The Complete Matheran Guide - Part 3

This post is in continuation to our last two posts where we share our experience of Matheran!

Here are the previous posts:

A Complete Guide to Matheran Part 1
A Complete Guide to Matheran Part 2


Now that we have reached Matheran which are the places we'd visit? What did we visit? Here's the map of sightseeing of Matheran:

Matheran Map of Points of Interest!

The map may look too cluttered and one might wonder that 2-3 days are not enough to have an entire feel of Matheran. But well, that's not really the case. A Matheran trip should at the max be of 2 nights according to us, since you would not really need more time that that to explore the place fully.

Eco point-Matheran

Most of the points look the same, once you get a feel of how it looks like from the top because after all it is hills and hills everywhere. The best way to explore would be on foot. But there's just too much of walking so at the end of the day-1 itself you would be exhausted walking. We were! But the trek of the first evening was spectacular to say the least. Here are some pictures from the trek. The scenery was mesmerising. The roads were mostly deserted because of the rains. The solitary trek of around 2 hours was one of the most memorable. So the next day we had two choices, Whether to hire pony/horse or to hire a hand pulled single-person cart.

Carts cost more than horse/pony.

Trained Horse-No need of Horse owner-Matheran

We obviously chose 3 horses for the three of us. A single guide controlled all the three horses! That is to say that he steered two horses with hands while one was left at will. Initially it looked insane but the horses are well trained and one really does not need to bother about. Our horse ride was quite comfortable unlike a few of our horse rides at other places (like Vaishno devi temple and Mount Abu).

Quite a few of the points remain closed during the rainy season because of the risks involved. So if you are venturing in monsoon  do get  informed about which points are manoeuvrable. Otherwise the horse owners may rip you off.  Also, they do sort of make fake promises about taking you too "n number of points" while negotiating but at the end you realise that they just create too many "points" out of their whims and fancies to get the money! Bargaining is a must but do keep in mind about their hardships and labour when negotiating. A good tip at the end is always welcome.

You may start at the Charlotte lake which looked brilliant to us. From there walk a bit further to the echo point and lousia point. A small temple is located en route.

At backside charlotte lake and one small temple

There are 28 points on paper. You may visit the once as per your deal with the horse owner but do include a lunch break in-between at MG Road and perhaps a point from which you can view the toy train!

For the Adventurers

Adventure seekers may try Valley crossing at Honeymoon point which involves crossing a portion of the mountain hanging on a rope! It definitely needs some guts to try and also it is one way. So you may ask the horse owner to pick you up at the other point. This and a few other points are closed during rains. We would have not tried it anyway haha as we believe in a safe and relaxed travel over anything else!

Caution:

Never ever keep your belongings loose during sightseeing. There are a lot of monkeys/langurs and they snatch anything and everything if kept lose. We escaped a serious mishap when we kept our backpack on a bench at Charlotte lake point. While we were busy captugin pictures, a monkey opened our bag and took away another small bag inside it which contained some very important personal things. Khushbu noticed it just at the nick of time and removed her sandals and threw it on the monkey in a split second.(An ultimate presence of mind from her!) Thankfully the monkey left the bag before disappearing into the bushes of the mountains.

They Posing for us! Matheran

Also, during our evening trek amidst the rains on the first evening, a street dog walked with us through the entire trek! That looked very cute but only until we reached near the market and found it fighting ferociously with another dog over some let over food on the streets. We immediately decided not to entertain any dogs at Matheran from that moment!

Horse Rides are usually safe but recently there was a news of a kid falling off and dying (very unfortunate). So it pays off to act responsibly and inform the owner beforehand to be careful and attentive.

Tip: It is better to fix a deal to only 3-4 points and spend more time at each place then to rush through all the spots.

Happy Travelling!

Read here about our review of Hotel Westend Matheran.

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