Lavasa Road Trip – A Perfect Monsoon Weekend Destination

The Petrichor has the captivating power to spellbind me and so did the Lavasa road trip. After coming to Pune, I realized that nature has various forms to entice me. And, this season is just incredible to explore the nature around Pune. Lavasa is a small township stylistically based on the Italian town Portofino, cuddled in the foothills, and a quick drive from Pune and Mumbai.

That evening, brewing the coffee cup in mess, we decide to go for a road trip to Lavasa the very next morning. It was a Sunday morning, at 9 am, and we all were delighted to embark on our bike trip to Lavasa. We rode off with the help of google navigator, one after another, on three bikes.

We took a halt in between (around 17 km from Lavasa) just to serve our selfie-mania. It was a breathtaking view of hills all around. The weather was a bit cloudy, and the breeze was cold, I absolutely enjoyed every bit of the brush of the wind against my cheeks.

Then we moved ahead. Pleasant rain started near Temghar Dam, we kept driving, and the view was beautiful. There were a lot of “bhutta-walas,” (roasted corns on the cob), and a lot of people were enjoying the tangy bhuttas. A lot of mango trees on the way, having ripe mangoes, suggested it was June end already. As we crossed the Dam area, the roads took sharp curves, and we zoomed on the steeped roads to reach Lavasa in the soft rain which grew thick in some time.

I and my friends halted at a tea point again to grab some delicacies. We could see the valley from the tea point and stood at the corner to observe and absorb the majesty. As we kept reaching up to the height, the rain grew more and more deluge. I was shivering, so were all, because of the windy rainfall. The feeling was just marvelous. We took a cessation and chuckled in the lap of nature in the wet jackets. We reached Lavasa at around 1 pm.

A single road and numerous colorful buildings greeted us. We posed at the lake and enjoyed a live singer, sitting at the lakeside. We were famished and devoured delicious “Pav-Bhaji” and coffee at one the stalls. Bored of the daily mess food, this was a tantalizing deal, and I ordered extra pav to gratify my appetite. It was already 6:30 pm when we started back with the soft rains over us. In the dark, we rode back on the steep turns, and it was chilly by then.

We reached back around 9:30 pm only to stop at one of the favorite eat-outs near the college and ordered hot cups of cutting tea and had our dinner at Rasoi. We reached back to our college after having our meal around 10:30 pm, which is the way before ‘in-time’ for a weekend which is 11:30 pm. Yes, we were not supposed to be out of campus post 11:30 pm on weekends without the permission of authorities. Yes, I know it is sad! Being in Pune.

The greenery refreshed me from within, a much-needed break, a wholesome outing, and fed me with new energy and doctrines to move forward. It was an excellent monsoon long drive I would suggest all to traverse.