CaveThemes:HeritageCultureSpiritualPhotography
Maharashtra
Ajanta & Ellora Caves
A thousand years of India carved out of basalt
- Ideal stay
- 3 days
- Best time
- November to March; July to September makes the Ajanta gorge green but very humid
State · West India
Maharashtra
राज्यपश्चिमी भारत
Rock-cut caves, Sahyadri forts and a city that never sits down
The place
Travelling in Maharashtra
परिचय
Maharashtra puts the Ajanta and Ellora caves, Shivaji's hill forts, the Konkan coast and Mumbai in one state. Basalt was carved into monasteries and a monolithic Kailasa temple, the Sahyadris turn emerald in monsoon, and Ganesh Chaturthi fills the streets for ten days each year.
Maharashtra sits on the Deccan trap, and its basalt explains much of what makes it remarkable. At Ajanta, thirty Buddhist caves cut into a horseshoe gorge between the second century BCE and the sixth century CE preserve murals of the Jataka tales; at Ellora, thirty-four Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves stand side by side, including the Kailasa temple, chiselled downward out of a single cliff. Elephanta's Trimurti faces Mumbai across the harbour. That city is its own journey: the Gateway of India of 1924, the Gothic Revival Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the Art Deco curve of Marine Drive, the dabbawalas, and Mohammed Ali Road during Ramzan. Behind Mumbai the Sahyadri escarpment rises, holding Shivaji's forts at Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad and Sinhagad, the toy train to car-free Matheran, and the Kaas plateau, which erupts in wildflowers each late August. The Konkan coast runs south to Tarkarli's clear water, and Tadoba delivers dependable tiger sightings. Signature journeys pair Mumbai with Ajanta and Ellora, or a monsoon fort trek with Konkan beaches.
What it is famous for
Maharashtra, in three lists
पहचान
Famous for
- Ajanta and Ellora caves
- Gateway of India and Marine Drive
- Shivaji's Sahyadri forts
- Elephanta Caves
- Kaas plateau wildflowers
- Tadoba tigers
- Ganesh Chaturthi
On the table
- Vada pav
- Misal pav
- Puran poli
- Kolhapuri mutton rassa
- Bombil fry
- Modak
- Sol kadhi
Through the year
- Ganesh Chaturthi
- Gudi Padwa
- Pandharpur Wari
- Nashik Kumbh Mela
- Ellora Ajanta Festival
10 places we travel to
Places to visit in Maharashtra
गंतव्य
Every Maharashtra destination we plan journeys around, with the best months and the ideal stay for each.
Cave
BeachThemes:NatureFoodAdventureOffbeat
Maharashtra
Konkan Coast
Sea forts, Alphonso orchards and Malvani fish thalis
- Ideal stay
- 5 days
- Best time
- November to February for calm seas; April and May for Alphonso mangoes
Hill stationThemes:NatureAdventureFamily
Maharashtra
Lonavala & Khandala
Sahyadri edge of chikki, monsoon cloud and rock-cut caves
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- June to September for waterfalls and cloud
Hill stationThemes:NatureFamilyRomanceFood
Maharashtra
Mahabaleshwar
Strawberry plateau, Krishna's source and deep valley views
- Ideal stay
- 3 days
- Best time
- October to February for clear views
Hill stationThemes:NatureFamilyRomanceOffbeat
Maharashtra
Matheran
Asia's only car-free hill station, reached by toy train
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- October to May
CityThemes:CultureFoodHeritagePhotography
Maharashtra
Mumbai
Seven islands, Art Deco seafront and India's loudest appetite
- Ideal stay
- 3 days
- Best time
- November to February; the monsoon from June to September is dramatic but floods the streets
CityThemes:SpiritualFoodHeritageCulture
Maharashtra
Nashik
Godavari ghats, Kumbh crowds and India's wine valley
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- October to February; January to March is grape harvest season in the vineyards
CityThemes:CultureFoodHeritage
Maharashtra
Pune
Peshwa forts, monsoon Ganpati and the country's best misal
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- October to February; Ganeshotsav in August or September is the city at full volume
TempleThemes:SpiritualCulture
Maharashtra
Shirdi
Sai Baba's village, its dhuni still burning after decades
- Ideal stay
- 1 day
- Best time
- October to February; Ram Navami
WildlifeThemes:WildlifeNaturePhotographyAdventure
Maharashtra
Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Teak, bamboo and the most reliable tigers in Maharashtra
- Ideal stay
- 3 days
- Best time
- February to May for the best sightings; November to February for pleasant weather
Maharashtra tour packages
Journeys through Maharashtra
यात्राएँ
2 of our routes pass through Maharashtra. Each one is a starting point — tell us your days and we reshape it.
