travel:
saputara lake
you can say the main attraction of saputara is the lake. located in the middle of small city, the lake is quite and offers activities like boating to spend your evening. apart from boating, you can also spend time around the lake where game zones are created for kids to have fun and not get bored. if you are hungry, don't worry as you are in gujarat, you will also find vendors selling street food like corn on the cob, maggie etc.
sunset point
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| quite and pleasant saputara lake |
one of the most famous and i found most crowded spot in saputara. the reason why the sunset is termed as magical time is because of the color and the beauty of merging two different worlds. see sun running behind the mountain and casting orange shade above the mountain, soon turning into black. sunset point is indeed huge surface on the top of the mountain where you can either just sit and watch the sun disappear, or take a ride on a horse or camel, eat some snacks at small shacks created or maybe try your hand at the dirt bike (yes right, dirt bike or simply bikes available for you to drive around the space and splash some dirt around). people like me will spend time at sunset point clicking the pictures! the point not just show a sunset view, it also gives you the opportunity to see saputara city from the top.
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| magical times |
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| resting time for them too! |
ropeway / cable car ride
just near sunset point, you have an option to opt for a cable car ride. the cable car / ropeway will take you from one mountain (sunset point) to another one and back. the view of the ropeway is that of a whole saputara city. it is at a high and in the middle of the way, a cable car will wait for some time so that you can click some good pictures of the city beneath you. the ride is relaxing and gives you the option to get a top view of saputara.
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| picture courtesy: gujarat tourism |
even though people don't go on holiday to visit the temple, or maybe some do, saputara also have a jain temple for those who wish to pay a visit. compare to other humongous jain temple around the country, this one is a bit small and simple.
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| jain temple |
garden
relax with your family or kids in this mini garden in the centre of the city. since saputara is a hill station, the garden also resemble hills unlike standard gardens. well maintained and good for evening stroll around the place.
gira falls
though they say gira falls is in saputara, it is around 50 km away from the main saputara city. you have to drive across the vansda national park to reach gira falls. the fall is huge and during monsoon, waterfall is quite heavy. during my visit, it was summer and fall had almost dried out. my drive was kinda waste, but the roads were surrounded by greenery making it a good drive. must visit during monsoon and winter.
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| not so attractive gira falls during summer |
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| but that doesn't stop me from clicking my picture :p |
boating
as mentioned above, in saputara lake you can have a peaceful boating experience. the best one is paddle one where you are excited to paddle and go inside or edge of the lake, but the return journey is where we all struggle. the pain soon vanishes as we come closer and closer to the point of giving back the boat. doing all this in the one hour given to us is indeed fun!
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| boating in the saputara lake |
paragliding
this is probably the new sport started in saputara. paragliding spot is closer to jain temple. it takes you around the mountain and back in 20-30 minute ride. the entire setup look quite organise and during my visit, i haven't heard of any bad stories. the view of mountain from sunset point looks good, but experiencing the same closer with guiding over them with parachute, must do experience.
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| picture courtesy: gujarat tourism |
we stayed outside saputara in the area called hatgad. since we are club mahindra member, they recently acquired a hotel in hatgad and re-branded as club mahindra hatgad. the hotel is on your way to saputara. compared to other club mahindra hotels, i found this one little small. the rooms are decent. they are in the process of converting the hotel into club mahindra hotel and basic standard of club mahindra is followed. the evenings are filled with entertainment provided by the hotel staff. as for the breakfast, the options are limited. we reached before check-in time and instead of waiting, we had our lunch in the hotel. the staff is friendly and when said no for dessert, they offered us complimentary dessert.
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| entrance of club mahindra hatgad |
eat:
being in the state of gujarat, saputara offers many options for street food. my personal favourite from the streets is hot corn on the cob. in gujarat, you get the boiled corn unlike other states where it is roasted. this corn on the cob are super sweet and very good for munchies.
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| hot corn on the cob |
we had most of your meals in sugar & spice restaurant near the lake. it has many varieties in the menu from indian to south indian to chinese. the quality differs from what you are used to having it in the big city, however overall, it is a good place for food. there are many other restaurants offering different cuisines and ambience. vegetarian or non vegetarian, you won't find difficulty for food.
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| soup at sugar & spice restaurant |
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| anybody for a slice of pizza ??? |
saputara is not a fancy hill station, at the same time, it offers everything for everyone. whether you are looking at boating or spending time with friends watching sunset and giving a try to paragliding amongst the mountains, saputara offers all!
category: hill station and nature
location: saputara is located on the border between maharashtra and gujarat. the closest airport is mumbai and it is around 250 km. you can reach saputara by taking the nasik road from mumbai.
time: saputara can be reached in approximately 7-8 hours from mumbai. you can either opt for 1 day or 2 day stay in the hill station. ideal will be a 2 day stay as you get enough time to relax and also see surrounding sightseeing.
carry: in summers, do carry glares and a hat as the sun is pretty strong. similarly, winters can be a little chilly at night.
more pictures:
more pictures:
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| charm of sunset! |
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| road travelled less! |
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| everyone coming to a halt! |
labels: travel, unexplored destination, weekend getaway