Saputara - Calm weekend place. Review on Saputara

Saputara is located in Dang district of Gujarat, on the border of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Saputara is not so famous place. I would rate it as moderate; if you are visiting this place not by your own vehicle but by depending on state transport then keep this option last when you are tired of visiting the other weekend places, as here transport is a problem. I visited Saputara in the month of December.  Although it is not so famous this place is crowded in peak season.

It is best if you drive down to Saputara by your own vehicle rather than depending on State transport bcoz there is no direct bus or train to Saputara and there is only one bus which goes via saputara.  Saputara is a very small town. Half day is more than enough to cover the whole place.  This place is good for resting there is no sight seeing, as this place is too far from Mumbai I would suggest to visit any nearby weekend place like alibaug or matheran for resting.

We stayed in TCGL(Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd) hotel - Toran Hill Resort – Rs.1000/- per couple per day includes tea, Breakfast, one time Lunch/Dinner.  You have to book in advance as hotels are full in peak season. TCGL office is at Churchgate, Mumbai Contact: Tel. No: 022 22024925, Website: https://gujarattourism.com.  Rooms are good, neatly kept, you will get only Gujrati dishes, food served is unlimited Gujrati Thali.

Places to see –

Boating – The Lake is very clean and spread over. Fee Rs. 40 for ½ hr. or 1 hr(don’t remember exact time). Nice place to spend time.

Hathgad – Its waist to go there. Its irritating to climb so much and then find that there is nothing on the fort, it dont even look like fort. Even then if you want to go you can take share jeep near museum they take around Rs. 10-20.

Ropeway – This was a good experience. Infact you can have a view of entire district from the ropeway. Rs. 40 each.  You are not allowed to get down on the other side, once it was allowed so that people can see sunset.  There is also table land just above the starting point of ropeway from there you can watch sunset and go for camel ride Rs. 20 each.

Museum – Entry ticket Rs. 2 each. It is maintained well.

Step garden – Just like any other garden.

As there is nothing to do or see in Saputara we decided to go to Vani near Nashik for darshan of Saptashrungi Devi.  Devi is carved on a rock cliff on top of the mountain Saptashrung. The carving is eight feet tall and is carved on a single rock face. Devi a weapon held in each of her eighteen arms. Sapta-Shrungi means Seven Beauties, these are a chain of Seven mountain peaks and thus the name Saptashrugi. We didn’t find any bus going from Saputara to Nashik so we took lift from a truck driver he dropped us at nashik Rs. 40. We were lucky enough to get direct bus from Nashik to Saptashrungi village Rs. 34 for 2. You need to climb 470 steps to reach the temple. Many devotees visit this place. After coming down we had missal and vada pav and left for Saputara.  While coming back we took bus to Vani Rs. 40 for 2, again we were lucky and got direct bus from Vani – Saputara Rs. 52 for 2.  Vani is better place to go rather than Shirdi which is tooooo crowded in weekends. We left for Vani in the morning by 8.00 and were back to Saputara in afternoon.

Our overall experience was good.  Place is very quiet, calm and clean. Climate is good. Good for resting you will enjoy more if you have your own vehicle so that you can go to some other places for visiting or just drive on the empty roads.