[pkulkarni.2106]

Originally Posted by hserus

For lonavala / mahabaleshwar / sinhgadh - please make sure you are decent at driving on ghat roads.

Traveling in a hired car with your family is not the time to learn ghat driving

hserus, though your location is shown as Chennai, you have good knowledge of Pune and the adjoining areas. Looks like you travel a lot

Or you've relocated to Pune?

[hserus]

Originally Posted by pkulkarni.2106

hserus, though your location is shown as Chennai, you have good knowledge of Pune and the adjoining areas. Looks like you travel a lot

Or you've relocated to Pune?

I used to work very closely at my previous job with some colleagues at an office in Pune so was in and out of the city for 6 years.

Add - my wife is a shirdi sai baba devotee so we make frequent trips to Shirdi, another reason to keep visiting Pune.

[Archish]

Originally Posted by hserus

Pune is a nice town, great food and all but its hardly the place to spend 3..5 days. If you go to Shirdi then spend some time in the Ajanta caves as well. Search for tbhp threads on all these locations.

Zoomcar is available at Pune as well as at Mumbai. You can't drop off either a Zoom or a Myles at other than the exact same location that you picked it up so plan your route accordingly.

My suggestion would be to land at Mumbai, drive to Shirdi / Ajanta and then return to Mumbai. You could spend a day or so in Pune and see the local attractions.

I dont plan on visiting any attractions. I plan to spend all the time inside the resort resting and relaxing. Maybe a days sightseeing thats it! And a day trip to Shirdi. That too dont plan to stay overnight at Shirdi, want to leave Pune early in the morning and return in the evening. Possible?

After a search Zoom site tells me that I can pick up a car at Pune and drop off at Mumbai. I have use the code "PUN2MUM" for this. And its valid for only Ford Figo.

Originally Posted by freedom

Where are you planning to stay? In a 5 star in the city or some resort out of the city? I would highly recommend JW Mariott if you have the budget. If you are looking for something below that range, Courtyard or the likes.

If you are staying in the city limits, take rick/uber to move around. Driving a car in old city area is tiring.

And how can i forget food!! Puneites love eating out and each one has his/her loyalty to a particular restaurant. You will enjoy this place if you are a foodie.

This is where i need help. Want to stay in a resort as i have mentioned above I dont want to move around a lot. My budget would be 10k per day for the rooms. The place should have some activities for my 3 yr old. So would prefer a resort type place. Any good once around Pune? or should I drive to Lonavala for this?

And also food is the main reason we are going to pune, both of us are foodies. Could you pls suggest some vegetarian places please?

Originally Posted by hserus

For lonavala / mahabaleshwar / sinhgadh - please make sure you are decent at driving on ghat roads.

Traveling in a hired car with your family is not the time to learn ghat driving

I am quite decent in driving on ghat road. Have atleast 5L Kms under my belt. Have changed 5 cars so far and expect one have not sold any of cars under 1.5L kms. Have driven extensively on western ghats and also Himalayas. So thats no issue. Thank you for even thinking of such details with such concern.

[hserus]

Zoom figos are heavily abused and in horrible shape so would not recommend it.

That PUN2MUM is for point to point Pune to Mumbai runs, for example if you are taking a Zoom from Pune to reach Mumbai airport and catch a flight from there. It isn't intended for tourist itineraries.

If you want to just take rest and visit shirdi for a day, pick a nice resort in Lonavla or Matheran and spend time chilling there. Or just chill there, you can visit Shirdi later on.

[freedom]

Originally Posted by Archish

This is where i need help. Want to stay in a resort as i have mentioned above I dont want to move around a lot. My budget would be 10k per day for the rooms. The place should have some activities for my 3 yr old. So would prefer a resort type place. Any good once around Pune? or should I drive to Lonavala for this?

And also food is the main reason we are going to pune, both of us are foodies. Could you pls suggest some vegetarian places please?

Lonavala/Khandala is not that serene any more.

If you just want to laze around, spend 2 days in Mahabaleshwar. You are a veggie (like me) and I will recommend Hotel Dreamland eyes closed. They have a nice campus, game room, swimming pool etc. Plus is bang next to the main market street.
Their food (esp dinner) is to die for.
Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar also has its share of tourist points, you can opt to rent a cab and do local sight seeing as well.

