Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule

f1fan · 3rd March 2010, 23:07

It was one sunny day in Jan 2010 when my son asked me a question "Dad don’t you think its time we planned another beach night out". I was surprised at hearing this question from 5 year old. I didn’t give much thought to it but that statement lingered in my head. Actually he was right. My last overnight beach trip was in Feb 2009 when I went to Harihareshwar for a weekend.

So started the hunt for another beach in Mumbai's neighborhood. Places like Alibaug, Kashid, Dapoli popped up, but I also wanted to enjoy the drive along with the beach, hence thought of Ganapatipule.

The last time I was there was in the late 90's, when I was in college. It was a trip with friends and we had a great time. I still remember the hammocks that were there between coconut trees and the clean beach. Had some great memories of the same. We had traveled by bus that time round. So started collecting more information on the road conditions and places to eat on the way, etc. Here I would like to send across a big thank you to UdayDesai who helped me to no end and answered all my queries. Also the travelogues on Ganapatipule helped me in gathering additional information.

From most of the travelogues that I have read, it was clear that Sea View Cottages (SVC) were the best place to stay but unfortunately the first hurdle for me was that all SVC's were booked, hence we settled for the next best thing i.e. AC Konkani House. Dates finalized, tickets booked online and we were all set.

For folks planning to travel, following are some relevant information:

Distance: Approx 354 Kms one way from Mulund, Mumbai. Add approx 20Kms for folks coming from South/West Mumbai

Time taken for the travel: Approx 5 hrs 15 min. Yup, that's right and even I was surprised but the travel time was indeed a shade above 5 hours. Average travel time is between 6 -8 hrs depending upon traffic conditions on NH17

Attaching some snaps here. More to follow in the upcoming posts.

StarVegabond · 3rd March 2010, 23:12

Bring it on man, Ganpatipule was my daughter's (she is 8 years old) favourite beach. we have been there thrice till now.
but we want to go there again.

Nitin · 3rd March 2010, 23:22

Wow..now thats a nice beach!No one around, and not messy at all.
And nice shot of the sunset!

f1fan · 3rd March 2010, 23:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Bring it on man, Ganpatipule was my daughter's (she is 8 years old) favourite beach. we have been there thrice till now.
but we want to go there again.

Yup, same here. My kids had a great time down there and my wife is already demanding a re-visit come Oct 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nitin

Wow..now thats a nice beach!No one around, and not messy at all.
And nice shot of the sunset!

Yup, that's the best part about Ganapatipule. The beach is clean and not crowded, hence you get most of the beach for yourself.

f1fan · 3rd March 2010, 23:31

Day 1: Saturday 20-Feb-2010: With all the bags loaded the night before, we got up at 3:30 AM and left Mulund at 4:30 AM Sharp. Both the kids were sleeping in the back seat, hence requests like "I want to drink water, I am getting bored", "Daddy susu" which generally slows down the travel were to a bare minimum due to which I could travel non-stop till Sangameshwar.

We reached Motel Drive-Inn, Sangameshwar at 9:05 AM. I was contemplating on driving directly to Ganapatipule as both the kids were still sleeping but I and my wife were hungry, hence decided to stop for breakfast. Woke up the kids and post a brush-up session, we settled for some nice breakfast of poha, idli, sheera and upma. The place was clean and the food was good. An added delight was a sight of a train that passed by at that time and bcos Drive-Inn is located on a small hill, the view is great from there and the kids enjoyed seeing the train while sitting there and having breakfast. Thanks Uday for the recommendation of having food at Drive-Inn

Post breakfast, we filled up on diesel and left Drive-Inn at about 9:45 AM and reached Nivali phata in no time. I was not expecting much on the road condition from Nivali Phata to Ganapatipule as our governments are notorious in (not) maintaining SH's/etc but I was surprised on seeing the road. The 30 Kms stretch was excellent and I was at Ganapatipule at 10:30 AM.

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01295.jpg

Smooth but winding roads from Nivali Phata to Ganapatipule

udaydesai · 4th March 2010, 10:52

Hi,
Nice start. Even I was suprised that you made it ti hotel drive inn by 9.00am. I have done many trips to Ganapatipule but never did in 5 hrs flat. Best way to enjoy is to stop in between and enjoy some really fresh air, do visit during rainning seasons its worth the effort.

need more pic

uday

f1fan · 4th March 2010, 23:11

A Quick Jist about MTDC-Ganapatipule:

Pulled up at the Reception at Ganapatipule and was told that there are two sections at MTDC-Ganapatipule and Konkani Huts belong to the lower section which has its own reception area and restaurant.

