[cancerm]

Hi Uday
could you Pl give a detail route to go to Malshej from Mumbai as I too plan to go there after your pics.
Looks great

Rgds

[udaydesai]

sorry about missing attachment, re loading more snaps

[udaydesai]

Originally Posted by cancerm

Hi Uday
could you Pl give a detail route to go to Malshej from Mumbai as I too plan to go there after your pics.
Looks great

Rgds

You have to take Nasik road, further down the road you will come accross a kaylan bhivendi junction there you have to take a right turn towards kaylan, you will come across a bridge, after crossing this bridge take left turn and keep going straight you will pass ulhasnagar keep going straight, on the way you will pass murbad keep going this road till you reach malshej ghat.

[mobike008]

Very nice pictures, especially the first two. it is perfect receipe for a short drive during such weather conditions. I just love fog ( only when i am not driving)

[hvkumar]

To supplement what Uday said about the directions:

When you are coming on Eastern Expressway from Bombay, after Thane, keep going on the road to Nashik (NH 3). 18 kms from the Thane-Majiwade flyover, on the Bhiwandi bypass toll road, you will reach the Kalyan Phata - 4 road junction - where you will see signboard for Kalyan. Turn right. You will cross the Ulhas River bridge 3-4 kms down this road. Once you cross Ulhas River bridge, you are in Kalyan, but if you turn left, you bypass Kalyan totally and reach a T-junction - turn left (right goes back to Kalyan town). You will pass Shahad, which has the Century Rayon factory and township. Other towns en roue are Titwala (the famous Ganpati temple), Murbad and Sarlagaon, after which the ghat starts. Distance from Thane Majiwade Junction to Malshej Ghat is approximately 100 kms. You should take 2-3 hours for the drive.

[siddheshb]

Absolutely stunning pictures, especially the way the lights play in the fog... I am going there this weekend, I am assuming and hoping that not much has changed in the 2.5 years since you went there We're taking my Endy, 7 of us, and actually Malshej will be on the way from Pune to Bhandardhara, and next morning to Shirdi and back to Pune

[MohsinRoadster]

Nice pics.. some more pics of mighty malshej would make this thread even better.
Waiting more pics from Malshej.

[gsferrari]

Can you give me an update on the condition of the roads along the entire route? I am a Malshej regular but about 4-6 months back the roads were in terrible condition.

[arun_112]

Located at about 120 Kms from Thane, Malshej Ghat can be easily accessed by private vehicle or by ST bus from Vashi and Kalyan. By car it can be reached within 3 hours via thestate highway 222 (also called NH 61), which is in good condition, except the Kalyan - Shahad 5 Km patch and few spots just before Malshej.

Starting from Ghodbunder Road, Majhiwada petrol pump (odometer 000 Kms), 0nce you are on NH 160 highway, cross the Thane Bhiwandi toll naka (Rs 29) at odometer 005.9 Kms, take right at the large cross road junction on the NH 61 (also called SH 222). As soon as you turn right on NH 61 there is first Indianoil petrol pump on left, also Mahanagar Gas CNG station on left. Beware of the Mahanagar Gas CNG as people have given negative reviews of this station as they over charge or cheat my manipulations.

Continue straight till you see a left turn on bridge and crossing that will take you to Shahad, You will come across Centuary Rayon factiry o left at odometer 026.4 Kms. After this there is a dusty village of Govaili, where you will see lot of autos parked on road. The only good vegetarian restaurent here is Dajiba Dhabba. It offers Thali, Dal Khichidi, Paneer and other Vegetable, Dal fry, etc at reasonable rates. This is the only proper vegetarian hotel and there is no good food joint till Malshej Ghat and return, where you will find large variety with a good taste. So, either have food here or pack it for two days if you are a vegetarian.

If you miss Dajiba Dhabba, it is highly recommended that you try excellently cooked Poha (Rs 50), Sheera (Rs 50) and Tea (Rs 20) Coffee (Rs 30) at the Nilesh Punjab Restaurant (vegetarian) which will comes on right hand side of the road at odometer 037 Kms after 1.5 hours from starting point. While these preparations are very good, the missal is horrible. They remain open from 7 am to 10 pm on all days.