Disclaimer : I have no association with Dreamland.

[centaur]

Originally Posted by Archish

I dont plan on visiting any attractions. I plan to spend all the time inside the resort resting and relaxing. Maybe a days sightseeing thats it! And a day trip to Shirdi. That too dont plan to stay overnight at Shirdi, want to leave Pune early in the morning and return in the evening. Possible?

This is where i need help. Want to stay in a resort as i have mentioned above I dont want to move around a lot. My budget would be 10k per day for the rooms. The place should have some activities for my 3 yr old. So would prefer a resort type place. Any good once around Pune? or should I drive to Lonavala for this?

And also food is the main reason we are going to pune, both of us are foodies. Could you pls suggest some vegetarian places please?

If you dont plan on visiting much I would suggest go for a cab instead than a self drive. If you plan to travel anyplace in Pune, an uber/ola is the best bet owing to parking issues. Also since you plan to take rest for majority of the time, the self drive too is just going to be parked but eating on your money for no good reason.

JW Marriott as suggested earlier is a good option. Is bang in the city and enjoys good connectivity to most of Pune. There is this one resort just outside of Pune before entering the E-way - Sentosa. You can try reading its reviews and then take a call.

There are many vegetarian places in Pune but depends on what you want to eat - Ala carte or thali etc. For thali, there is Sukanta just of JM Road. excellent and delicious food and complete VFM too. If you want to try something different, try Copa cabana in vishal nagar. Likewise there are many other restaurants in KP and camp too which you can try.

[hserus]

If you don't mind something slightly cheaper there's one at the other end of Bund Garden Road, near the Inox - about four star standard business hotel, but very well located.

https://www.thecentralparkhotel.com/

Quite decent food and acco, and you have a bit left (3..4k out of your 10k budget) to blow on shopping and such

[centaur]

If looking for something more expensive you have Sheraton Grand (formerly Le Meridien, costs around 7k a night or so) and another option which is Sun N Sand. As a matter of fact, Sun N Sand is available in all 3 places (Mumbai, Pune and Shirdi) of your visit

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by Archish

I dont plan on visiting any attractions. I plan to spend all the time inside the resort resting and relaxing. Maybe a days sightseeing thats it! And a day trip to Shirdi.

If you are going mainly to Shirdi, any specific reason to include Pune?
Pune - Shirdi is around 200 kms
Mumbai - Shirdi is 240 odd kms

Unless you are coming here for specific food places or nostalgic reasons, I would recommend flying to/ from Mumbai and doing a day trip to Shirdi from Mumbai

If you are in Pune, do check this thread though it has very few new posts
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...t-pune-37.html

Mods, please remove link if not relevant

[prateekm]

If you want to relax and aren't interested in sightseeing, I suggest you skip Pune and check out these nearby destinations which have some pretty good resorts:

1. Mahabaleshwar - Le Meridien
2. Shillim (Near Lonavala) - Hilton Shillim
3. Alibaug - Radisson Blu

What you could do is fly to Mumbai, stay at Taj/Trident/Oberoi and then drive down to Alibaug/Shillim and spend a couple of days there.

[noopster]

I divide my time between these two cities so let me contribute my $0.02.

Others have given good advice, so let me just build on that...

Originally Posted by hserus

So Shirdi is more or less bang halfway between the two. If he goes to Shirdi, does the night Shej aarti, stays the night and starts early morning from there - he can carry on for a comparatively shorter ride to Ajanta, stay there.

Then return to Mumbai - possibly halting at Nasik which is again halfway and has the Tulja Bhavani, Saptashringi temples, a lovely artillery museum etc.

I think that's a lot of ground to cover in the time available. Nasik/Shirdi can definitely be combined easily but Ajanta/Ellora/Aurangabad I would suggest parking for a future visit. The drive back from Ajanta to Pune is nearly 7 hours (driving time).