For folks going there for the first time (or after a long time like me) the MTDC at Ganapatipule has two section. The lower section is at the foot of a hill and house the Konkani Huts. Every other type of rooms is at the upper section. The road to the lower section is a single track uneven dirt road and believe me, this was the worst piece of road throughout the trip. The road is so narrow that a couple of time, I had to back up bcos of an oncoming vehicle on that lane. I did talk to the reception and asked them about how long has this road been in this condition and he said "for a very long time"

Advantages/Drawbacks of staying at the lower section i.e. Konkani House:
1. Advantage - The A/C Konkan House is at the edge of the beach and an excellent place to stay. You can see the sea and hear the waves at night. Its literally like sleeping on the beach. Also the beach is more secluded, hence you get the beach for yourself.
2. Dis-advantage - The rooms are showing their age. The maintenance was ok. The bath tub looked heavily used and the furniture in the room was also showing its age.
3. Dis-advantage - There is a so-called Garden-Restaurant and they have the same menu items as the Tarang restaurant on the top section but didnt have any tandoori items like Nan, Paratha, Paneer Tikka, etc. They only had Chapati.

Hence if you travel to Ganapatipule by bus and stay at Konkani House and feel the need to have Nans/Paratha's with your food, you will have to treak about 15 min to get to the restaurant in the upper section. My guess is that maybe bcos of the off-season, the garden-restaurant did not serve any Tandoori items.

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01123.jpg

View of the Konkani House A/C. The first row of houses on the beach are the A/C ones and belong to the old lot of Konkani Houses. There are only 3 A/C Konkani Houses available at MTDC-Ganapatipule

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01129.jpg

View of the beach from our Konkani House

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01153.jpg

New Generation Konkani Houses

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01155.jpg

A tree fell on this house and flattened it.

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01158.jpg

If you notice, these new generation Konkani Houses have A/C facility but due to shortage of electricity, these are available as non-a/c ones only.

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01159.jpg

View of the playground with the new and old generation Konkani Houses in the background

f1fan · 4th March 2010, 23:36

Once the dirt road was traversed, we reached the reception area at the lower section and were allotted room # 1. Time was approx 11:00 AM. The view from the cottage was mesmerizing. The beach was literally a stone's throw away. We changed and hit the beach. As we all know, the beach at Ganapatipule is very clean and was an instant hit with the kids. Didn’t know how time passed and our growling stomach’s gave us an indication that it was lunch time. Came back to our room, refreshed and had lunch at the Garden Restaurant and rested for a while.

In the evening we did a small recee of a beach near Malgund (dont know the name, might be unni beach or something on those lines). That too was a very clean beach with very little mankind nearby. Had a great time there too. Post sunset, we came back and did some shopping at the Handicaraft’s shop outside MTDC where wifey bought some Dabholkar paintings as they were dirt cheap compared to Mumbai prices.

Post that, we had food at the Tarang restaurant and came back and crashed for the night

The Garden Restaurant at the lower section

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01152.jpg

View of the beach from the Garden Restaurant

Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule-dsc01139.jpg

Sunset at the beach near Malgund

udaydesai · 5th March 2010, 10:51

good going buddy, more pic are required. Good to see new konkani huts.
uday

kraft.wagen · 5th March 2010, 12:17

Beautiful beach, and looks very clean. The old konkani houses look nice.

sameern.85 · 5th March 2010, 13:36

This is amazing, I have been trying to go to GanpatiPule for quite some time now.
Thanks for this, got a lot of insights.!
Cheers

udaydesai · 6th March 2010, 11:28

Hi,

where is the rest of travelogue?

kannan666 · 6th March 2010, 12:37

Lovely pics f1fan, waiting for more ! And like udaydesai says, waiting for the rest of the narration !

mooza · 6th March 2010, 14:28

Hi f1fan, this is pure nostalgia for me! My best pals and I had been to this beautiful beach way back in 1989. It looks awesome again. The play area / gardens look the same too, though I do see fresh coats of paint!
Will definitely plan a stopover on my next Bangalore Mumbai drive.

Any idea regarding beaches and accomodation at Ratnagiri? Never tried them. Cheers

udaydesai · 7th March 2010, 11:42

Hi F1fan,

I have been to ganapatipule numbers of time, your pic have brought back memories of when we visited. I do make it to visit ganapatipule each year, Last year I could not visit. may be this year I will go during rainning seasons.

keep those pic comming.