After this you will also come across Vruksha After this you will also come across Vruksha Valli Restaurant at 070 Kms with average food followed by Indian Oil petrol pump on right side at 071 Kms

At odometer 075.5 be on a look out for a very good place famous for its Tea called as Hotel Subhash. I can assure you that you that you will get the best tea here on this whole route. Adding to that you can have very good missal pav, vada pav and bhajjias They have basic seating arrangement with farm view.

At 111 Kms you will see a mandir on the right in a small cave also known as Krishna Bela point. Then you will pass a tunnel.

At 113 Kms you will find a narrow lane going left (can be missed easily so be alert). This leads to MTDC resort, the only place for cheap accommodation. Rooms here start from Rs 1500 for simple double bed room to Rs 3,500 for private AC bungalow and Rs 3000 for a non AC bungalow. All bungalows have valley facing balcony. There is another place Sushant Resort, which is 5 Kms ahead from MTDC at 118 Kms, but with good and lavish rooms starting Rs 6500 going up to Rs 12,000. They have restaurant also. Just outside Sushant Resort there is a eatery on highway which sells reasonably priced food.

Flamingo Restaurant at the MTDC serves reasonably good food at reasonable prices. They have good water filter for drinking water so no need to buy mineral water.

MTDC offers very good breathtaking views of the valley and clouds. They have placed railings on the edges for safety and benches for sitting and enjoying the scenery. There is a play area for children, wheel chair facility for the needy and a very large parking area.

Malshej Ghat is at its best during monsoons when clouds surround the resort and even spray fine mist on your face. It is for someone who needs a peaceful holiday amongst the mountains, loves the nature and tranquility. and certainly not those for those who look for shopping, crowds and interested in watching TV inside their rooms.

You can easily visit Malshej Ghat in one day from Thane, Mumbai and Pune as it is only 3 hours journey. You need to stay overnight if you want to see other nearby spots also. There used to be thousands of migrant flamingoes in the nearby lake but since last two years their numbers have come down drastically.

During monsoon season, from Friday to Saturday, MTDC is fully booked as Malshej Ghat is overcrowded. If with family, avoid going from Friday to Sunday during monsoon season. During off-season there is hardly a soul to be seen.

You can visit Shivneri, the birth place of Shivaji and see the fort. It takes less than 45 minutes to reach Shivneri from MTDC, and another 3 hours to climb up the hill to see the fort, and come down. There are two Asht Vinayak – Linyadri and Ozar. Linyadri will come 2 Kms short of Shivneri Fort, and for Ozar you will have to drive another 20 - 30 mins from Shivneri. But as the roads and scenery are good, the drive is enjoyable. Harishchandragarh Fort is also worth visiting.

Only Hutch and Idea will be able to catch weak and intermittent signals, so you will be at peace to enjoy the nature. Junnar village near Shivneri will be the only spot where all the cell phone servioces will work properly.

Upon return from MTDC, you will get petrol pumps at 164 Kms, 171 Kms, 179 Kms, 194 Kms and 203 Kms on NH 61. There is no CNG filling station on this route till you each Kalyan.

[ar.abc]

Malshej Ghat Travelouge

Hi all,

I had been to Malshej Ghat last month, i.e. December 2016 over a weekend for 2 day trip. We were a group of 20 people with 4 cars in all and I was driving my Celerio vxi CNG. The other 3 cars were a 2008 model Wagon R, Ritz and Hyundai Grand i10. All petrol cars. Each car with a full load of 5 people + luggage (except my car....no luggage space due to factory fitted cng cylinder and spare wheel occupying the entire boot!).

