Lonely Planet - EARTH

Pune is one of the major cities in maharashtra. It is much cooler when compared to the other cities in India. Pune is becoming a centre for business and education. History says that this city was once owned by Shivaji, the great marathi ruler.

Transport ::

Road :: Pune is well connected by roadways to all the major cities in India.

Railway :: Pune ia major railway hub in maharashtra connecting to all places over the country

Airport :: Pune has an airport located within the city and has daily flights to all the major cities.

Touring Spots ::

1) Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum :: This museum exhibits the personal collections of Sri Dinkar Gangadhar who collected various things over many decades. He died in the year 1990.

2) Pataleshwara Cave Temple :: This temple is located across the mula river. It is a rock-cut temple. The most curious thing about this temple is, it is unfinished.

3) Gandhi National Memorial :: The Aga Khan Palace located at yerwada. It is spread over 6 hectares and has the Gandhi Memorial. Gandhiji’s Wife died here when she was imprisoned.

4) Shaniwar Wada :: This is fort built in 1732 by the peshwa rulers. It was burnt down in 1828. Still the remains of the fort are present.

Karla and Bhaja caves were built by the buddhists  in thhe 2 century B. C. These caves as in ajanta and ellora are rock-cut caves. They exhibit the architectural brilliance of buddhist temples. These caves are not so popular as ajanta and ellora.

Transport :: These caves can be reached from mumbai or pune very easy by road. Its just 12km from Lonavla.

karla Caves :: These caves are at a few minutes walk up the hill from the plain. It has the oldest chaitya built in 80 B. C. It was carved by monks and artisans.Near the cave is a small hindu temple which draws many pilgrims.

Bhaja Caves :: These caves are at 3 kms from the National Highway . There are 18 caves here out of which 10 caves are viharas and the rest are chaityas. The Visapur fort is located nearby these caves.

Matheran :: It is the most famous and pleasant hill station in maharashtra. It is located on the top of the sahyadri mountains which is covered by dense forests on the slopes. It was discovered in 1850 by Hugh Malet. There is ban for motor vehicles in this place therefore making it the cleanest of all the hill stations. This hill stations is heavy populated with monkeys. The best time to tour this place is during May-June. It is not advisable to tour during the monsoon from june to october.

There is an entry fee for matheran which is charged at the railway station itself. Getting to matheran is an exciting thing as we have to take a toy train from Neral. Its a two hour travel up the hill.

Tourist Spots::

1)Panorama point :: sunrise point where we can get a astounding view of the sunrise.

2) Porcupine point :: Sunset poin.

Other places are Louisa point,Little chouk point and Echo point.

3)Shivaji’s ladder :: This is a foot path that goes downhill from matheran laid by the great marathi ruler Shivaji.

Lonavla:: It is a hill resort to the south of Mumbai(96kms) and is 64kms from Pune. This town is famous for its busy market and chikki(a sweet made of nuts). This place is preferred by tourists during the rainy season. Major tourist attraction at this place is the lonavla lake.

Kullu:

It is situated in the Banks of Beas River in the Kullu Valley, 1362 m above sea level.
There are many old temples around Kullu. Bishweshwara temple dating back to the 9th century.

Manikaran: Located 45 Kms from Kullu. It is he place where hot water sulphur spring meets the cold water from the glaciers. The steam that arise due to the merger of hot and cold water is an awesome sight. This water is said to have great medicinal properties.

There are many places mutually close to Kullu and Manali.

Manali:
It is situated in the Beas River valley is at an altitude of 1950 m above sea level.

Rohtang Pass:
It is situated at an altitude of 3979 m is a major tourist attraction. It’s a adventure point for skiers. Just turn around and you’ll see nothing but snow. It’s a major movie shooting spot too.

Solang Valley:

Its also a great spot known for its winter sports.  Parachuting, Paragliding are major attraction here.

Hadimba Temple:

This is a Temple built in 1533, is dedicated to Hadimba, wife of Bheema.

Rahala Falls:

Its located on the way to Rohtang Pass at about 16 Kms from Manali.

Vashisht:

Located 3 Kms from Manali is this hot water spring. These are also sulphur springs said to have medicinal effects.

Apart from these, there are many Buddhist monasteries around Manali.

Getting there:

Kingfisher and Indian Airlines operate flights from Delhi to Kullu.

Manali is about 550 Kms from Delhi, and is well connected to through road to Delhi, Shimla, Dharamsala, Chandigarh, Leh and many more.

Private taxis are also available.

