Saputara

Saputara is Gujarat's only hill station, a small resort town on the Sahyadri plateau where the state's eastern edge meets Maharashtra's Dang forests. The name means abode of serpents, after the snake idol the Dangi tribes still worship on the banks of the Sarpaganga. The British never turned this into a Shimla; Saputara was planned as a hill retreat after independence, and the result is modest and green, with a lake and pedal boats, a ropeway to Governor's Hill, a couple of terraced gardens and a rim of viewpoints looking into deep, forested valleys.

Its real season is the monsoon. From July the Dang hills turn a violent green, waterfalls open along the ghat road, cloud drifts through the town at eye level, and the state government runs a monsoon festival with tribal dance, food stalls, boat races and paragliding. Winter brings clear cold mornings for Sunrise Point and evenings worth a bonfire.

Around the town lies real Dangi country: the Vansda and Purna sanctuaries with their teak and bamboo, the artist village where Warli-style painters work, the sixteenth-century Hatgadh fort just over the Maharashtra border, and Gira Falls, which drops in a wide curtain after rain. It is a two-day place rather than a week, best paired with Nashik's vineyards or the drive down to Surat.