cannot make it then I recommend drop the plan.
They also serve free lunch to all devotees every day. Its as simple as rice and dal and some sweet. If you want to have this option plan the Thoseghar and Chalke wadi for later as this lunch (prasad) is served around 12.00 only.

Back to satara and rest day 2.

Day 3 - Get up check out and drive back to Mumbai
Can catch mahabaleshwar/wai/panchgani etc as per your choice.

Let me know in case you need any help or suggestion. Take lots of snaps and have a wonderful trip.

snonymous

Patilsushant, that is encouraging news. I pray the flowers remain. This year with the peculiar monsoon pattern, the flowering cycles of monsoon flora has been greatly affected. I dont know if the rains have been normal in the Satara region.

New Traveller, thank you for making an itinerary. I will keep it in mind but my priority is flowers, flowers and more flowers. How come you never saw the famous wildflowers in all your years at Satara ???

I spoke to my husband and he has agreed to drive us there so tentatively we will drive to Satara, spend the night there, if we reach early enough perhaps we can see Thoseghar but its not that important.

The whole of the next day or at least from morning to early afternoon looking at wildflowers, then go to Mahabaleshwar for another 2, maybe 3 nights as we havent been there so far, I think I last went about 40 years ago!!! I hope there are walking paths through the forest there, as in Matheran. The higher altitude flora should be different and of much interest to us.

I have found the Satara to Kas road on Google Earth, it is quite clearly visible.

What about the road from Satara to Mahabaleshwar via Medha, what is the condition? Is there any short cut from the Kas Satara road to join the M/shwar road?

And if I may trouble you again India Traveller, from the list of Satara hotels in the VM Travels link on the previous page, which is decent? Decent - meaning not a local drinking joint.

Thanks.

Swapnil, thanks for posting your photos to give me an idea of what to expect. Looks like paradise.

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Swapnil

Snonymous ,

If you want to include Mahabaleshwar then your itinerary should be something like this :

Day 1 : Depart from Mumbai in afternoon reach Satara by evening , spend night there.If you can reach little earlier then you can hunt for good hotels yourself.You already have list & you going by own vehicle so shouldn't be much problem I think.(Sorry can't help much with accommodation thing in Satara as I never stayed there ... to me its just couple of hours driving from Pune)

Day-2 : Start from Satara in early morning (take packed breakfast/lunch if necessary with you) .Spot many flowers enroute ...reach Kaas pleatue spend 3-4 hours there.
Proceed towards Bamnoli - visit Datta temple, have lunch in small restaurant.Proceed towards Tapola.

From Bamnoli one can go to Tapola by motorboat/speedboat(25 km) or by road.By road distance is around 38 km . First 14 km road from Bamnoli towards Tapola is in bad condition.
Suggest you drop plan to go via Medha road as its not straightforward approach & in even worst condition than Bamnoli - Tapola road.
Expect around 2 hours to cover Bamnoli - Tapola(38 km) road.
Tapola is a nice place to stay ... some hotels & resorts available here. You can hunt for one after arriving.

Day 3 : Start from Tapola after sightseeing/ enjoying water sports . Mahabaleshwar is only 25 km from here. Will take around 1 hour to reach. Currently heavy rains going on in Mahabaleshwar with very low visibility (around 10-15 meter on road) . Hopefully by the time you go there everything will be clear.

After your 1-2 days sightseeing in Mahabaleshwar you can return to Mumbai either via Pune or via descending Ambenali ghat to Poladpur (on Goa - Mumbai highway near Mahad).Enroute you can visit Pratapgad (vehicles can directly reach upto the fort near steps) also can have lunch/breakfast at Cold Spot Hotel located before Pratapgad diversion. Hope this helps ....

snonymous

Thanks for the itinerary Swapnil.

That is not good news at all about the Medha road, nor about the bad Bamnoli Tapola road.

Neither of us is interested in boat rides or watersports so we would rather head to Mahabaleshwar via Tapola and spend our time walking in the forested trails - assuming there are some ??? Anyone knows about this? Not interested in tourist points which are usually littered and crowded. If there are quiet forest areas like in Matheran where there is no one but oneself, nothing like it.

Im going to book the MTDC at Mahabaleshwar most likely as it is reasonably priced, and located in the jungle, or so Im told ...........

I heard that the Poladpur route is treacherous especially during and just after the rains when there are landslides. Will find out locally about it and then decide. Worth considering if the road is clear. I remember that route vaguely from donkeys years ago.

One more query - from Mumbai on the Expressway, does it go through from Dehu Road to Satara or do you have to exit somewhere and join NH4? I remember going a couple of years ago upto Hinjewadi but there were road works going on and it was quite bad. Any idea?

Thanks.

Swapnil

At end of expressway you'll join bypass road to Pune. Around 5 km ahead of Dehu Road. This will straight take you to Satra .So you don't have to negotiate with much traffic. All road is 4 lane & is in excellent condition.Nothing to worry about ...

snonymous

Thanks Swapnil.

Please keep adding more info everybody, there is still time for me to go. Cant wait!

new_traveller

Give bamnoili a miss. I dont think you interested in boating suggest just grift on the route to kaas to bamnoli (you need not go till bamnoli just a few kms from kaas) and try to find more flowers.

Also if you have an early start you should reach Satara for lunch. and can spend the rest of the day around Kaas.

Thoseghar is also beautiful and on simmilar terrain so you will also see simmilar vegetation there. Dont miss it and chalkewadi.

snonymous

Thanks for the suggestions New Traveller.

Have you heard of any of these hotels listed here:
http://www.vmtravels.com/city/citylow249p1.html

So far, the only one I could trace on a simple search was the Radhika Hotel.

Aupmanyav

What could be the height of Kas Plateau?

snonymous

About 1250m approx. Check on Google Earth.

bonded

There is a website for Hotel Rajtara, Hotel Mahendra Executive, Hotel Maharaja Regency. There are a few reviews in Trip Advisor also for other hotels listed.

snonymous

Thanks Bonded, will do another search. I was hoping someone may have had first hand knowledge. It does not really matter as it is just for one night, I mainly want to avoid a hotel that is a local drinking hangout, that is all.


Update:
Just went through tripadvisor, it is not a good site for small town hotels. For Satara they have Radhika Palace and Aakar but other than the bare addresses, there is nothing else. The hotels they list as "near Satara" are in fact in Pune and in Mahabaleshwar so that is of no help whatsoever.

ganeshs_16

I visited Kaas this saturday. Started early in the morning in a cab from Pune, with packed lunch. Had sumptuous breakfast at Hotel Natraj on Satara highway and also visited the visited the balaji temple near Kapurhol on the way. On the way to Kaas stopped near a few meadows where sonki flowers were in full bloom. Reached Kaas at 10 AM.

We spent over three hours hours ambling everywhere around. The sun that day was cruel and drained us in no time, despite all the refreshment that the sight of vast expanse of balsam fields had to offer. We left after lunch and drove to Thoseghar (22 KM from Satara). The swollen stream there was magnificent. To avoid the mob near the main area, we cautiously walked past the rocks and flowing stream, deeper into the woods to spend some time.

By the normal route the waterfalls cannot be seen from the front (as in my photo). To catch a glimpse of that, there is a route going down the hill, a li'l before the main view point. Its a ten minute trekking route which leads to the incredibly beautiful turquoise pool that the waterfall drains into. We started at 6:30 and were back home by 9 PM.

Some photos of Kaas are attached. You can see the entire album here

Attached Thumbnails

         

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snonymous

Beautiful photos Ganesh. I hope those flowers last until I get there, cant wait!