If you are thinking about who was the Greatest Indian emperor or King who never build empire for his self benefit and who selflessly worked for people and people’s cause,certainly the first name would be Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.We Maharashtrian always feel proud to tell the world that we are from the land of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.To show the gratitude and understand his birthplace then visit to Shivneri fort should be on your bucket list.
Location:
Shivneri fort is located Approximately 4.5 hours (Approx.156 KM) drive from Mumbai and 3 hours (Approx 100 KM) from Pune.
Important tip:
If you are coming from Mumbai you may take deroute via Ghotawadi to shivneri.These Ghatwata surely amuse you with stunning views.
Where to stay:
Junnar town where Shivneri fort is situated ,has very basic options to stay.Mostly these are local lodges or guest houses which you don’t even find on major travel websites or apps.Only option remains to search using google maps,call them and book over the phone.Same thing we followed and we were able to find property called ‘Hotel Ekant Tourist Resort’ located approximately 2.5 km away from fort.
Hotel Ekant Tourist Resort is a newly built resort.Located amidst farms and lush greeneries,definitely gives you a countryside feeling.It has spacious rooms and all basic amenities with a large open area.
Hotel Ekant is especially famous for its non-veg food. The owner of the hotel told us that they were expanding existing facilities in the coming days;building a swimming pool,crab pool to name a few.
Shivneri fort:
Vehicle takes you to the point where trekking starts.A good 3-4 hours are required to explore the fort properly.This fort is large and there are many things to explore-Different gates,Shivai Devi temple,actual birthplace of Shivaji Maharaj,Ambarkhana,Badami Lake and Kadelot point.
Food:
There is no food available on the fort.At start of trek,before steps,you will get some snacks. We recommend you to start exploring at around 9-10 in the morning and come down below in Junnar town for lunch.There are many restaurants in Junnar.We had lunch at Hotel Aashiyana Pure Veg Restaurant which was decent.
Best time to visit:
You can visit Shivneri fort throughout the year.We recommend you to visit after the rains or at the start of winter season to get the most out of it.
Best place to purchase Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Statue:
We have found Shivneri fort is the best place to buy a Shivaji Maharaj statue to keep at your home or at the car dashboard.You can get various statues in different sizes and make that too at a reasonable price.
Suggested Itinerary
One day itinerary from Pune:
Trip to Shivneri fort can be considered as a one day trip from pune.
Start early from Pune and visit the fort and come back to Pune.
You can visit Habshi mahal and Shree Vighnahar Ganapati Mandir Ozar while returning to Pune.
Weekend or two day itinerary from Mumbai:
Start early from Mumbai and reach Shivneri fort via Malshej ghat.
Explore Shivneri fort in the late afternoon
Next day explore the Habshi mahal and take blessings of Ozar Ganapati Mandir and start the return journey to Mumbai.
Shivneri Fort to Habshi Mahal:8 km
Habshi Mahal to Ozer Ganapati Mandir:10 km
Our itinerary:
We visited Shivneri in the month of August.During monsoon season Maharastra turns into heaven especially the Ghatwatas of Maharashtra in the Sahyadri range.If you have one spare day after the weekend then one can follow our itinerary from Mumbai.
We started early in the morning from Mumbai.Entire Mumbai -Pune expressway in the rainy season turns out to be tourist destination.We have traveled on this expressway no less than hundred times and each monsoon we promise to halt at ghat section of Khandala.Today we had lot of time hence visited this beautiful viewpoint.
This view point is located on old Mumbai-Pune highway in Lonavla .Set location as Rajmachi view point on your map and you are here ! We suggest you visit this place in monsoon to get lovely views.
There are a couple of other viewpoints overlooking Mumbai pune expressway.As this is a tourist area you will find many restaurants,shops and eateries here.After visiting Narayani Dham in Lonavala, we headed towards Junnar.
During our last visit to Bhimashankar,we came to know that Ghatwatas on the road to Bhimashankar are beautiful and less explored.So we took the following route.
Mumbai-Lonavala-Talegaon-Ghotawadi-Bhimashankar-Ghodegaon-Junnar
If you are a nature lover and want to witness real raw beauty then this route is for you ! In monsoon season every inch of land here changes its color and embed itself into green carpet. The plateau ,just after Dhamane village is surrounded by lush green mountains overlooking the dam lake is the best place to take instagram pictures.
We wanted to visit Ghotawade village point which we had encountered during our last Bhimashankar trip.This point is one of the beautiful and serene place, we have visited in Maharashtra in recent times. This isolated area has a picturesque river in the valley and curvy roads on both sides of the mountain.The small strips of farms and one or two huts in the middle of all this makes it even more beautiful and heavenly.We spend some time here and headed towards Bhimashankar.
We were not able to find accommodation in Bhimashankar as it was the holy month of Shravan so we took a lodge in a village called Ghodegaon for a night.
Next morning we started our journey to Junnar,checked into our pre-booked stay called Hotel Ekant Tourist Resort and immediately left to explore Shivneri fort.
It was drizzling till afternoon. We explored the entire fort in around 3-4 hours.There are proper steps and pathways with sufficient seating places in between.Fort area is beautifully maintained and there are lots of trees with different species in and around the fort. We explored Shivai devi temple,badami lake and the very building where Shvaji Maharaj was born. It’s truly magical to witness this building and absorb the feelings.There is a lot of development work going on .We saw Amberkhana ,different water tanks.The view from Kadelot tok is spectacular.One can see entire Junnar city and the surrounding Sahyadri mountain ranges.
Next day in the morning we started our return journey towards Mumbai.We decided to travel Mumbai via pune.
