Konkan road trip; Jan 2018

Getting booking of MTDC Resort at Ganapatipule on a public holiday like 26th Jan is like winning a million dollar lottery. Anyway, we were lucky enough to get a Premier Suite vacant and not we immediately grabbed that.


 That reservation was for 26h Night. We still needed another for 27th. Now there is a secret trick there. Due to the scarcity, many people do their reservation months in advance. So there usually is a lot of cancellations. So if you keep checking daily, there is high chance that you would get a vacancy pop up. Especially, there is a lot of cancellation just three days ahead of the booking date because of the MTDC refund policy. Thanks to this we got our reservation on 27th as well.


 The actual planning started a week back. When I discussed this in office, I came to know that road condition in the default route shown in Google Maps is not good. Instead of taking the exit at Karad and reach via Ratnagiri, it is better to take the exit at Umbraj and go via Chiplun. The added bonus of this is one can visit the green and well kept Koyna Dam Garden en-route and have lunch at the famous Hotel Abhishek, Chiplun.

The route

Our route

Let me digress a bit and discuss our overall route.

From Pune, I took the Mumbai-Bangalore Highway (NH-48) and took the exit at Umbraj to take Umbraj-Patan road to finally merge onto Karad-Chiplun road. This route is via Patan. Now to force Google map to take the route via Chiplun I had to add stop at Chiplun. Also, when I added Koyna Garden in Maps, the route from Koyna Garden to Chiplun it was showing some internal road via Kumbharli Ghat which I had discussed earlier to be in bad condition. So I had to come back to Umbraj-Chiplun Road/ Karad-Chiplun road tracing the same way. From Chiplun we took NH-66 Mumbai Goa highway. From NH-66, by mistake, we took the exit at Niwali which took us through some village road. Rather, I suggest take the exit at Navadi and take SH-106. Then near Chafe take the famous Maharashtra State Highway - 4 (MHSH-4) to reach Ganapatipule. Here is Google Maps link to the route: https://goo.gl/maps/vxS9XT9DbYK2 

Part 1: Towards Koyna Garden

205 Km

One needs to leave early before sunrise to avoid the outbound traffic near Pune. Especially in a public holiday like this, there would be a lot of traffic for Mahabaleshwar. So try to pass Satara by 8. For that, I targeted to leave at 5 am but was a bit late and finally started our car (4-year-old red i10 with 42000 Km in ODO) at 5:45 in the morning. It was still dark then and it would take another hour and a half for the sun to rise. 

Our first stop was near Shirwal at a small Udupi restaurant called Suyash. At 7 am, the sun was just rising and the restaurant was just opening up. It had some steaming hot Idli, vada, and sambar. The tea was also very good... not the usual sugar milk you get around Pune. Bon appetit!

Then we drove directly to Koyna Garden (https://goo.gl/maps/X5JEvXoCXgP2) and reached there at 10:45. Koyna Garden is a nicely maintained garden and park with artificial fountains and waterfalls. It was only 5.4 km detour from the Umbraj Chiplun road we were driving. The air was full of oxygen and we never knew how an hour had passed.

Now when you try to find the route to Koyna Garden to Chiplun in Google Maps, it shows some internal road through steep ghats. We did not take the risk and came back to Umbraj-Chiplun road via the same road and then drove towards Chiplun.

Part 2: Towards Hotel Abhishek, Chiplun

38 Km

We reached Hotel Abhishek at Chiplun at 12:30 pm. This restaurant is famous for its authentic Malvani thalis. The hotel is situated in a narrow lane and there is limited parking available. So try to reach early. There is also a Hotel New Abhishek by the main road but that one is NOT the original one. 

All the food was awesome here. This place is especially famous for the Kombdi Vade and Rawa Frys. We took one Kombdi-Vade thali, One surmai bhakri thali. One shimplya (Indian clams) masala. One bombil rawa fry and extra solkadi.

The wade was awesome. The Kombdi masala dry (country chicken prepared in Malvani style) was tasty both nothing exceptional. But the rassa (gravy) that came with it was superb! The Surmai (kingfish) fry was small and average. I think the fish was not fresh enough. But again the kokum enriched rassa was superb.



The Kombdi thali came with 4 pcs of vada. Superbly fried and crispy. The surmai thali came with rice bhakri which was a Ratnagiri specialty. This was the first time I tasted rice bhakri and it had the best of both rice and bhakri. But what stole the show was the Bombil (Bombay duck) Rava Fry and Shimplya Fry stole the show. Bombil was crispy yet soft-n-juicy. And Shimplya being a difficult dish to cook, was superbly done (amount of sand was very minimal).

