How to get to Matheran
Trains
If you are a Early bird and want to see the sunrise from the
beautiful hills you need to arrive before 7:00 so for that you can take Palashari Local 96003 which departs
from CST at 4:25am and arrives on Neral Station at 6:25am. Then get a taxi till
Matheran Otherwise there are many locals at different times of the day.
By road
If you are going by road
you need to go through Badlapur road then I prefer you to park your vehicles on
a safe place down of the hill because its very difficult and obviously risky to
drive up to the hill,there are no wide roads and often there are no barriers to
save you from falling of the hill.So halt your vehicle down the hill and take a
taxi instead, the taxi walla’s are used to the small roads and steep turns.I
had driven onto the hill but it was a near death experience and if at all you
have a small vehicle like alto then it turns out to be even miserable.
By walk
If you are a good trekker then you can trek up from Matheran
to Neral.
Toy train
As of now the toy train is closed due to a fatal accident.
Things to do in Matheran
Horse riding
If you love animals and adventure then you can travel to
places in Matheran by these well trained horses.Interessting thing about these
horses is that each of them has a different name,some horses have even names
like Bahubali and Kattapa.My horse was “Swabhimaan” and it was a wonderful one
he listened to all instructions.You also get a horseman for controlling them
but you can even ride them yourself upto certain extent.
Packages for riding these horses:
·
5 Viewpoints-Rs.800
Duration:2 ½ hours
·
9 Viewpoints-Rs.1600
Duration:4 hours
Naughty monkeys
If you really love animals then you can enjoy feeding these
friendly monkeys by your hand(Please don’t feed them anything other than fruits,
peanuts and some Parle-g biscuits and beware when they are eating)
Beautiful nature
Matheran is 2400 ft above the sea hence it is cool and soothing.Vegetation
cover in Matheran mainly consists of Anjani and Kadu Jambhul trees.
The most common birds
are Bulbul and cuckoo and there are many other species of different sizes and
colours.
There
are many numbers of monkeys here they are a very common sight, leaping from
tree to tree or climbing the housetops. They are a restless race with bulky
bodies and black faces, though" some have a red or a whitish tinge in the
colour of their faces. It is a very funny spectacle to see their females
clutching their little ones close under their bellies and jumping or their
"Baba Lok" engaged in a hot quarrel. They never molest the passers by,
though in some of them familiarity with mankind generates such an effrontery
that they enter the houses and lay their hands on any thing they choose under
the very nose of the occupants.
What to wear
You must get into comfortable
clothes as we need to climb a lot.Don’t
wear gowns,sarees,jeans etc.A track pant and a t-shirt is fine.
Who can enjoy the most
Tough nature can be enjoyed by everyone it can be most be
enjoyed by teenagers and adults. Very young Kids and senior citizens will get tired.
Activities like horse riding are not preferred to those who have diseases.
What to eat
If your budget is high there are many 3 star hotels where
you can eat but as our title only says it will cost less than 1500 per person
so you should be not expecting very high end hotels.You must not eat heavy food.
There are many food stalls which sell cuisines like vada pav, pav bhaji, missal
pav, samosa etc. They are cheap and good. You must frequently come across fruit
stalls and juice corners, I prefer to eat fruits and drink beverages like Lassi,
Buttermilk, Fruit juices etc. a lot to avoid dehydration.
Expense table
Activity
|
Price in INR
|
Travelling by train
|
100-150
|
Taxi
|
160-200
|
Horse
|
800-1600
|
Food
|
100-300
|
Total
|
1160-2250
|