3rd March 2010, 23:07	#1
f1fan BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 701 Thanked: 48 Times View My Garage	Beach Night Out - Ganapatipule It was one sunny day in Jan 2010 when my son asked me a question "Dad don’t you think its time we planned another beach night out". I was surprised at hearing this question from 5 year old. I didn’t give much thought to it but that statement lingered in my head. Actually he was right. My last overnight beach trip was in Feb 2009 when I went to Harihareshwar for a weekend. So started the hunt for another beach in Mumbai's neighborhood. Places like Alibaug, Kashid, Dapoli popped up, but I also wanted to enjoy the drive along with the beach, hence thought of Ganapatipule. The last time I was there was in the late 90's, when I was in college. It was a trip with friends and we had a great time. I still remember the hammocks that were there between coconut trees and the clean beach. Had some great memories of the same. We had traveled by bus that time round. So started collecting more information on the road conditions and places to eat on the way, etc. Here I would like to send across a big thank you to UdayDesai who helped me to no end and answered all my queries. Also the travelogues on Ganapatipule helped me in gathering additional information. From most of the travelogues that I have read, it was clear that Sea View Cottages (SVC) were the best place to stay but unfortunately the first hurdle for me was that all SVC's were booked, hence we settled for the next best thing i.e. AC Konkani House. Dates finalized, tickets booked online and we were all set. For folks planning to travel, following are some relevant information: Distance: Approx 354 Kms one way from Mulund, Mumbai. Add approx 20Kms for folks coming from South/West Mumbai Time taken for the travel: Approx 5 hrs 15 min. Yup, that's right and even I was surprised but the travel time was indeed a shade above 5 hours. Average travel time is between 6 -8 hrs depending upon traffic conditions on NH17 Attaching some snaps here. More to follow in the upcoming posts. Attached Thumbnails Attached Images Last edited by f1fan : 3rd March 2010 at 23:13.
	() Thanks

3rd March 2010, 23:12	#2
StarVegabond Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,891 Thanked: 42 Times	Bring it on man, Ganpatipule was my daughter's (she is 8 years old) favourite beach. we have been there thrice till now. but we want to go there again.
	() Thanks

3rd March 2010, 23:22	#3
Nitin Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 3,294 Thanked: 20 Times View My Garage	Wow..now thats a nice beach!No one around, and not messy at all. And nice shot of the sunset!
	() Thanks

3rd March 2010, 23:31	#5
f1fan BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 701 Thanked: 48 Times View My Garage	Day 1 Day 1: Saturday 20-Feb-2010: With all the bags loaded the night before, we got up at 3:30 AM and left Mulund at 4:30 AM Sharp. Both the kids were sleeping in the back seat, hence requests like "I want to drink water, I am getting bored", "Daddy susu" which generally slows down the travel were to a bare minimum due to which I could travel non-stop till Sangameshwar. We reached Motel Drive-Inn, Sangameshwar at 9:05 AM. I was contemplating on driving directly to Ganapatipule as both the kids were still sleeping but I and my wife were hungry, hence decided to stop for breakfast. Woke up the kids and post a brush-up session, we settled for some nice breakfast of poha, idli, sheera and upma. The place was clean and the food was good. An added delight was a sight of a train that passed by at that time and bcos Drive-Inn is located on a small hill, the view is great from there and the kids enjoyed seeing the train while sitting there and having breakfast. Thanks Uday for the recommendation of having food at Drive-Inn Post breakfast, we filled up on diesel and left Drive-Inn at about 9:45 AM and reached Nivali phata in no time. I was not expecting much on the road condition from Nivali Phata to Ganapatipule as our governments are notorious in (not) maintaining SH's/etc but I was surprised on seeing the road. The 30 Kms stretch was excellent and I was at Ganapatipule at 10:30 AM. Smooth but winding roads from Nivali Phata to Ganapatipule Last edited by f1fan : 3rd March 2010 at 23:35.
	() Thanks

4th March 2010, 10:52	#6
udaydesai BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: mumbai Posts: 296 Thanked: 26 Times	Hi, Nice start. Even I was suprised that you made it ti hotel drive inn by 9.00am. I have done many trips to Ganapatipule but never did in 5 hrs flat. Best way to enjoy is to stop in between and enjoy some really fresh air, do visit during rainning seasons its worth the effort. need more pic uday
	() Thanks

