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| Making tracks
Matheran is 100 km from Mumbai and 26 km from Neral, from where you can get the toy train to Matheran, a journey of 1½ hours. You can get to Neral on a local train on the Mumbai-Pune line, a journey of 2 hours from Mumbai Central. The drive via Karjat and Neral is 108 km.
Best time to go
Though Matheran is a year round destination, the best time to visit is from October to May. Average temperatures range from 16° C in winter, to 32° C in summer. Carry light woollens for winter.
Room with a view
From simple lodges to luxury resorts, an MTDC bungalow to pure vegetarian guesthouses, Matheran has accommodation options to cater to all budgets.
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Wheezing and puffing, the toy
train chugs up hill and dale to Matheran, a picturesque, unspoilt hill station within
hop-skip-and jumping distance of Mumbai. Matheran remains quiet and unpolluted, so far
removed from the maddening chaos of Mumbai, largely because no vehicles are allowed within
the town. Here, walking or being rolled in a buggy by rickshaw pullers is the accepted
mode of transport.
Matheran infuses you with a sense of happiness, with the eager anticipation of school
children chatting and laughing on their way to school, the abandon of monkeys hitching a
ride on the toy train, or the buoyancy of urchins running behind your rickshaw and
chanting rhymes.
The countryside remains untouched and beautiful, even though Matheran has been a popular
tourist destination for decades. Thick, shady forests, steep cliffs that veer up to
dizzying heights, a silent waterfall, a lonely river, red soil and velvet moss for miles
around you. The roads are still unpaved dirt tracks and the greenery is allowed to
have its way. The pleasing disorderliness of Matheran lulls you into the realisation that
big city life has surely got to be very far, far away.
There seems to be an obsession with unusually named lookout points; Matheran has 33 such
points from where you can feast your eyes on the Sahyadris and the valleys below, and
admire rosy sunrises and sunsets. Walk up to Porcupine Point, Hart Point, Monkey Point,
Panorama Point and Malang Point, and hear your voice duplicated at Echo Point.
Perhaps the best part of your trip to Matheran is the ride on the toy train, through the
Western Ghats, through One Kiss Tunnel and myriad interesting little points along the
railway tracks. The journey from Neral to Matheran is a great way to unwind in typical
Mumbai fashion. Share your seat with monkeys and free loaders who hop on and off the
footboard, haggle with fruit sellers and vendors, munch on chikki and peanuts, watch a
card game balanced on a briefcase... A willing suspension of disbelief is required, the
rest is a joy ride. Just let down your hair and enjoy the real life movie within the train
unfold and the scenery changing behind the grilled windows. |
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