Trips around Mumbai

Chill maar, daaru pi, aish kar are the three activities which i suggest when my friends ask me the subject question. 

But I have always wanted to travel, so suggest me a place is the expected reply. Well

these are places where i have traveled to in person and liked well enough to recommend. 

On a two / three day trip 

1. Lonavala/ Matheran: I wont recommend any of these. I did not miss out on Khandala; Lonavala includes Khandala, they are indistinguishable. 

Only Aamir Khan goes exclusively to Khandala. If the 'then' Rani Mukherjee would have come along, I would have gone to Nalasopara also if she so wished. 

Did you know - Nalasopara is the site of an ancient Buddhist stupa, the site is still being evacuated. Both Nitish Kumar and Laloo Yadav are waiting to find out when the first mass migration from Bihar to Mumbai happened :) 

2. Badami Aihole Pattadakal, North Karnataka: Drop off point Sholapur. An easy three day trip will include: 

Bijapur, Gol Gumbaz (picture below) - the second largest free standing dome in the world, 

Pattadakal - the temple school with miniature versions of all the large temples in South India and a World Heritage Site, 

Badami - beautiful rock cut caves and pristine natural surroundings and 

Aihole - famous chalukya temples, and a great place for lunch in this circuit. 

3. Mandu - Drop off point Indore. 

4. Jog falls, Panhala,  Kolhapur - Road Trip of 2000 kms

5. Pavgarh Champaner Vadodara Patan Mehsana Ahmedabad  - Road Trip of 1500 kms

6. Udaipur, Ranakpur, Kumbhalgarh - Drop off point Udaipur

7. Daman Silavassa - Road trip of 500 kms 

8. Shirdi, Shanishingapur, Trimbikeshar, Igatpuri - Road trip of 700 kms

9. Ajanta Ellora Daultabad Grishneshwar - Drop off point Aurangabad

Easy trip. Day 1 Ajanta and Daultabad. Do go to Mahmud Bin Tughlaq's masterpiece and present day abandoned by God and men fort of Daulatabad. An architectural masterpiece and an easy way to understand all that is wrong with the country today.

Day 2: Ellora and Grishneshwar

Day 3: Aurangabad 

10. Goa - :) :)

If and only if, there is the keen interest to sight see when you are in Goa for the fourth or fifth time, do hire a bike and check out Doodhsagar falls. Even better take the train which passes by it.  

11. Ganapatiphule

12. Harihareshwar Srivardhan Diveagar

13. Lavasa - Seriously! Lavasa! wait for a few years, your office will take you there whenever there is an offsite during a recession. I went there the same way.

14.  Mahabaleshwar

15. Alibaug/ Kashet/ Murud Janjira

Drop off point - A well connected city with an airport or a major railway station. 

Some more? Seriously! How many leaves do you get anyways?? Go and meet your in-laws from time to time, the spouse would be happy.