Matheran: Things to do in the smallest hill station

My visit to this stunningly beautiful place called, Matheran, in Maharashtra was planned in August 2019. Started early around d 6 am in a cab from Pune & we were at our destination around 10 am. And as the car was climbing the steep hill area with rain all around. My heart was pumping hard with all the excitement.
I had never visited such a place to date. Monsoon, big straight thin trees & in between only horses to take you inside the forests. Basically a Rainforest. Lush green & a sense of serenity, everywhere.

Reason to visit Matheran:

Matheran is one of the smallest hill stations in India & Asia’s only automobile free hill station.
And when I say automobile free. I mean every single letter of it because I saw it that way in broad daylight.
The only mode of transport is a toy train which is between Neral-Matheran for the locals & visitors.

If you plan for Matheran in monsoon, the things which are bound to be compulsory to carry are Raincoat &  Umbrella. Since we forgot raincoats, we bought it there itself with big plastic caps!

Journey up the hills:

We booked two horses for two people for two hours. And if you love horse riding, it will only add to your excitement. Matheran forests have close to 38 points to see.
We had a deal of 8-10 best points in two hours to view since we had to return Pune, the same day. Still, there are hotels & guest houses in the market area, in case anyone wishes to stay.

The first point was Monkey Point, though there were no monkeys around, it was raining pretty hard & fog all around, the view was not at all visible. And we were drenched in rain & the cool breeze was adding flavour to the pleasant affair.

The owner of the horse was leaving us at a particular place & from there we had to take a small walk to reach the point. A walk of like 5-7 minutes. And that walk was the most wonderful part for me, as I was taking steps on those red mud flowing paths with ups & downs, slippery majorily, but no fear of wild animals for sure. Only trees of all types which had those new green leaves of monsoon & there were few houses too in between the forest. On enquiring, we learned that those were houses of Parsis from the British time, some locked & some turned into guest house majorily booked by foreigners.

The surrounding seemed magically fresh. There will be times, when you are all alone on those mudsy paths & you can take lots of pictures too, but, as it would be raining, do carry a plastic cover for your phones.

Covering different points in Matheran:

The points which we covered were Echo, Hart, Khandala & Alexander. The view from points had waterfalls & skyrocketed mountains. It was greenery all around. Away from the hustles & bustles of city life, it was a treat to eyes & truly felt like never going back. That’s the magic spell of Matheran on you

Since the 2 hours deal was about to finish & we both took our own time in enjoying the walk together rather than only covering the points in numbers, our count was less. Moreover, we were hungry & badly craving for those hot steamed corns, we saw while entering the forest. Therefore, we sat on our horses to go back with some wonderful memories & a wish to come sometime soon again!

Last but not the least, Matheran is about young people who love rain (if visiting in Monsoon) & who love nature in abundance!
While walking you will have your own hundreds of stories with your partner & friends, which will surely bring an innocent smile on your face even after years.
Matheran is an experience. See it to feel it & write your own story!

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