The trip went something like this:

DAY 1
1. 8AM - start from Navi Mumbai
2. Breakfast at Murbad
3. Visit Naneghat. For this one has to take a right diversion from the NH 222 (kalyam - ahmednagar highway). I was following my friend who knew the route. A small warning to all. Theres an ’S’ bend where the tarmac is completely broken and theres only stones + the gradient of slope is too steep and I had to race the engine on 1st gear with full load in the cabin while climbing up. While climbing down, the tyres were skidding on the stones and one has to be extremely careful - always engage 1st gear - no clutch while driving downhill on this patch.
4. 2:30PM - Reach Hotel Rainbow Resort (in the foothills of Malshej Ghat, just before the ghat begins). We had booked rooms here. Had lunch over there and relaxed for the rest of the day. There was a swimming pool at the resort and it was clean!!

DAY 2
1. 11AM - left resort and proceeded to Malshej Ghat. On the way there were plenty of spots were we stopped to take in the view of the mountain range.
2. 2:30PM - stopped at MTDC Resort for lunch at their Flamingo restaurant. Food was OK. They do have the best location in Malshej, especially the valley view rooms.
3. 4PM - started for Navi Mumbai. Took 3 hours to reach back home.

It was not very cold that time (christmas weekend). Almost everyone who came to know about my trip told me its not the best time to visit malshej but I think I got to see the view of the landscape which most people don’t see in monsoons. During rains its all foggy but I saw absolute clear mountain ranges and lakes for miles together - clear visibility all throughout!

The rainbow resort is a good place to spend a night although you don’t get a view as it is in the valley. We were a big group and view dint matter to us while in the resort!

Will try posting some pics here.

Route taken was:
From Navi Mumbai - Mahape - Shilphata - Katai naka (after lodha township) - additional Ambernath MIDC road - MIDC Badlapur road (bad stretch of road for about 2 kms) - Barvi Dam road - NH 222 (kalyan-ahmednagar highway) - Murbad - Malshej Ghat.

[ar.abc]

Some more photos from my trip

[Dodge_Viper]

Originally Posted by ar.abc

Route taken was:
From Navi Mumbai - Mahape - Shilphata - Katai naka (after lodha township) - additional Ambernath MIDC road - MIDC Badlapur road (bad stretch of road for about 2 kms) - Barvi Dam road - NH 222 (kalyan-ahmednagar highway) - Murbad - Malshej Ghat.

What is the condition of Barvi dam road and road post Murbad till Malshej?

[ar.abc]

Originally Posted by Dodge_Viper

What is the condition of Barvi dam road and road post Murbad till Malshej?

Barvi dam road is in excellent condition. NH222 kalyan ahmednagar road is also in very good condition. Only in the ghat section some patches of road are little bad but drivable at 40kmph due to some ongoing road repairing work. Otherwise roads are too good!

[Amey Kulkarni]

Guys,

Planning a bike ride to Malshej ghat tomorrow morning from Nashik Phata, Kasarwadi, Pune.

Please suggest route with good roads to Malshej ghat. Should we turn at Narayangaon towards Junnar or continue till Alephata and turn.

Cheers,
Amey

[Amey Kulkarni]

TBHPians and our biker buddies went to Malshej yesterday.

Monaro CV 8 (ST3), Siddy (white Duke 390), Amey Kulkarni (Ninja), Dr Tarun (Biker buddy, Z800), Tushar (Biker buddy, Black Duke 390), Prateek (Black Duke 390)

Route - Chandni Chowk, Pune > Nashik Phata > Alephata > Malshej > Khopoli > Chandni Chowk, Pune

Weather - 14 deg C



Bikes running butter smooth because of the cold air intake.

Nashik - Pune highway is getting built for a four lane road. Amazing patches inbetween with newly laid tarmac. Roads post Alephata were amazing too but a single lane road so you have be very careful while riding/driving as villagers and animals cross without even looking.

Stopped at MTDC Malshej for breakfast. Great view with average food quality.







Roads post MTDC are great and everyone of us were thrilled riding the long sweepers till Karjat.

17Kms to Khopoli from Karjat were a nightmare. Bad patches and too many speed breakers got us exhausted.

A lovely lunch at Kamat, Lonavala and back to Kothrud by 4pm.

All in all a great long ride to wrapup the long weekend!

Cheers,
Amey