This is a World Heritage Site. Unlike Ellora, Ajanta has only buddhist caves.The ajanta caves were built between 200 B.C and 650 A.D. These caves were left unnoticed and untouched until the british found them in 1800s.So much of the carvings and paintings in these caves were preserved well than those at the ellora caves.

Transport ::
Road :: This place is well connected by road to aurangabad(105 kms) and jalgaon(64 kms).
Railway :: The nearest railway station is at Jalgaon which has trains to places all over the country.
Airport :: Nearest airport is at Jalgaon(64 kms).

Touring Spots ::

1) Caves:: There are 30 caves in ajanta with beautiful paintings. Guides can be hired at the government tourist office. The first few caves are steeper than the rest. The caves are present in the shape of a horse shoe around the waghore river.All the caves are sequentially numberes except the 29th and the 30th caves. The caves can be differentiated as chaityas(caves 9,10,17,19,26) and viharas(caves 1,2,4,6,7,16,24,27) based on their style. Some of the caves(3,5,8,22,28,30) are closed.The cave 6 is the only cave with a two-storey vihara.

2) Viewpoint :: This place is called so because this is the place from where the british first noticed the presence of the caves. Its just few hundred metres from the cave. A path exists that takes us to the top of the hill from where a clear view of the caves can be obtained.

Ellora is one of the world heritage sites.All the temples here at ellora are rock-cut temples built by carving the mountains. Ellora has 34 rock-cut caves which were built by Hindus,Buddhists and Jains over a period of 500 years. Guides can be hired at the temple entrances for a nominal fee.

Transport ::
Road :: Nearest city is Aurangabad(30 kms) and frequent buses are available from it.
Railways :: Aurangabad railway station is the nearest railway stations with 2 trains connecting Mumbai everyday.
Airport :: Aurangabad has domestic airport and nearest international airport is at Mumbai and Pune.

Touring Spots ::

1) Kailash Temple :: It is the biggest rock-cut temple at ellora. It was built by King Krishna 1 in 760 A.D. It is a replica of Mt.Kailash which is the home of Lord Shiva. This temple is known for its architectural brilliance as the temple is very vast and is built by carving the mountain.

2) Buddhist Caves :: Of the 34 caves, the first 12 caves were built by buddhists.The buddhists concentrated on the viharas while building these cave temples.The caves 1-10 are very simple caves.The cave 11 is two-storey cave and the cave 12 is a three-storey cave.

3) Hindu Caves :: The caves 13-29 belong to the Hindus. The Hindus had much better and amazing architectural styles than the buddhists. All the temples were built starting from the roof to the floor. Cave 15 depicts the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu.Cave 29 lies beside a waterfall and is a masterpiece of the hindu architecture.

4) Jain Caves :: The last five caves were built by the jains. They are at a distance of 1 km from the hindu caves. Cave 30 is an imitation of the Kailash temple and cave 31 depicts the court of Lord Indra and is the best of the jain caves.

Note ::

Most of the caves are dark. So it is advisable to bring torch light.

Kanchipuram is located 76kms south of Chennai. It is called the temple town as it has many temples built by various kings during different periods.Every street in this town has atleast 1 temple.Its is a small town with silk weaving as the main occupation of people. Getting there is easy from Chennai.This town is well connected by road to bangalre and trichy.There is no specific season to visit this place. One day is more than enough to see the whole town. Languages spoken are English and Tamil.

Transport ::
Road :: Buses are available from Chennai(76 kms).
Railways. Suburban trains are available from beach station, Fort and Egmore stations of chennai.
Airport :: Nearest airport is at chennai(76 kms).

Touring Spots ::

1) Kailashnath Temple :: This temple was built by pallava king Rajyasimha in the 7th century.The main deity here is Lord Shiva.

2) Devarajaswami Temple :: This temple was built by Vijayanagar kings and is one of the most impressive temples in kanchipuram. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu.This temple has a mandapam with 100 pillars although it is locally called as “aayiram kaal mandapam”( thousand pillar mandapam).

3) Kamakshi Amman Temple :: This temple is dedicated to goddess Parvathi. The entrance of this temple has a large marriage hall with many ornate pillars.

4) Ekambaranathar Temple :: This temple was built by Pallavas and then it was completed by Krishnadevaraya in 1509. It is the largest temple in Kanchipuram spreading over 12 hectares. It has 59 m high gopuram and massive outer stone walls.

5) Vaikunta Perumal Temple :: This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The main temple has images of Lord Vishnu sitting,standing and sleeping.