Family trip Pune to Guhagar Chiplun Koyna Dam

It was Feb ending and climate was colder. We were having wedding invitation of my wife’s relative in Satara. Since wedding was on Friday, I have to anyways take a one day leave from office so my mind started thinking if we can stretch this plan little further to satisfy my travel thirst which finally lead us to an trip to Guhagar.

Guhagar is a Town in Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra State, India. It belongs to Konkan region and has humid weather. Chiplun is nearest railway station while Guhagar has frequent State Transport buses available.

Guhagar beach is not like other commercialized beach like Alibaug, Kashid or Nagaon but is very secluded , clean and romantic beach.

Day 1:

We left in the morning around 9 am from Pune as wedding was at 12.45 pm. Since Pune to Satara is straight highway drive and it was not weekend we reached wedding destination within 2 hours 15 minutes due to less traffic. We attended wedding and left from there around 4 pm. We reached to Umbraj in 45 minutes and had some tea and snack. Near Umbraj ST stand there are many small hotels which serves good tea. We have to take right turn from here and continue on “Umbraj-Chiplun” road towards Patan.

You have to drive through Kumbharli ghat after Patan which is pretty long and you have to be cautious while driving in the night. By the time we reached Chiplun it was almost 9 pm so we decided to halt in Chiplun only tonight. I called one of my friend who suggested me to stay me at Hotel Atithi. Rooms were pretty clean, decent and large and OK for night stay.

Room in Hotel Atithi at Chiplun on Trip to Guhagar

4 Bed room at Hotel Atithi-Chiplun

There is food available in hotel (in basement there is Bar cum resto) but we wanted to try famous hotel in Chiplun for non-veg so we went to Hotel Abhishek for dinner. Food was awesome and you will love it if you are non-vegetarian specially Fish lover J

Fish Dinner in Hotel Abhishek at Chiplun on Trip to Guhagar

Dinner at Hotel Abhishek-Chiplun

Route followed: Pune > Satara > Umbraj > Patan > Chiplun

Hotel Atithi – Car parking available, For 4 bed 1200 rs. (5 people can easily accommodate in 4 bed room as well), For 2 Bed 800 rs., Bar/resto and Axis ATM in the basement, Nearby Chiplun Bus-stand

Hotel Abhishek – Amazing Sea-food, Parking opposite to hotel available(they will guide you), AC/Non-AC sitting available, Ordered Pomfret fry-300 rs, kolambi fry-200 rs, Bombil fry-90 rs, Thali-270 rs.

Day2:

Hot water was available from 7 to 10 so we wake up early and checked-out hotel at 10 am. Here are some snaps of Hotel in the morning.

View of hotel Atithi from outside in Chiplun on trip to Guhagar

View of hotel Atithi from outside in the morning

Board of "Places to visit near Chiplun" at Hotel Atithi in Guhagar

Board of “Places to visit near Chiplun” hanged at Hotel Atithi

We had breakfast at Hotel Abhiruchi which was very tasty. Abhiruchi is nearby by Atithi only but you have to come little backward towards opposite side. We ordered Meduvada, Onion Uttapa and Tea.

We left Chiplun for Guhagar but decided to visit famous “Parshuram Temple” in Chiplun. It’s 11 km away from hotel and there is very narrow and steep high road patch so you have to be careful but it’s for only 2-3 mins patch. Rest road is good. Temple is very huge and cleanly maintained. There is small lake also in temple area. We brought some “Coconut wadi” from stall near temple there and continued to Guhagar.

Parshuram Temple

Pic of tortoise found in the lake situated inside temple

Narrow road reaching to Parshuram temple

Soon we left from temple towards Guhagar as we have planned our lunch at hotel and it was almost 12 pm now.

Nature On the way for trip to Guhagar Beach

On the way we found this scenic location so we stopped by to take some clicks

We reached Guhagar at around 2 pm. We already done booking at “Ramkamal Homestays” and given order of Veg Thali over the phone in morning itself hence we were relaxed.

When we reached our food was ready and Mr. Sham Aathvale was ready to welcome us. Since we were very tired we first got freshen up and then had a delicious lunch. Mr. Sham also served us tasty Ukadiche Modak.

Room view at Ramkamal HomeStay-1

After lunch we had a quick round of their back-side farm and then we headed for Anjanvel as Light house is open only from 3 to 5 pm so we need to rush. We just reached at 4.50 and luckily we got to get inside house from where view was simply beautiful.

View from Light House- Anjanvel

Note that last staircase going upward in light house is very steep so old people can not go upward. Due to this, my mother could not come on top of house.

From there, just 5 mins ahead (by drive) there is GopalGad fort and Dolphin view point. Fort has only few steps but not well maintained. View from Fort is also breath taking. Inside fort we had a chill Kokam Sarbat from small shop. Entry to fort is from private property but open for visitors. There is no entry fee.

