Short trip report - Bhimashankar

Date: 7-8 July 2012

We started from Pune in the morning at about 9.30, taking the Nasik road up to Rajgurunagar, from where one can either take the left via Wada to Bhimashankar, or keep going on Nasik road up to Manchar and take the left which goes via Ghodegaon. We took the former route, which was very scenic - small hamlets of 10-12 huts at regular intervals, and absolutely no traffic otherwise, and absolute bliss to drive. This road joins the latter road (via Manchar) about 12 km before Bhimashankar.. Reached our resort at about 12.30 km (total distance 110 km). After a sumptous lunch and brief rest, started for Bhimashankar temple. As one appraoches the temple, the road passes through some dense forest, and due to the season, there was lot of fog all along, which made driving even more interesting and challenging.

There was a long queue at the temple being a Saturday afternoon, so we just roamed around the temple. There's a roughly 2 km trek through the forest to Gupta Bhima, which we traversed for some distance. However, there was a lot of plastic garbage all along , and so didnt go all the way. It was exremely ugly and putting-off.

About 4 km from the temple on the way back, theres a left (some place called Konthal something - anybody know the name?) which goes a bit into the forest..there are a couple of nice waterfalls on the road, which we visited the next day morning, and after lunch started back for Pune via the Manchar route, which is much more boring and has lot more traffic than the Wada route.

The entire area near Bhimashankar was lush green and very scenic, and the cloud and the rain make it all in all a wonderful weekend trip - recommended at this time of the year!

Nice trip report. Any pictures ?

Ronak.

I didnt carry a camera, but i did click a few snaps on my mobile. I will try to post some of them over the weekend. Mostly they only show fog

Hi Neeraj, We are planning trip to bhimashankar this weekend. I just wanted to confirm the road that you had taken. Is it:
Rajgurunagar - Wada - following along same road to bhimashankar.
OR did you join the bhimashankar-manchar road ?

The Rajgurunagar - Wada route joins joins the Manchar - bhimashankar route some 10-12 km before bhimashankar, beyond which they are the same. I would definitely recommend taking the Wada route as it is much more scenic and the traffic is also lesser compared to the Manchar route. At a couple of places, you will almost feel like you are reaching the end of civilization, and wonder how a place just 50 km from Pune can seem so remote and isolated!

I am new to India mike but had an excellent trip to Bhimashankar..For anyone from Mumbai, trekking would be far adventrous option,but we decided to not to tire ourself over the weekend,
We reached Pune by Intercity express (boarded at 7:20 a.m at Thane station).Reached Pune at 10 a,m,
We had hired a cab from Pune station.

Charges were quite nominal compared to other options we got from internet.
Started from Pune at 11
Stopped at Purohit for Lunch
Reached at 3 p.m
We had a very good darshan of the lord.Left Bhimashankar at 4:30
Reached Pune at 7:30
Route undertaken:

Hi,

did anyone stay the night at Bhimashankar? I want to go the by bus. So the "Blue Mormon" Hotel, which was recomended by some people, is not a good option, being too far away from civilization. I would like to stay in Bhimashankar village itself.
Any suggestions, where to stay?

dhobi wallah