| Off the Beaten Trail in India - Found a Cool spot, well let us know about it. |
![]() |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
|
#1 |
|
Member
|
Sightseeing in and around Pune/Poona
I will be in Pune at the beginning of March for 3 weeks and looking for some ideas of what to do. I'll be working most of the time, but looking for weekend trips from there. During the last visit in October, went to Mumbai, Dehli and Agra. Any ideas? Is it worth it to go to Goa or Kerala for only 2-3 days?
|
|
|
|
|
|
#2 |
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: India
Posts: 225
|
Lonavala
Lonavala is a nice, small town about 1-1,5 hours from Pune to Mumbai or You may take an overnight bus to Goa and back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#3 |
|
Maha Guru Member
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Land that shakes and bakes.
Posts: 4,227
|
Its a good base city for Ajanta, etc..
|
|
|
|
|
|
#4 |
|
Maha Guru Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Delhi/U.S.
Posts: 664
|
Matheran is close by and delightful.
__________________
Reject violence. |
|
|
|
|
|
#5 |
|
Posts: n/a
|
you can go to aurangabad from pune by overnight bus.
you should arrive early in the morning. 6.30ish. dont choose "raj" travels - very incompetent. aurangabad is used as a base for 2 "conducted trips" - one to ajanta and back and the other to ellora, devgiri fort etc and back. one of these start at 7.30 - 8 (depending on the operator) in the morning and the other at 9ish. i suggest you choose the 9 o'clock trip for the day you arrive in aurangabad, for that way you will have some time to find yourself a hotel and freshen up. opt for the other of the 2 "condected trips" the next day and push off, the same night, after they bring you back to aurangabad, for pune. aurangabad has nothning to see. the first evening you could go to some of the betterbars/reataurants there though. for both conducted tours choose ITDC as they have very good and professional service and trained guides (who travel with the bus). fares are 150 and 200 if i remember right. i know cos i did the same trip, only i came to aurangabad from nagpur. i didnt even stay in a hotel the 2nd day - got ready and checked out in the morning. i carried my small suitcase with me to ajanta, and kept it "chained" under the last bench of the bus. came back at about 6, had a nice early dinner and took the return bus at about 7.30 oh yeah, do go to osho rajneesh's haunt in pune!! :; |
|
|
|
#6 |
|
Bulk Carrier
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Chennai
Posts: 1,838
|
Lonavla is a quick getaway...would be wunderful if it raisn whilst you are there.
Try Osho's ashram at goregaon. It has a fantastic Japanese garden. Agha Khan Palace...Mahatma Gandhi was under house arrest here for some years. Wife Kasturba passed away here. Can be seen in the Attenborough movie where Candice Bergen visits the Mahatma. If you are a rail-fan...PUNE is a great diesel (ALCO) hang-out. Can also check out vintage WCM locos that run on DC power. Visit Joshi's Museum of Model Railways: http://www.minirailways.com
__________________
...and I took the road less travelled. |
|
|
|
|
|
#7 |
|
Maha Guru Member
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Land that shakes and bakes.
Posts: 4,227
|
One important thing, while in Pune check out the Raja Kelkar Museum (may have a new name now). It was by far the best developed museum in India. He is long since dead but fondly remembered..
|
|
|
|
|
|
#8 |
|
Posts: n/a
|
at the expense of sounding parochial, i have to beg to differ, from what you just claimed.
the kelkar museum may be really good, and also very close to pune (or IN pune), but its unlikely that its "by far the best developed museum in india". check out for yourself and decide http://www.indianmuseum-calcutta.org/history.html and for those of you who prefer a bit of "madness in the methods", here's another link: http://userpages.umbc.edu/~achatt1/Calcutta/marbel.html they arnt very close to pune though ![]() |
|
|
|
#9 | |
|
Bulk Carrier
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Chennai
Posts: 1,838
|
Quote:
I must agree with BT. I have been to a big museum in Pune..must be the raja Kelkar thing...not well kept, Iam afraid. And Bengal Tiger...nothing beats the Salar Jung museum. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
#10 |
|
Posts: n/a
|
well to each his own....yardstick, i mean.
i am not much into "arab"-esque stuff much, something the jung specialises in. also precious stones, carvings, paintings and jewels alone dont a complete museum make. good on the "riches" front maybe, but what about "natural history" and other areas? of all the many museums in the museum city (ie. NY), its the one on "natural history", (A.M.N.H.), thats most famous, the world over. see? so again i have to differ.... |
|
|
|
#11 |
|
laid traps for troubadours
|
the fort at Sinhgad (one of many spellings)is 24km away and very atmospheric.
Rec.
__________________
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. Barack Obama lookit me!!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijapuri/ Utube fuzzy logic: http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=bijapuri&p =r |
|
|
|
|
|
#12 |
|
Bulk Carrier
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Chennai
Posts: 1,838
|
I guess we all are slightly off the track. Michep2 wanna know of weekend trips "outside" Pune. Plus kerala and Goa for 2-3 days.
Goa for tow to three days with Pune as base is quite all right. But Kearal is another story. You can do a backwater trip + a wildlife trip in 2-3 days, but not from Pune. The distance is too high unless you are all right about taking flights to and from Mumbai. |
|
|
|
|
|
#13 |
|
Bulk Carrier
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Chennai
Posts: 1,838
|
Either I have a bad keyboard or my chair is not ergonomic. BAD TYPOS all along.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#14 |
|
Member
|
Thanks to everyone for some great ideas...maybe ejanta/allora caves for one weekend and goa on the way home and extend it for a couple of days. I'll check out the other ideas as well.
Tried to get into the Osho commune last time, but they would only let 'members' in...then my driver couldn't find the garden. We did find a small park with children playing and saw what some of the suburbs of Pune look like so, it was a good getting lost experience. Everything I did in India last time was quite the experience and looking forward to my next adventure. |
|
|
|
![]() |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads
|
||||
| Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
| Confused about Shimla sightseeing. Please help | planman | Himachal Pradesh | 5 | Dec 28th, 2005 15:16 |
| picture-clip POONA | Joph | Maharashtra | 0 | Oct 1st, 2005 00:11 |
| Jaipur local sightseeing / onto Ranthambore / Agra by car | 1sfcub | Buses, Automobiles, Motorcycles, and Bicycles | 0 | Sep 29th, 2005 13:56 |
| Sightseeing in Agra | 04274108 | Agra | 9 | Jan 17th, 2005 15:51 |
| Place of stay in Poona .. | 22usa18 | Lodging and Hotels in India | 3 | Oct 18th, 2004 22:32 |