Dolphin point view

Since, it was about to Sun-set we have to again rush as we don’t want to miss Sun-set view from Guhagar beach so we quickly went back to the hotel and parked car in hotel as beach is just behind the hotel and of walkable 2 min distance from backyard farm. As we reached on beach, there was still 10-15 mins for sun-set so we were lucky again. We immediately took some quick snaps and also had sea shore walking on sand.

Sunset !!

Beach !!

Beautiful lining of Sunset !

Later we visited Vyadeshwar temple (Lord Shiv) which is also 5 mins walking distance from beach and inside main Guhagar market. There are also many smaller food stalls around temple which sell authentic Kokani food like cashew, Kokam, chuttany etc. We also brought some cashew, Kokam sarbat bottle and few home made papad.

We returned to hotel and it was almost 8 pm. We gotten up fresh and now feeling hungry. Mr. Sham is pure veg but he already planned us non-veg home made food at nearby house of Mr. Chandrakant More. You can either buy your own fish and give him for cooking or they can also buy for us on your behalf. Without wasting time, we went to their place and dinner was ready. We had a dinner which was authentic home made food. we returned back to hotel and went to bed immediately as we were very tired.

Hotel Abhiruchi : Parking available, 5 mins from Hotel Atithi

Ramkamal Homestays: 1200 rs. Per room, Parking available, beach 2 mins from room, Lunch- 130 veg Thali, 20 rs. per modak, Breakfast: Thaleepith 3×50=150 rs and Amboli: 3×20 = 60 rs

Dinner@ Mr. More:surmai Thali 300 rs per plate ( as Pomfrate was not available in market that day), extra Prawns masala 100 rs

Anjawel light house: timing is just 3 to 5 pm, 10 rs. Per head entry for adult and 3 rs. For child

Gopalgad fort and Dolphin sea view point : Good sea view, Fort, rarely dolphin can be seen from here

Vyadeshwar temple : Very near to beach, parking can be done near roadside, open till late evening, can go after watching sun-set

Day3:

In morning we decided to have breakfast at Mr. Athavle only as we impressed from yesterday’s lunch so we already given breakfast order yesterday itself. Meanwhile breakfast was getting ready, we went to beach again (without having bath) and enjoyed in the beach water. Guhagar beach is very clean and safe for children as well as adults. It’s not very crowded also so you get your own privacy. We enjoyed there almost 1.5 hr and then came back to hotel and had a bath due to salty water.

Guhagar Beach

Meanwhile our breakfast was ready and we have Aamboliand Thalipeeth which was very delicious. Chutteny and Dahi severed was also very tasty. After breakfast we had some snaps of their backyard farm which is very beautiful and nicely maintained.

Backyard view of Ramkamal Homestay- Beach is 2 mins from here !

Supari found in Farm near Guhagar beach , kokan

Mr. Sham was kind to give us some Supari from his Backyard

We also visited Durga Devi Temple in the morning after breakfast which is less than 1 km from Guhagar beach towards Anjanwel. Temple is good and peaceful. There is parking available but you have to pay 10 rs.

Picture taken from Backside of Durga Temple

We came back and then ready for check-out. Mr. Sham is very nice person and we thanked him for wonderful stay and service and then left from there.

Prakash Katwate with Mr. Sham at Guhagar beach, Kokan

Mr. Sham in the extreme right side..He is very nice person

En route, we visited Koyana Dam for which I was waiting from long time but didn’t got any chance till now. Though you can not go inside Dam (as it need permission/pre-approval from Government), There is “Nehru” garden built by Government which offer nice view of Dam.

One can enjoy View of Dam/Reservior, movie about Dam and Museum which has very old picture taken during construction of the Dam. Garden timing is 11 to 7 and huge parking is available. Entry fee is 20 rs. per person and for watching movie you need to pay additional 20 rs. per person.

Koyana Dam-one of the largest Dam in the West Maharashtra near Karad Patan

Koyana Dam-one of the largest Dam in the Maharashtra

Koyna Dam near Karad Patan on trip to Guhagar

Koyna Dam Information

Guhagar beach: clean beach and 2 mins walkable distance from hotel, some beach activities available

Durga Devi Temple: Paid parking available, BhaktNivas available with AC/Non-AC rooms, Canteen inside temple with nominal food rate

Koyana Dam/Nehru Garden : Timing 11 to 7 and entry fee of 20 rs per person. Best time to visit is in Monsoon. Durga Devi Temple: Paid parking available, BhaktNivas available with AC/Non-AC rooms, Canteen inside temple with nominal food rate

Other destinations that we could not cover due to time limit and near-by are: