Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar, at about 1,350 metres in the Sahyadri hills of Maharashtra's Satara district, is western India's most beloved hill station and the heart of the country's strawberry belt.

• A former summer capital of the Bombay Presidency, it retains a leafy colonial charm of viewpoints, lakes, and market streets, wrapped in dense evergreen forest that stays green long after the surrounding plains have browned.
• The town is ringed by a famous circuit of viewpoints over the Krishna valley and the Konkan escarpment: Arthur's Seat (the "Queen of the Points," where the plateau drops in a sheer cliff to the coastal lowlands), Wilson Point (the highest point at 1,439 m, the classic sunrise spot), Elephant's Head Point, Kate's Point, and Lodwick Point.
• At the centre of town, Venna Lake — built in 1842 by the Raja of Satara — offers row-boating and pony rides along its 28-acre shore, ringed by stalls selling corn and fresh berries.
• The old Mahabaleshwar temple precinct holds the ancient Shiva shrine that gives the town its name and the five springs of the Panchganga temple, source of the Krishna and four other rivers.
• The most rewarding excursion is Pratapgad Fort (about 24 km away), the 1656 hill fort built under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, with its Bhavani temple, ramparts, and commanding view of the Konkan — a stirring piece of Maratha history.
• For vegetarian travellers, Mahabaleshwar is pure pleasure: this is strawberry-with-fresh-cream country, and the Mapro and Mala's gardens serve strawberry shakes, crushes, fudge, and preserves made from the local harvest.
• Add hot bhutta (roasted corn) and corn patties at the viewpoints, Maharashtrian vegetarian thali, sabudana vada and misal in the market, and chikki by the boxful.
• The best season is October to June, with the strawberry harvest peaking from December to March; the June-September monsoon is intensely green but often fogged in.