Lohagad Fort- A trek from Lonavala

Best season to visit – Rainy

Estimated time for visit – 3-4 hours.

Where to stay- You can stay book online for MSTDC guest house at Karla or in Lonavala. There are many hotels and this place being near to Pune and Mumbai must be crowded in Summer.

I stayed at Sterling resort at Lonavala. The staff is so courteous and North and South food was fantastic.

Food- Food and water is available at all tourist spots. But out of Lonavala city limits you will get only Marathi food.

Fort history – Several dynasties occupied this fort from Saatwahans, Chalukya to Maratha and Mughals. Most of the time it was with Marathas except in between 5 years with Mughals (Treaty of Purander). This fort is famous as the wealth looted by Marathas from Mughals used to be kept here same was as British looted India and sent the wealth to Britain.

Itinerary

There is absolutely nothing in Lonavala city as such except Tiger Hill point and 4 wax museum (high fee). So we added some more points in itinerary as below. If you have one day more you can add Lion point, Visapur fort and see some 100 BC caves on top of Lohagad fort.

How to reach – Lohagad fort is 52 KM from Pune International airport and 19 KM from Lonavala. Taxis and buses and trains are available from Pune to Lonavala. We walked out of hotel and inquired about some taxi jeep for local sight seeing. We settled for taxi (covered too and fro 92 KM) for Rs.1800 for 8 hours for showing us Lohagad fort, Bhaaja caves, Karla caves and Tiger point. Time was not enough so we dropped visit to Karla caves.

From Lonavala to Lohagad- At few places the road is tough and steepy

A must place to see if you are in Lonavala. If you are fit and healthy and looking for real fun of trek/explore you are at right fort. From the base to top of the fort there are 350 steep and slippery steps.

The stairs at the beginning of fort. I think these are recently constructed in vew of tourists.

So one has to rest and walk to the top to enjoy the surrounding beauty, monkeys, Pawana (I think it means holy not Air) lake view, Tikona fort and Visapur fort views. More than the the place it is the nature attracts you. I heard from locals that you visit Lohgad in monsoon is awesome experience and people come in large number to enjoy the green hills, forest and trekking in this season. Car parking is available at bottom of fort but car route is quite rough.

These are few points in fort. Though all dilapidated and almost vanished but still carry with them the footprints and whisper of past about the people who lived here and faced dangers of looming battles.

Ganesh Darwaja
Narayan Darwaja
Hanuman Darwaja
Maha Darwaja
16 angle lake
8 angle lake
Drinking water tank
Vinchu kata- About a KM walk away on hill fort.
Burunj
Laxmi kothi
Kabar
Mahadev temple

Ganesh Darwaza – In many forts in India we find the first gate to the fort named as Ganesh Darwaza. This is because Ganesh is said to be a Hindu God whose name we take while starting any event of life.

Narayan Darwaza- This is the place where every tourist takes selfi, group foto. You can imagine the uniqueness of the spot.

Hanuman Darwaza- The most robust darwaza.. He is our guide.

Tikona Fort- From one of the points in fort we can see Tikona fort. This fort and two more forts are said to be pearl for trekkers.

Pawana lake- This is most beautiful sight. Here some tourists go and do camping beside the lake. We can avail this experience and spend a night here.

Covered about 100 steps and we are now…..- The other guy is Shanker Rakshit and friend of class 12 and photo enthusiast.

Covered about 100 steps and we are now in front of Narayan Darwaza. It is second of 4 gates.

Horse stable – As the local guide told me this was stable and logically looks also. Horses played equal role in wars no less than the fort defenders.

This is the highest point on the fort. The dog here followed me from bottom to this point. It was the tame of my guide of fort.

Laxmi kothi -The place where the treasure looted from Mughals was kept.

Kitchen- Yes, it was kitchen logically. The guide also showed us the small reservoir where water was reserved for the kitchen. This reservoir is a few feet away from kitchen.

8 corner water tank- There are two such big multi-cornered man made ponds. Nana Phadanvees built these ponds in later time in 1770s.

Below is the view of Visapur fort. As per guide nothing is left there now except a big cannon and few dilapidated walls. But if you stay in Lonavala for 2 days you should trek to this fort. As per guide it is tough.

Synopsis

Though now completely dilapidated and washed away, yet provides a one of the most beautiful scenes and few whispering remnants like Shiva temple, Man made ponds (Peshwa Nana Phadanvees), kitchen, Lakshmi kothi etc and remind us the place where many battles were fought to get “Swaraj”. Even today these forts provide a means of bread of thousands.

Everywhere green even in month of October. But as per local guide in RAINY SEASON the fort gets so crowded by tourists that will not get place in steps of the fort.

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