Lonavala and Khandala

Straddled in the Mumbai-Pune highway, Lonavala and Khandala are two charming hill stations just around 5 kilometres apart. These lace the western slopes of the Sahyadris and are quite popular with tourists for the hills, cool breeze, the greenery, the cascading waterfalls, caves, lakes, and lots more...

Scenic beauty and the proximity to Mumbai has made these two hill stations a great favourite with film makers, and hence you may find the locale here to be quite familiar.

Both hill stations have been blessed with an abundance of scenic beauty though Khandala is the smaller and the calmer of the two. The monsoons see tourist thronging the place in hundreds. The mist and the crispy air, coupled with the falls and the hills form an interesting combination that most visitors find worth exploring.

There is a strange but interesting story about the 1000 years old Bedsa caves. It is believed that all the details and the entire history revolving around the caves was carved out on the cave walls for all to read. However, a local officer in order to please his seniors, had it all painted over when a British Officer was to visit the region. Due to lack of evidence that could substantiate it, this story, about important artifacts being lost forever, remains just that - a story.