4th March 2010, 23:11	#7
f1fan BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 701 Thanked: 48 Times View My Garage	MTDC- Ganapatipule A Quick Jist about MTDC-Ganapatipule: Pulled up at the Reception at Ganapatipule and was told that there are two sections at MTDC-Ganapatipule and Konkani Huts belong to the lower section which has its own reception area and restaurant. For folks going there for the first time (or after a long time like me) the MTDC at Ganapatipule has two section. The lower section is at the foot of a hill and house the Konkani Huts. Every other type of rooms is at the upper section. The road to the lower section is a single track uneven dirt road and believe me, this was the worst piece of road throughout the trip. The road is so narrow that a couple of time, I had to back up bcos of an oncoming vehicle on that lane. I did talk to the reception and asked them about how long has this road been in this condition and he said "for a very long time" Advantages/Drawbacks of staying at the lower section i.e. Konkani House: 1. Advantage - The A/C Konkan House is at the edge of the beach and an excellent place to stay. You can see the sea and hear the waves at night. Its literally like sleeping on the beach. Also the beach is more secluded, hence you get the beach for yourself. 2. Dis-advantage - The rooms are showing their age. The maintenance was ok. The bath tub looked heavily used and the furniture in the room was also showing its age. 3. Dis-advantage - There is a so-called Garden-Restaurant and they have the same menu items as the Tarang restaurant on the top section but didnt have any tandoori items like Nan, Paratha, Paneer Tikka, etc. They only had Chapati. Hence if you travel to Ganapatipule by bus and stay at Konkani House and feel the need to have Nans/Paratha's with your food, you will have to treak about 15 min to get to the restaurant in the upper section. My guess is that maybe bcos of the off-season, the garden-restaurant did not serve any Tandoori items. View of the Konkani House A/C. The first row of houses on the beach are the A/C ones and belong to the old lot of Konkani Houses. There are only 3 A/C Konkani Houses available at MTDC-Ganapatipule View of the beach from our Konkani House New Generation Konkani Houses A tree fell on this house and flattened it. If you notice, these new generation Konkani Houses have A/C facility but due to shortage of electricity, these are available as non-a/c ones only. View of the playground with the new and old generation Konkani Houses in the background
	() Thanks

4th March 2010, 23:36	#8
f1fan BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 701 Thanked: 48 Times View My Garage	Day 1 continued Once the dirt road was traversed, we reached the reception area at the lower section and were allotted room # 1. Time was approx 11:00 AM. The view from the cottage was mesmerizing. The beach was literally a stone's throw away. We changed and hit the beach. As we all know, the beach at Ganapatipule is very clean and was an instant hit with the kids. Didn’t know how time passed and our growling stomach’s gave us an indication that it was lunch time. Came back to our room, refreshed and had lunch at the Garden Restaurant and rested for a while. In the evening we did a small recee of a beach near Malgund (dont know the name, might be unni beach or something on those lines). That too was a very clean beach with very little mankind nearby. Had a great time there too. Post sunset, we came back and did some shopping at the Handicaraft’s shop outside MTDC where wifey bought some Dabholkar paintings as they were dirt cheap compared to Mumbai prices. Post that, we had food at the Tarang restaurant and came back and crashed for the night The Garden Restaurant at the lower section View of the beach from the Garden Restaurant Sunset at the beach near Malgund
	() Thanks

5th March 2010, 10:51	#9
udaydesai BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: mumbai Posts: 296 Thanked: 26 Times	good going buddy, more pic are required. Good to see new konkani huts. uday
	() Thanks

5th March 2010, 12:17	#10
kraft.wagen BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Cbe <- >Ams Posts: 978 Thanked: 329 Times View My Garage	Beautiful beach, and looks very clean. The old konkani houses look nice.
	() Thanks

5th March 2010, 13:36	#11
sameern.85 BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Mumbai Posts: 84 Thanked: 3 Times	This is amazing, I have been trying to go to GanpatiPule for quite some time now. Thanks for this, got a lot of insights.! Cheers
	() Thanks

6th March 2010, 11:28	#12
udaydesai BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: mumbai Posts: 296 Thanked: 26 Times	Hi, where is the rest of travelogue?
	() Thanks

6th March 2010, 12:37	#13
kannan666 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: KA-02 Posts: 1,002 Thanked: 128 Times View My Garage	Lovely pics f1fan, waiting for more ! And like udaydesai says, waiting for the rest of the narration !
	() Thanks

6th March 2010, 14:28	#14
mooza Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,096 Thanked: 368 Times	Hi f1fan, this is pure nostalgia for me! My best pals and I had been to this beautiful beach way back in 1989. It looks awesome again. The play area / gardens look the same too, though I do see fresh coats of paint! Will definitely plan a stopover on my next Bangalore Mumbai drive. Any idea regarding beaches and accomodation at Ratnagiri? Never tried them. Cheers
	() Thanks

7th March 2010, 11:42	#15
udaydesai BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: mumbai Posts: 296 Thanked: 26 Times	Hi F1fan, I have been to ganapatipule numbers of time, your pic have brought back memories of when we visited. I do make it to visit ganapatipule each year, Last year I could not visit. may be this year I will go during rainning seasons. keep those pic comming.
	() Thanks