[kARTIK IYER]

Hi ,

I just couple of days back made a trip to a virgin beach called Harnai near Dapoli and found the place to be amazing and quiet and great place to unwind .

I stayed at a place called murud / karde ( not the murud Janjira one ) where all hotels have musroomed which is close to Harnai . The place is not so developed as a tourist destination but the place is awesome . Clean beaches , less of crowd , clean water and great homecooked seafood in malvani style .

Murud / Karde has alot of resorts and small time family run places which is very close to the beach . Harnai is about 4-5 kms from here a drive in between the villages . Harnai is a fishermens adda with auctions happening for fishes on a daily basis but no resorts to stay. Our resort owner said that alot of tourist buy variety and then get it cooked at hotels , few take it home in ice boxes .

Things to do : Laze around at the beach at Murud , Harnai . Go for a early morning boat ride to watch dolphins ( we had luck and saw a few but not the jumping and dancing types , just a peek ) Drive down to Anjarle a secnic drive which takes you to a famous ganesh temple . The entire strech is very secnic .

The place( Harnai , Murud / Karde ) does not offer big tourist activities incase you are looking at a comercialised locale . Infact the place is quite silent and tranquil. I am told that weekends and holidays is packed with punekars .

Dapoli is full fledged minitown with ATm facilities .

Route : Mumbai - Goa road NH17 - Mahad - Khed Junction to daploi and then left to murud / karde or straight to harnai anjarale . It may take you around 4 hours .

Road is not so good beyond Dapoli , but manageable .

Hotels to stay . Murud and karde offer standard and good hotels and resorts , i stayed at a family run place called saniya resort which is a 5 room place run by a family and is simple , neat , cheap one with good service.

Enroute from mumbai you can have breakfast at Hotel vithal Kamat at Mahad , good place to stop and go .

Petrol Bunks : You have alot of Reliance and PSU petrol bunks enroute .

You can read about this place in the Outlook weekend traveller book , my bible till i get a better one . Any suggestions

Regards.. Kat

[spadival]

Photos ..mate.. photos !! So far Outlook 52 weekend getaways from Mumbai has been spot on.

[Meer]

Hi Kat,

Any contact details of a good place to stay there?

regards,
Meer

[arpandiv]

+1 to the homestay mentioned here - Saniya Sea resort.
Went there over the extended weekend.
Here are two pictures





Route : while going : Mumbai-Panvel- Mangaon-Mahad-Right turn off the NH17 state highway for 94 km to Dapoli. Awesome country roads with zero traffic.
While coming back: Dapoli - Mandangad - Goregaon-Mangaon - Panvel-Mumbai.
Dapoli-Goregaon strech is via statehighways, Mandangad-Goregaon strech road is not too good.

[PrasadWad]

Do you have the contact number for the resort you stayed in??

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by PrasadWad

Do you have the contact number for the resort you stayed in??

at karde, there is hotel kinara.
its nice hotel, i had stayed there.
phone no--02358234633

[PrasadWad]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

at karde, there is hotel kinara.
its nice hotel, i had stayed there.
phone no--02358234633

Thanks for the contacts Ashish, I've already booked lotus resorts (initially known as Kamat's beach resort) since I got quite a few good reviews about them as well.

For the benifit of all, here are the details for the resort:

Website: Lotus luxurious Resort Murud Harnai, Aronda Beach Resort, Baroda Lakeview Resort, Silvassa Resort, Family getaway, business travels holidays and honeymoon vacations packages Goa
Phone: (02358 ) 234708 / 234709 / 234582
fax: ( 02358 ) 234828

I will be driving down on the 27th long weekend, and will be taking the Tamhini-Lonere phata-Goregaon-Ambet-Dapoli-Harnai route...

more upon my return...

[vikrantj]

I stayed in Lotus resorts. It is owned by Kamat's. And since I am a food freak we ate at a small place called Sai Savali. It is home restaurant. Amazing fish man and pretty cheap as compared to Mumbai/Pune.
But we went to Dapoli by a diffrent route before Mahad at station called Veer (on kokan railway) take a right and follow that road to Dapoli. It saves around 40kms as compared to Khed. But the road is a bit patchy at places but 95% of road is good and scenic.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

we went to Dapoli by a diffrent route before Mahad at station called Veer (on kokan railway) take a right and follow that road to Dapoli. It saves around 40kms as compared to Khed. But the road is a bit patchy at places but 95% of road is good and scenic.

please, more info about this route.
does this route pass through Mandangad?



edit:

@vikrantj-Yes it passes through Mandangad.

oh, then that saving in km does not materialize in time saving. road condition is patchy, narrow and not safe.

[vikrantj]

Yes it passes through Mandangad. Thanks Ashish, I was just trying to remember the name of the place.

[vikrantj]

Well I tend to disagree with Ashish. I had gone in Feb 2009 in my santro. We started off from Mumbai at about 7am from Borivali and reached Dapoli at about 11.30 -12pm. Which is pretty decent. We were 4 people in th car and I did not feel the road to be unsafe. Yes it is patchy in the places near villages but overall it is a good road.

While coming back I missed the turn to towards this road and ended up towards Khed and my cousin in his car went via Mandangad road. I ended up going Dapoli-Khed-Poladpur-Mahad-Mumbai. And we were off by around 1 1/2 hour from my cousin who went through Dapoli-Madangad-Veer-Mumbai.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

Well I tend to disagree with Ashish. I had gone in Feb 2009 in my santro.

I went by this route in sept 2008.
May be the road tared after that, good to know it.
Is this route you taken?
veer-ambet-mhapral-mandangad-dapoli.
the route is quite lonely but scenic.

[bhaani]

Been there May'09 and the road is quite good, bit lonely though but makes for quick time.
Good home food can be enjoyed opp Mandangad Bus stand.