Murud and Janjira

dranirban

Hi IndiaMike friend. Last I had been to short tour to MURUD JANJIRA. I am not a great writer, so I am just giving information for others to help. It was a very nice trip from the hustle and bustle from Mumbai, more to avoid the sound of cracker of deepabali. We pre-booked the lodge Sahil Lodge through www.murudjanjira.com. It was nice guest house just 1 or 2 minute away from the sea. Rs. 500/- per day for double bed room for 3 person with extra bedding. It is nice guest house with amenities.

Day 1: Murud Beach
Had taken first local from Vashi to Panvel at around 5-30 AM and reached Panvel around 6AM. (Rs. 10/- Per Head)
Changed the Panvel local terminus to Long journey train terminus. It’s just 2 minutes walk. Then booked the ticket for a passenger train (without reservation) for only Rs. 14/- to ROHA. As that time Diwali holiday was there, train was jam packed, but managed to get a door seat (ha ha ha, seating the door of the running train).
Train details: KR5 DIVA SWV PASS

SNo Stn Code Stn Name Route No. Arrival Time Dep. Time Distance
1 DIVA DIVA 1 Source 06:20 0
2 NILD NILAJE 1 06:30 06:31 6
3 TPND TALOJA PANCHAND 1 06:42 06:43 15
4 NVRD NAVADE ROAD 1 06:47 06:48 18
5 KLMG KALAMBOLI 1 06:53 06:54 20
6 PNVL PANVEL 1 07:00 07:05 26
7 RSYI RASAYANI 1 07:24 07:25 38
8 APTA APTA 1 07:29 07:30 41
9 HMPR HAMARPUR 1 07:49 07:50 56
10 PEN PEN 1 07:59 08:00 62
11 KASU KASU 1 08:15 08:16 75
12 NGTN NAGOTHANE 1 08:31 08:32 89
13 ROHA ROHA 1 09:00 09:05 104

Instead of 9 AM, we reached ROHA at 9-15. Almost 15 minutes after Panvel the train line was in between small hill. It was a really very nice journey through konkan hills. From Roha Station a ten min bus journey to Roha Bus stand. We had a small breakfast of Bara Paw. Then got a direct bus to Murud. It is 65 Km away from Roha. Ticket is Rs. 39/-. Again the road is going hill and forest and it is going through Fansid Reserve Forest. The view through out the journey was awesome. We reached Murud at about 12 O’clock. It was cold than Mumbai. Had a quick bath and the gone for a launch. The Patil Khanawala. Its serves good Konkani food but bit costly. We enjoyed fish thali and extra prawn. NICE. Rs. 120/- per head. The Patil Khanawala l just near the beach. Now to the Beach. It’s almost 2-3 Km long beach. Nice beach and most importantly not crowded. But in the evening time sea will go away long distance almost a kilometer. We spent whole evening in the beach. A calm cool breeze was always there. And early to bed at about 11PM directly from beach. By the way there is a palace which out of bound for travelers.

Day 2: Janjira Fort:
Went to Murud market and taken a share auto to Rajnagar (Rs. 5/- per head). In Rajnagar we got a ferry service to Janjira for Rs. 15/-. It takes almost 15 minutes to reach there. A huge fort in the mid sea. I don’t how they had made it possible. Although ferry wala will tell you that only 45 Min is available. Just ignore him without any argument, take your own time. At least 2-3 hours.
Come back to Murud. Had a launch in some different hotel (lots are there). Again spending whole evening in the beach

Day 3: Back to Mumbai
Not very early morning, at 9 AM take the bus to Alibug. It take almost two and half hour to reach there. Walk some 10 minutes to take a ticket for ferry servce to CST. We had take PNP ferry service which is AC. It cost 110 bucks. First half and hour bus journey to Mandwa port and then one hour ferry in deep sea.
Finally again reached the hustle bustle of Mumbai.

We, three people had gone there in full season. Still it was not very much crowded and believe we had complete our tour for only Rs. 750/- per head including everything, food, staying, journey, all.

It was nice tour. I can recommend others also. Most amazing thing was, in the evening in low tide sea will go almost a km away and in the morning, sea will be in your door step. What a great place.

Thanks.

harsha

I have been to Murud and Kashid for New years eve 2006. It was an amazing trip and we spent the new years night on Kashid beach. There are no shops, hotels on the beach and it was really special. There were almost 40 small groups all over the beach and all of us had the bonfire and people were playing music, singing and dancing.

Definitely worth a trip. Please feel free to ask me if anyone has any queries.

snonymous

Informative write up Dranirban which will be useful for prospective visitors to MJ. "Door seat" - ha ha! Nice one.
I always wanted to know the route to Phansad [Fansid] Sanctuary, and now I do. I did a trip to MJ in the early nineties, which was marred somewhat by a big oil slick on the beach. The trip to the Janjira sea fort was nice though. Your description of the khanawal food sounds good. Perhaps I will return someday.

prashshir

Nice writeup but it seems u have spend a lot of time and efforts changing from train to bus etc. there are lot of state transport buses (ST Buses) to Murud from Mumbai. Major depots like Bombay Central, Thane, Borivali have daily frequency where u can reach Murud directly. I had travelled a St bus which starts late in night for Murud and arrives early morning in Murud.
It was nice to reach early morning when sun was rising and weather was fresh. And had a lot of time on hand to spend on beach.

puchoo

i remember both my stay and the process of having to get there very fondly , it was the last leg of our trip some 3 years ago , while i was not too impressed with the beach , the town and the fort were very quaint.

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sd1978

Hello Dr. Anirbaan,
I read ur entire review, from Mumbai to Roha u went by train.
1. I already stay in Panvel. I would like to know the road way to reach Murud and Janjira as I will be travelling by my own vehicle.
2. Is this complete trip of Murud and Janjira possible in one day although Sat and Sun are holiday and the trip of 1 day may toggle up to 2 days. But still is it possible to cover both in 1 day?

Regards,
Sourabh Das.

prashshir

Hi,
Murud Janjira as one may think are two different places away from each other. In fact murud is the town/village where the beach, hotels are located. From murud beach one can see the Janjira fort which a 'Jal Durg" which means Fort in Water. From Murud town buses/autos go to the jetty which is around 2 to 3 km away from Murud, from there one has to board a ship to reach Janjira fort. There's one more fort next to Jajnira which is not accesable which was built by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to counter the Siddhis which were occuping the Janjira fort, which was partly destroyed by britishers. I exactly don't remember the name of the fort. I tried to ask people around whether it was possible to reach this fort. But they declined and it's only possible if u r able to convince any fisherman to take u there.