One day trip to Ekvira temple and Karla Caves

Ekvira temple is Hindu temple and highly worshiped by Aagri , Koli and CKP people of Maharashtra state. For some of them it’s also their Kuldaivat. So you will always find rush at this temple.
So we decided to visit his temple with family. It was Sunday and we left from Pune around 9 am.

Route followed :
Pune > Wakad > Kamshet (via old Mumbai-Pune Highway) > take Right before Lonavala

Note: Only 1 toll-gate of Talegaon of 35 rs.

Other routes:
• Come Via Express way and get exit at lonavala and then u-turn to Ekvira from old highway (longer route + has heavy tolls)

• Get Pune to Lonavala local train and get down at Malvali station. From station you will get Auto to the temple base. (Auto guys might charge you higher. around 200 rs. or even more so be cautious )

• From Mumbai, come via Express way > take lonavala exit and then left after Varsoli toll plaza (around 8km from Lonavala market)

I have shared exact route details are in Google map link at the end.

We reached in 1.5 hours. Just at the bottom of temple hill some people took entry fee of 30 rs. for our car. They also did not give any receipt to us.

Immediately after that, we saw there is parking place at the bottom of hill. But, You can either park there and start climbing hill or there is narrow road which goes till mid-way of the hill. So you can go till mid-way of hill and then walk for rest of the staircase.

Since, I have my parents as well with me, I decided to drive the car till mid-point of hill. Road till that point is very narrow and steep so you have to be cautious. If you are not proficient driver then I would suggest better to park your car at the hill basement only.

We reached mid-way of the hill in 5 minutes only. There is open ground there but entry to ground is very muddy so I decided to park my car at road side only and started walking towards staircases.

There are around 350 staircase to reach to temple and those are also steep.
On the way, there are pipes so older people can take help of that while climbing. Since it was summer, climate was very hot. We were lucky that we all have caps and scarfs to protect from Sun.

On the way to temple, there are many shops which offers Pooja thali, fast foods, sweets, toys and many other things to buy. So one can enjoy climbing by watching around these things.

Ekvira Temple near Lonavala Pune

We reached at the top of temple in 45 minutes. (we taken many pause in between to relax as parents were there).
Next what we saw is there was long queue for darshan.

Queue arrangement for Ekvira Goddess Darshan

We started in queue at 11 am. After almost 2 hours of queue we could able to go inside temple. During queue there is provision to seat so one can rest while in the queue. Also there is shade which protects you from sun/rain in summer/monsoon season.

Queue for Ekvira Darshan

Queue for Ekvira Darshan

Ekvira idol is very peaceful and powerful. We were happy that we had proper darshan of her. Many devotees were offering goat and chicken to the Goddess in the temple. Photo is not allowed inside the temple.

View from Ekvira Temple Hill

Karla caves:
These are great ancient caves just beside temple. There is 25/- rs entry fee to visit Karla caves per person. Cave are open from 9 to 5 pm. Many foreigners do visit these caves to study our Indian culture.

We paid entry fee and went inside. Inside cave there are lot statues and staircase to cave which lead to you kind of first floor from where you get good view. Overall a must visit place. We felt spiritual and calm after coming out.

Karla Caves Seen from Outside

Some more pictures of Karla caves and ancient Buddhist rocks.

Carved are almost 2000 years ago around the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, (as per wiki source) this place constitutes a large collection of beautiful halls reflecting upon a journey of the past Indian history and culture, narrating some amusing stories.

Karla Caves Snaps

It was 4 pm now. We started walking down towards car parking. On the way we brought some sweets (kunda and pedhe) which was tasty so don't forget to buy that to take at home with you !

You can find complete route of my journey here. Google Map Direction

Some useful tips during your visit to Ekvira temple :

• There is no washroom available on top of the temple.

• There is always long queue expected (mostly on weekends) and once you enter in the temple queue you can not move out so have some fast food packets and water bottle handy especially accompanied by kids.

• Ideal place to visit this temple is in monsoon as you get both temple visit as well as you can see and enjoy waterfalls.

• Try to visit temple before 10 am (if you can) to avoid rush.

• You can visit Bhaje caves just opposite side of road on the same day if you want. Beside Bhaje caves there is also waterfall. so if you are going in monsoon then do visit here. It’s only 5 km from Ekvira temple.

Karla Caves can also be visited during monsoon as there are many small waterfalls flowing in the rainy season and you get best greenery view from top of temple hill. There are stay options as well below bottom of hill which are budget friendly and OK for night stay (preferred for male group).

I am sharing pictures of Karla caves during my monsoon visit as well here. So it's up to you when you want to visit this place. At the end, you can go to this place at any season but I am sure you will enjoy the trip and location.