[udaydesai]

I had some work in Kolhapur and 4 days of leave on hand, it was decided that to go to Trakarli beach from Kolhapur. Now the truth, I have read all the reviews on Mouthshut but no one has indicated how to reach Tarkarli beach from Kolhapur, also no where I found how one should go from Kolhapur, every one have said that distance between Kolhapur and tarkarli is 161 Km.After much research here how I went .
Kolhapur via gaganbavada to Kasal- Malvan – Tarkali
Tarkarli – Vengurla beach- sawantwadi – Amba ghat to Kolhapur (via Ajara)
As usual since I have to reach Kolhapur by 10.00 AM, we left Mumbai (Borivali) on 11/10/07, 3.00 AM in my Zen, as the roads were clear I made to Lonavala by 5.30 AM, we had a brief stop just before Lonavala after the Toll on expressway for a very hearty breakfast and by 10.00 AM was in Kolhapur. On that day we finished our work and stayed at a very reasonable hotel in Kolhapur. I had my plans ready for the next day with all the road maps of Kolhapur up to Tarkali.
Next day I with my parents was joined by my brother along with his wife, my plan was to leave Kolhapur by 5.00 AM, but could not make on time and left Kolhapur by 7.00 AM. We reach Rankala stand which is in kolhapur and from there we took right turn and headed to gaganbavada. I was hoping to reach Tarkali by 10.00 AM as we had already done our bookings at MTDC at Tarkali. But the road up to gaganbavada was very bad and some times very worse, I some how made it to gaganbavada. The ghat at gaganbavada was mind blowing the site was awesome we took frequent breaks on ghat; the drive takes you past a wonderful large lake and through dense forest. Delightful winding road. By 10.00 AM we were at vaibhavwadi and very soon we reached Mumbai Goa highway, from there we went to Kasal and from kasal The distance remaining was of about 40kms, we took right turn to malvan the drive was superb there was hardly any traffic and I would make up for the loss of time finally we made it to tarkali beach by 12.00 o clock.
There are around 20 cottages (10 ac and 10 non ac). We had our bookings done for a AC Cottage. The reception is in form of a house boat which goes well with the local landscape. The cottages are located in between tall trees (Locals call it “ SURU ” ) giving it a classy look. The rooms are spacious with all modern amenities. There are hammocks all around the place giving a holiday feel. There is a makeshift restaurant that prepares very limited variety, but excellent, food. The dining tables are facing the sea and it is wonderful experience having food watching the sea.
We had our lunch at MTDC, we ordered Malvani thali which contain one piece of fried fish, 1 fish curry, 2 chapattis, some rice and one veg , so for five member our bill was RS 500/-
After a well-deserved sleep, all of us got ready and then headed towards the beach which was just touching our resort and you could walk down. This beach was somewhat like a private beach.
Even after being a holiday, there were hardly any people on the beach. I plunged into the sea to have a swim. All of us had fun of our life.
After a great swim we headed back to our rooms, we decided to rest for some time relax and then head to town ( Malvan ) for some shopping. By 6.00 PM we went for shopping, brought some cashew, Kokum juice we decided to have our dinner at malvan, we went to a small hotel name Bamboo. The food was ok type. We headed back to our resort to retire for the day.
I went for a night stroll on beach, it was lovely.
Next day all of got up around 0700 AM, had our morning tea and all of us headed to the beach to get one more time before we leave for Vengurla . After taking a bath in the sea, had our breakfast at the M.T.D.C. restaurant, came back to the rooms, prepared our luggage and finally checked out of the resort at 9.00 AM
We checked out of our resort and went to Devbaug beach which is 7 KM from MTDC resort ( Take right turn just as you come out of MTDC resort ) his place is famous for the view of Karli river meeting the Arabian Sea. It was a wonderful site. We halted here for about 30mins, clicked some snaps, enjoyed the sun and the beach and headed back towards Malvan since we want to reach Vengurla. The road to vengurla was very good , it goes through forest with lot of tall trees and lot of small ghats, so by 1.00 PM we were at vengurla beach , we spent some time on beach and the back in our car as it was getting very hot, we tried to get booking done at MTDC resort , but all cottages were full, after some cold drinks we went headed straight to Sawantwadi, just before sawantwadi there is a diversion that goes to kolhapur via Amba ghat, Guys you should go by this route once, this ghat goes through jungle and it’s the longest ghat that I have seen, every were there was greenery with a lot of water fall, in fact we did stop at the top of the ghat where there is a big waterfall, and guess what there are actually steps made so that people can go up to the waterfall, we spent around half hour and the had our lunch at Kamat , it was nearing evening time when we left amba ghat, we headed towards kolhapur via ajara, the road conditions was very good with some rough patches, we made it to kolhapur by 7.00 PM.
Next day at around 2.00 PM we left for Mumbai, we made a halt at pune to visit a relative, left pune at 10.00 PM and reach Mumbai ( borivali ) by 1.00 AM
This was overall an amazing drive which gave me a chance to get closer to nature
And the only thing that I would like to say about the place Tarkarli is that it is simply amazing and it’s worth a visit for all.

[magiceye]

Hi, I wish to ride down the coastal route (not NH17) from Mumbai to Tarkarli via Alibaug. Has anybody done it of late? How are the facilities enroute? How many ferry crossings? Apologies if there is a thread already. Unable locate it.
Thanks

[SDP]

Good idea magiceye! I have been thinking about it myself.

By "ride", hope you mean a "bike".
During my recent visit to Velas, I met a biker who had taken this route (till Velas) and I believe he had taken 3 ferry crossings.. Mumbai-Mandwa, Dighi and one more.

The ferry at Dighi definitely takes cars as well. I am not sure of the remaining two. Have been doing internet-search myself, but could not come across any reliable information.

[magiceye]

Yes SDP. Plan to ride my Bullet on this route of which I have heard so much but now dont seem to find any detailed route/facilities information.