7 days · 6 nightsThemes:HeritageCultureFood
Easy · Best Oct–Feb
Maharashtra Caves and Coast
Seven days from Mumbai's waterfront to Ajanta's brushwork and the Konkan
Route: Mumbai → Ajanta & Ellora Caves → Nashik → Lonavala & Khandala +1 more
- Group
- 2–12 (private)
- From
- ₹66,000 pp
21 days · 20 nightsThemes:HeritageCultureFood
Moderate · Best Nov–Feb
Grand India Odyssey: Delhi to the Coromandel Coast
Three weeks down the whole length of India, Delhi to Chennai
Route: Delhi → Agra → Jaipur → Udaipur +6 more
- Group
- 2–8 (private)
- From
- ₹2,45,000 pp
Time it right
Maharashtra festivals
त्योहार
JanJanuary to March, in the Magh season. The site rotates between Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik–Trimbakeshwar and Ujjain on a twelve-year astrological cycle, and dates are set by planetary positions rather than a fixed calendar.
Kumbh Mela
The largest human gathering on earth, held where rivers and astrology meet. Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain take turns on a twelve-year cycle. After the 2025 Maha Kumbh on the Prayagraj sands, the Simhastha moves to Nashik in 2027 and Ujjain in 2028.
Uttar Pradesh · Uttarakhand · Maharashtra
SepAugust or September, ten days from Bhadrapada shukla chaturthi to the Anant Chaturdashi immersions. Dates follow the lunar calendar; many households keep the idol for only a day and a half.
Ganesh Chaturthi
Ten days when Maharashtra installs Ganesha in homes, street corners and enormous pandals, feeds him modaks and then carries him to the sea. Mumbai's Lalbaugcha Raja draws queues that last all night, Pune keeps a procession order set in 1893, and Konkan villages fill up again.
Maharashtra · Goa
Eat here
What to eat in Maharashtra
खानपान
Street foodMaharashtra
Vada Pav
A spiced potato ball in gram-flour batter, fried and pushed into a soft pav with dry garlic chutney and a fried green chilli on the side. Ashok Vaidya sold the first one outside Dadar station in 1966. Mumbai still eats it standing up, between trains, and it costs less than a bus ticket.
From the journal
Reading for Maharashtra
पत्रिका
· Culture · 5 min
Festivals of India: A Month-by-Month Travel Calendar
A year of Indian festivals arranged by month, with where each one is at its most vivid, how far ahead to book, and what actually happens on the ground, from Thrissur Pooram's elephants to Hornbill in Nagaland and Dev Deepawali on the Ganga.
· Food · 6 min
India Street Food Trail: 10 Cities and What to Eat First
A working eater's route through ten Indian cities, from Chandni Chowk at dawn to Indore's Sarafa Bazaar at midnight. One anchor dish per city, the lanes and stalls that make it, what it costs, and how to eat street food without losing a day.
· Tips · 6 min
First Time in India: Practical Travel Tips That Work
Everything we tell first-time travellers before they land: how many places to attempt, what a SIM card and a day of cash actually cost, how to eat street food safely, what to wear into a temple, and the four scams worth recognising.
3 more in West India
Next door in West India
पड़ोसी राज्य
StateWest India
Goa
Konkan sand, Portuguese churches and fish curry rice afternoons
- Capital
- Panaji
- Destinations
- 3
StateWest India
Gujarat
White salt desert, Asiatic lions and stepwells of stone lace
- Capital
- Gandhinagar
- Destinations
- 9
Union territoryWest India
Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu
Portuguese forts, Warli villages and quiet Arabian Sea sand
- Capital
- Daman
- Destinations
- 1