Lonavla, 106km southeast of Mumbai, caters to weekenders and conference groups coming from the big city and is promoted by the local tourist board as a ‘hill resort’. This is a bit of a misnomer – there are certainly no soaring peaks in the background or precipitous drops to peer fearfully over, but the surrounding countryside is relatively pretty, if a little overdeveloped, and the air cooler and less humid than Mumbai. Lonavla is a long way off being an attractive town – its main drag consists almost exclusively of garishly lit shops flogging chikki, the rock-hard nut brittle sweet that is made in the area. But Lonavla does have one very worthwhile calling card – the nearby Karla and Bhaja Cave Temples, which after those of Ellora and Ajanta, are the best in Maharashtra.
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Around 50, 000 years ago a meteorite slammed into the earth leaving behind this massive crater, which measures some 2km across and 170m deep. It’s the only hypervelocity natural impact crater in basaltic rock in the world – impressive stuff, hey! Assuming this means nothing to you then take faith in the fact that, with a shallow green lake in its base, it’s as tranquil and relaxing a spot as you could hope to find. The lake itself is highly alkaline and, apparently, taking a dip in its waters is excellent for the skin. Scientists suspect that the meteorite is still embedded about 600m below the southeastern rim of the crater.
Maharashtra’s Konkan Coast – the narrow strip between the Western Ghats and Arabian Sea – will suit those travellers really wishing to deviate from the beaten track. It’s a remote, little-explored fringe of superlative beaches, disco-green paddy fields, heaped-up hills and collapsing clifftop forts. It’s not the easiest region to travel through; accommodation is scarce, the food monotonous, transport painfully slow and the locals completely unaccustomed to foreigners. However, the Konkan Railway provides access to some of the bigger towns while local buses help connect up the dots. If you want to gain the most from this area then rent a car and driver in Mumbai and drift slowly down the coast to Goa. You may have to spend some nights sleeping in villagers’ houses – be generous with how much you give. The rewards for your efforts are beaches of which the Maldives would be jealous!
Kolhapur was once the capital of an important Maratha state, but today it’s just a forgotten backwood receiving no more than a handful of foreign visitors each month. This is a shame because, with its proximity to Goa, a friendly population and an intriguing temple complex, Kolhapur is one of the best introductions to the splendours of India that you could hope to find.
Dating from around the 2nd century BC, these rock-cut caves are among the oldest and finest examples of early Buddhist rock temple art in India. They may not be on the same scale as Ellora or Ajanta, but the lack of visitors, pretty countryside and zero commercialisation make them worthy of a visit.
Built on the passing rail trade, you might be forgiven for thinking of Jalgaon as nothing more than a dreary transit town – which, in fact, it is. However, it’s not all bad news because the town keeps a couple of alluring aces stuffed up its sleeve. Firstly, despite a population of some half a million, Jalgaon feels like a small country town full of happy people. Secondly, and much more practically, Jalgaon makes a great base for the Ajanta Caves, 60km to the south.
Ganpatipule, on the coast 375km south of Mumbai, has several kilometres of almost perfect beaches and clean waters that leave those of Goa for dead. For much of the year life plods along very slowly but woe betide anyone coming here for a bit of peace and quiet during the Indian holidays (Diwali is especially busy). These tourists haven’t come for the hedonism of sun and sand though, but rather for the town’s seaside temple (235223; 5am-9pm) with its Swayambhu Ganpati, or ‘naturally formed’ monolithic Ganesh (painted a lurid orange), allegedly discovered 1600 years ago.
The World Heritage–listed Ellora cave temples (244440; Kailasa Temple; Indian/foreigner Rs 10/US$5; dawn-dusk Wed-Mon), about 30km from Aurangabad, are the pinnacle of Deccan rock-cut architecture.
They say that every dog has its day and for dog-eared Aurangabad that day came when the last Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, made the city his capital from 1653 to 1707. Though its claim to fame was only brief, the city retains a number of worthwhile historical relics, including a tempting Taj wannabe and some grandly carved caves, but the real reason for traipsing all the way out here is because the city makes an excellent base from which to explore the World Heritage site of Ellora.
A World Heritage site, the Buddhist caves of Ajanta (244226; Indian/foreigner Rs 10/US$5; 9am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) – 105km northeast of Aurangabad, and about 60km south of Jalgaon – are the Louvre of central India. The caves date from around 200 BC to AD 650 and, as Ellora developed and Buddhism gradually waned, the glorious Ajanta caves were abandoned and forgotten until 1819, when a British hunting party stumbled upon them. Their isolation contributed to the fine state of preservation in which some of their paintings remain to this day.