Panchgani

Panchgani, at about 1,330 metres in the Satara district of Maharashtra, sits on the same Sahyadri ridge as its larger neighbour Mahabaleshwar (19 km away) and shares its cool climate, strawberry farms, and valley panoramas while keeping a quieter, more genteel character.

• The name means "land of five hills," for the five peaks that encircle the town, and its defining natural feature is the Table Land — a vast flat-topped laterite plateau that is widely described as the second-longest mountain plateau in Asia after the Tibetan Plateau.
• Walking or pony-riding across the windswept Table Land at sunset, with the Krishna valley and the Dhom Dam spread out far below and the ancient Pandavgad and Kamalgad forts visible on the horizon, is the town's signature experience; the plateau's edge holds the small Parsi-era caves and the seasonal rain pools.
• Panchgani's viewpoints — Sydney Point (overlooking the Dhom Dam and the Krishna valley), Parsi Point, and the Devil's Kitchen at the Table Land's rim — frame the surrounding hills, while the town itself is known for its century-old boarding schools founded in the colonial and Parsi era, which give it a leafy, old-world air.
• The Mapro Garden on the Mahabaleshwar road is a hugely popular stop for strawberry products, and the Bhilar "village of books" nearby is India's first book-village.
• The Rajpuri Caves with their Kartikeya shrine and sacred water tanks, and the strawberry farms that open for visitor picking in season, complete the circuit.
• For vegetarian travellers, Panchgani is strawberry-and-cream country like Mahabaleshwar: fresh berries, strawberry-with-cream, crushes, fudge, and preserves at Mapro and the roadside farm stalls, plus mulberries and raspberries in season, hot corn, sandwiches, and Maharashtrian vegetarian fare in the market.
• The best season is October to June, with the strawberry harvest at its peak from December to March; the monsoon is green but often clouded over.