Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar sits at about 1,350 metres on a plateau in the Western Ghats and was the summer capital of the Bombay Presidency, which left it with a church, a club, bungalows and the layout of a Raj hill town. Viewpoints ring the plateau edge, among them Arthur's Seat above a sheer drop and Wilson Point for sunrise. The old town holds the Mahabaleshwar temple, and beside it the Panchganga temple where five rivers are said to rise, including the Krishna, which runs from here across the peninsula to the Bay of Bengal. Strawberries grown on the plateau supply most of India's crop.

History

Legend says a 13th-century Yadava ruler built a small temple and water tank at the source of the Krishna. The Jawali valley around it was held by the More clan, vassals of Bijapur, until Shivaji seized it in 1656 and built Pratapgad fort nearby; in 1819 the British ceded the hills to the state of Satara, Colonel Lodwick recommended the place as a sanatorium, Venna Lake was made in 1842, and in the mid-1800s it became the summer capital of the Bombay Presidency (Wikipedia, Mahabaleshwar).

What's there

• The cliff viewpoints - Arthur's Seat, Wilson Point and others round the rim.
• The Krishna source - the Panchganga temple where five rivers are said to rise.
• The strawberry farms - plateau fields supplying most of India's crop.
• The Raj town - church, club and bungalows from the summer capital period.

When to go

October to June, with strawberries from December to March; the monsoon here is among the heaviest in India, with nearby Mahabaleshwar and Amboli recording extreme rainfall, and many points close.

Good to know

Peak-season and weekend crowds are severe, with traffic jams on the ghat road. Monsoon rainfall is extreme and viewpoints close in cloud. Strawberry stalls sell heavily to visitors at inflated prices.

Nearby

Panchgani lies east; Pratapgad fort is west.

Key facts