Part 3: Towards MTDC Ganapatipule

85.2 Km ~2h

Post lunch we ventured directly towards Ganapatipule. From Chiplun, we took NH-66 or Mumbai-Goa Highway and took the exit near Navadi. As I said earlier, this was a mistake; albeit a minor one. The road took me through narrow village road which was in slightly worse condition. Instead, we should have continued NH-66 and took the exit after Niwali and continue onto SH-106. This route is around 20 km extra and takes 20 more min. But I think would have been better.

Any route you take you would finally take the MHSH-4 near Chafe and continuing SH-4 you would reach Ganpatipule in no time.

Part 4: The MTDC Resort Ganapatipule

Like all MTDC resorts, this one too is situated in the best location of Ganapatipule. Our first stay was at the Premier Suites. The premier suites are located at a secluded location 500m away from the actual beach. So, if you really want to be alone then choose this. The rooms are beautiful and right on the beach. There are stairs at the back of the room to reach the beach. Rooms are nice but as it happens with government-run facilities, not very well maintained. Here are some photos.

Location wise I would still prefer Tarkarli for the cottages and hammocks right on the sea. But as a property, this one is better maintained (but still has lots of scope for improvements) with beautiful lawns and gardens.

The next day we shifted to a non-ac deluxe room near the restaurant. It was in the front part of the society and had well-maintained lawns and gardens. The room itself was huge. I have seen bedrooms smaller than the toilet we had there. The room had a balcony attached with nice sea view and all. Here are some photos.

The restaurant at the resort was mediocre. It was too pricey for what you get. Service was too slow. Food tasted good though. 

Part 5: Towards Ratnagiri and back

Next day after lunch we went for a short trip to Ratnagiri. The Arrey Warrey road from Ganpatipule to Ratnagiri runs along the coastline and is one of the most scenic routes to drive in India. Like, right after a turn you see the great Arabian Sea with all her magnificence right in front of you. Breathtaking and mesmerizing to say the least.

While going from Ganpatipule to Ratnagiri, there would be numerous beaches along the coast on your right. Many of them are untouched and pristine. But some of the famous ones are Advika beach, Arrey beach, Warrey beach. 

Here is an original joke. It goes like when you are coming from Ganpatipule and the first beach you see and you go like "Arrey! beach!!!" because you are surprised. Then after some time, you see another beach. You are not surprised anymore but very pleased. So you go like "Vaarey! beach!!!" Haha.

Anyway, after a 30 min or so driving, we reached Ratnagiri. There we bought some Kokum, pickles etc. from the market. Filled our petrol tank and came back to Ganpatipule. While coming back, we halted for 30 min. at Arrey beach to enjoy the sunset and click some nice photos.

In these beaches, you can directly take your car inside and enjoy driving right on the beach. But be very careful, especially if you have a small car with narrow tires. Two of the five cars that came to the beach had their tire stuck in the sand and it took a lot of (30 min to 1 hour) hard work and embarrassment to get the car out. So do not attempt unless you are an expert.

Part 6: Food at Ganpatipule: Hotel Sameer

The restaurant at MTDC Ganpatipule was not at all satisfactory. Especially in terms of service and value for money. Fortunately, we heard about this Hotel Sameer which was just a kilometer away.

This is purely thali (set menu) restaurant with limited options: Bangda (Mackerel) thali, Surmai (King Fish) thali, Pomfret thali, Kolambi (prawns) thali, Kombadi (chicken) thali and veg thali. That's it.

All the fish were very fresh, and the portion size was good. The hotel was VERY value for money. I never ate that large of a pomfret in a 300 Rs. pomfret thali.

With the food came nice, fresh, and refreshing solkadhi. It was so good I ordered two glasses of it; back to back.

Here are some photos.

Part 7: Coming back - Towards Jaigad Ferry, Guhagar beach

We left Ganapatipule at 9 am the next day. This time, instead of taking the NH66 we decided to take the famous MH SH4 to Jaigad, catch a ferry at Jaigad Jetty and then continue towards Chiplun via Guhagar. 

The whole stretch from Ganpatipule to Jaigad and then from Jaigad to Guhagar was very beautiful. We met many groups of cyclists on their bicycles also. 

We made a short 15 min stop at Guhagar beach and then proceeded towards Chiplun for lunch.

Part 8: Coming back - Hotel Abhishek again!

While coming back, we chose Hotel Abhishek again for lunch. This time we ordered: prawn thali with rice bhakri, pomfret rava fry, bombil rawa fry (stole the show yet again), some dal rice and of course extra solkadhi.

The fish were all good. But the dal fry needs a special mention. Nice and thick tur daal with some freshly grated coconut sprinkled on top was mouth watering. Check some photos.

Part 9: Chiplun to Pune

The road from Chiplun to Pune was without any special events except for the three-hour traffic jam near Shirwal which continued up to Pune. We did a pit stop at Joshi Wadewale for a quick evening vada pav with chai. 

We reached home by 9 pm.