My recommendation would be for him to start with a Myles at Mumbai, drive back to Mumbai. Or start with a Myles at Pune, drive back to Pune. Either way this would work better if the itinerary is spaced out, and maybe exclude something from it as he is traveling with a small child and the kid might get tired out well before the parents. Frequent stops for diaper changes, carsickness etc etc will definitely push up the journey time.

Small kids should be fine- it's the older ones that cause havoc! As for the car rental recommendation, Zoomcar does offer one way service- the catch is it's only available on the Ford Figo. If you haven't already booked your tickets, may make sense to start and end in the same city- you can get virtually any vehicle you want!

Originally Posted by freedom

Where are you planning to stay? In a 5 star in the city or some resort out of the city? I would highly recommend JW Mariott if you have the budget. If you are looking for something below that range, Courtyard or the likes.

JW Marriott on Senapati Bapat Road fits well into the 10K/night budget! Apart from having a location that is central and also easily accessible from Mumbai, the restaurants there are great. The Courtyards are not in the same league.

Places you should visit
Mahabaleshwar (120km) - I would recommend you spend 1.5 days there atleast.

If you have half a day to spare, drive up to Mapro Garden, spend some time there and enjoy a lovely alfresco lunch of pizza, sandwiches and some awesome strawberry cream! This is the perfect season for it. The kids love it too- we took my daughter here for her first outdoor trip ever (barely 2 months old!)

Lonavala (60 km)- Avoid weekends. Just drive down in the morning. Visit a few places, have lunch and return to Pune.

Better still, time your Pune-Mumbai run around lunchtime. Take the old highway route from Pune and have lunch at Sunny da Dhaba at Kamshet (there are plenty of other alternatives too). Then join the expressway to Mumbai. Lonavala town also has places to eat but Sunny should keep you happy (it's the favourite location for Mumbai-Pune mega TBHP meets!)

Pune City - 1 full day is more than enough to cover Shanivarwada/Mandai/Vishrambaugwada/Lal Mahal/Kelkar Museum/Sarasbaug.
All these places are walking distance from each other.

You can try the Pune Heritage Walk - have heard good things. May not be suitable for the kiddo, though.

And how can i forget food!! Puneites love eating out and each one has his/her loyalty to a particular restaurant. You will enjoy this place if you are a foodie.

There's a whole thread dedicated to this, in fact. Enjoy!

Originally Posted by hserus

For lonavala / mahabaleshwar / sinhgadh - please make sure you are decent at driving on ghat roads.

Actually it's not that bad. The Kambakhti ghat is one-way, so unless you get stuck behind lumbering 18-wheelers you should be fine. Lonavala is a straight expressway run with only the Amrutanjan bridge area causing some problems again compounded by the big trucks. Practice defensive driving and be vigilant- you should be fine. Am assuming OP is a good driver

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Archish

Pls lemme know...
Which would be best resort in and around Pune that would suit my requirement for 4-5 days?
Best Luxurious hotel in Mumbai for a Night?
Would I be able to pick up a Zoom or Myle at Pune airport?
And can I drop it off at Mumbai Airport?
Is it safe to self drive to Shirdi/Around Pune/ Around Mumbai?
Will I be able to get around with a GPS?

Like others, I wouldn't recommend Pune for 4-5 days. Why not go to Mahabaleswar too? It is much more peaceful, and I believe now is the strawberry season there too.

Anyway in Pune, look no further than the Conrad. Its newly opened and is cheaper than the JW Marriott, and the rooms are much better. Its also right next to Koregaon Park, whereas the Marriott is a bit further away.

In Mahabaleshwar, Brightland resort as someone mentioned is the usual go to place and you can't go wrong with that. If you feel like increasing your budget a little bit, do check out Le Meridien which is a new property there and also supposed to be stunning.

As another option, check out Hilton Shillim Estate which is about half an hour outside Lonavla, its a huge property with loads of activities and each room is its own villa. This again is a tiny bit above your budget, but I would say check it out.

In Mumbai for the night, I assume you will want to be close to the airport. In that case the JW Marriott Sahar is great, or the new Taj Santacruz. Or if you want to stay in south Mumbai then the Trident at Nariman Point or the Taj president will fit the bill.

You will get around easily with google maps when you drive.