Lavasa

We visited Lavasa last week. It was really a fun filled day for us and I would surely recommend a day of picnic for a family.

Timings and Route: We started from our home in Aundh at 9:45 AM and took the route shown here.

Fees: There were no entry fees anywhere on the route. There was a parking fee of INR 100 at Lavasa which allows multiple entry-exit and parking for full day. The cruise charges are INR 250 per person with kids being charged INR 200. The bicycle hire was INR 200 per 20 mins.


Food: We took some thepla and sandwiches with us which we enjoyed at our first stay near Lavarde dam. We reached lavasa at around 12:30 PM. We had our lunch at Chor Bizarre restaurant which offered both a la carte and buffet lunch. We chose buffet lunch for 4 adults which served 5 of us. The charges were 450 per person but with taxes the total bill came to around 2250. We did not find it value for money but it was the best available at that place.


Activities: My daughter and everybody started enjoying in gardens created for kids play. There were swings, slides and many other items available for kids to try out.

After we finished playing in the gardens, we went for lunch and then went for cruise. The ride was for around 7-8 mins in the lake created behind the dasve dam.
Finally my wife insisted on hiring a bicycle and we alternately took double-rides on it. It really was fun.
There were other activities too like riding a segway but I told my wife to put a break on spending. We already arrived late at around 12:30 PM so missed using HOHO (Hop off, Hop on) bus and train drive. We also didn't visit all parts of Lavasa. I would suggest you reach early at around 8 AM so that you can visit all the attractions. All in all, it was a fun filled day.

Khadakwasla Panshet

We visited Khadakwasla and Panshet previous week. It was a nice picnic for four families.

Timings and Route: We started from our home in Aundh at 10:15 AM in the morning and took the route shown here.


Fees: There weren't any fees either on Khadakwasla or at Panshet.


Food: We were carrying some food with us including some thepla and home made cake made by my wife. We also were carrying some wafers with us but some kids in my car complained that they don't eat junk food so we took some bananas on the way after Warje. We ordered some bhajiya and pav-wada at Khadakwasla which were pretty good both in terms of taste and hygiene. At panshet, there was a restaurant where we ordered thali and some other items but we also had some sandwiches with us which the kids liked. We also took some nimboo pani which was pretty good.


Activities: At Khadakwasla, we only ate food and enjoyed scenic view of back waters of Khadakwasla dam. At panshet, we had one small garden at our disposal and a set of ball-bat that we brought with us there.

All in all, it was a good day of fun for us.

Pune Okayama Friendship (Formerly known as Pu La Deshpande) Garden

We visited Pune Okayama Friendship garden last week. It is a nice place to spend half a day of picnic.

Timings and Route:  I left my home in car at around 4:30 PM and took the route shown here. We reached there around 5 PM. The garden remains open between 6:30 to 10:30 AM and between 4 PM to 8 PM.
Fees: There are parking charges of INR 10 per car. There are entry fees of INR 5 per person too.

Food: There are no eateries nearby or inside the garden. Eating is prohibited inside the garden.

Activities: The only activity we had was to wander around and view the greenery. We also spent some time resting on one of the benches available in the garden.

All in all, I was surprised why I didn't visit such a nice garden earlier.

Barbeque Nation - Wakad

I took dinner at Barbeque Nation recently. The restaurant is near wakad on Mumbai-Bangalore Highway bypass. We went on a weekday when there was heavy traffic.

Food: The menu of the hotel is available here. The restaurant offers only buffet which consists of starters, then soups and salad, then main course and then desserts. The main course consists of two or more punjabi subjis, naan/roti/paratha, rice/biryani and dal.

We started with paneer, aloo tikki, mushroom, vegetables, etc... starters but they were a bit spicy and my daughter couldn't take them a lot. So my wife brought main course and some desserts for her.

I personally did enjoy the starters a lot. In the main course, we did not go for soups or salads as our stomachs were completely full and if we had gone for them, we couldn't have got space left for main course and desserts. Since it was birthday, they did bring a cake for us and we did have a cutting ceremony.

Charges: The total bill came out to be around INR 1960 including taxes. I found it to be a bit on the higher side but still worth visiting.

ISKCON Temple, Katraj Kondhwa Bypass

I visited ISKCON Temple on Katraj Kondhwa Bypass yesterday. It is a nice place to spend half or a full day picnic.

Timings and Route: I left my home in car at around 6 PM and took the route shown here. There is one route that goes via Dagduseth, Swargate, Katraj Zoo and we chose this one while going but it took almost one hour 20 minutes since there was heavy traffic. While coming back we took the route that comes via NH-47 and it is actually 10 KM longer than the previous but due to low traffic, we did not take a lot of time. There are different timings of different aarti's including Mangla, Shringar, Rajbhog, etc... The doors remain closed between 8PM and 9PM so please visit accordingly.

Fees: There are no entry fees. But there are places where you can donate some amount to feed people for free and also to collect some prasad.

Food: The temple itself has provided an eatery which serves a lot of varieties of food including pav bhaji, chinese noodles, manchurian, dhosa, pastry, chhole bhature etc... at reasonable cost. The food was hygienic and quite tasty.

Activities: The sheer grandeur of the temple made us overwhelmed. There are stories of Dhruv, Prahlad, Krishna, etc... carved on the walls of the temple. 

All in all, we did enjoy our visit to a temple after a long long time.

Rahul Restaurant Aundh

I took lunch at Rahul Restaurant last week. The restaurant is just at the entrance of Nagras Road, Aundh.

Food: The menu of the restaurant is available here. 

We ordered Spring Roll, Veg Manchurian with gravy and Veg Hakka Noodles. The food was a bit spicy for my daughter but quite delicious. The ambiance was pretty good too.

Charges: The total bill came out to be INR 570 which I considered reasonable for three of us. All in all, it was a good restaurant and worth visiting.

Shakahari JW Marriott Senapati Bapat Road

I took lunch at Shakahari last week as part of celebrating my wife's birthday. The restaurant is at first floor inside the JW Marriott hotel, Senapati Bapat Road.

Food: The menu of the restaurant is available here. There was a Gujarati food festival going on in the restaurant between April 14-30.

We got iced tea as welcome drink. Then we started with Gujarati as well as Asian Salad. There were in total more than 50 items, including Khandvi, Papdi Chat, Samosa Chat, Dahi Wada, Chana Chat, Patra, Patra Chat, Khaman, Fafda-Chutney, Kachori Chat and many more Gujarati items as well as Japanese items, Mushroom, Masala baby corn, etc.. Asian items. There were drinks like Mango Lassi and Chhaas which were both delicious.

Then we ordered starters and main course. We chose to order more Gujarati food like Surti Dal, Kadhi, Rice, Fansi Dhokli, Roti. Both Dal and Kadhi were of typical Gujarati taste and I personally enjoyed them a lot.

When it came to desserts, we had lots of varieties there too. There were in total 20 different desserts including three flavours of ice-creams like strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, Mung dal shira, Gulab Jamun, five types of sweets, pastries, and some other desserts.

We reached the restaurant at around 1:30 PM and it took us around 3:30 PM to finish the whole lunch tasting each item just once. Our stomachs were so full that my wife complained of pain and we didn't eat anything for the rest of the day to give our stomachs some rest.

Fees: The total bill including taxes came to around INR 1880. I considered it a bit on the higher side for two people considering that my daughter is four and her meal is complimentary.

All in all, it is worth visiting both for the ambiance and grandeur of the hotel as well as food.