Top places to visit near Ganpatipule and Jambharun As a part of our 3 days trip to Jambharun ( Blog Post :Hidden Gem - Jambharun ) , we had one day planned to visit the nearby places. Among them was Ganpatipule , which is significantly known for the revered Ganpati temple on the beach. I will list out the places to visit near Ganpatipule and Jambhrun in this post. Jambhrun is kind of a center point to all these locations, so you can start from one end and circle back to your homestay in Jambharun . 1. Lakshmi Keshav Mandir,Kolisare Keshav Lakshmi idol This was the highlight of all the locations that we visited. It had the same vibes when we visited Keshavraj temple in Karde(Post: Keshavarja Temple|Karde|Dapoli )
Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga
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| Bhimashankar Temple Shikhara(photo taken from social platform) |
Isn't there some magic in rainy season? Nature urges you to step out of your house and experience the greenery it spreads.
With so much crowd nowadays at every tourist spots during rainy season, one has to think twice before travelling.
But you don't need to think twice when it comes to faith. We visited the 6th Jyotirlinga in Maharashtra- Bhimashankar temple on 28th July .There are total 12 jyotirlinga across India.
A temple hidden in the midst of a lush green Bhimashankar Wildlife sanctuary.
How to reach Bhimashankar Temple from Pune
We were travelling from Wagholi in Pune to Bhimashankar and google map showed us 3 different ways. I got guidance on best route from a group on social platform and reached the following decision.
Distance between Pune to Bhimashankar
- The distance from Pune(Wagholi) to Bhimashankar is about 125km and takes approximately 3.5hours.
- Best route is starting from Wagholi - Shikrapur - Pabal - Manchar bypass - Ghodegaon - Bhimashankar
The road conditions are very good on this route and also you get to enjoy the scenery.
If lucky, you might even notice peacocks on the way.
Transportation
Private car or Bus
Travel Tips
- During monsoon make sure to carry Lightweight raincoats, better if you have these transparent plastic raincoat.Its easy to walk with it and carry.
- It's mostly a one day trip unless you have a group to enjoy a stay.
About Bhimashankar temple
Although this jyotirlinga temple is said to have been built 1200-1400 years ago, it was originally a swayambhu linga i.e. Shiva linga originated on its own. The temple shikhara or the top of temple, was rebuilt in 18th century by Nana Phadnavis(Bhimashankar wiki).
According to one of the legends, an Asura named Tripurasura performed penance in forest of Bhimashankar to please Lord Shiva and to ask him for mortality. Lord Shiva was pleased and granted him immortality only if he would use it to help common people. But over the years Tripurasura forgot the condition and started harassing the humans and gods. So the gods went to Lord Shiva to stop Tripurasura causing all the chaos, Lord Shiva prayed to Goddess Parvati. Both of them appeared as Ardhanari Nateshwar and killed him, establishing peace and dharma again.
There is also a Kamalaja (Ardha-Nari-Nateshwar) temple in the jyotirlinga compound.
Even there are historical notes mentioning, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj visiting this jyotirlinga as well.
Even the Bhima river, one of the important river of Pune origins from here. It is where Gupt Bhimashankar is said to be.
As the temple was covered by curtains it was not possible to capture temple architecture but managed to capture few intricate carvings.
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Itinerary for Bhimashankar Darshan
As usual we started off our journey early morning at 5.30 am from Pune, took couple of halts in between to enjoy the scenery on the way and have some breakfast.
We halted for half an hour, 50km before Bhimashankar for breakfast, had some tasty Misal pav, Kanda bhajji, batata bhajji and cutting(tea) at a small food stall Malhar Misal house.
We reached Bhimashankar temple parking at 9.45am. The parking arrangements are done 1-2km before the temple compound due to heavy rains and the anticipated huge crowd.
As it was Adhik mas, people visit Shiva temple during this time especially the jyotirlinga's all over India.
You can either take a walk from parking or avail private jeeps and bus to reach the temple. Some of us decided to take a walk, which feels almost like a walk in the forest with the monkeys and sounds of birds and the insects all around. I would suggest everyone visiting the temple to go for it instead of hiring car.
 Walk to Temple from parking |
We were skeptical if we would get the darshan before coming to bhimashankar, as we had heard Darshan was taking about 4hours even on weekdays. But as it is said, "you never know what's in it for you unless you go for it".
By the grace of Lord Shiva, we were able to get his darshan within an hour 😃
We had previously planned to visit Lenyadri ganpati, one of Ashta-Vinayak temple, with a one day stay. We also had our bookings done in MTDC hotel,Bhimashankar but again we experienced "you never know what's in it for you unless you go for it"😂. The rooms and hotel were so well maintained along with the staff, we had to check-out within 3hours (pun intended).
Only good thing was that we could change our wet clothes and our kids got some rest.
So eventually, it was a one day return for us and we reached Pune at 8.30pm.
 Let me know captions for this |
Our return journey was also filled with some adventurous fun moments.
The main road from Rajgurunagar as shown by Google map was blocked due to maintenance activity, so we had to reroute ourself to Pune road via some local internal roads. My car also had a short dancing moment with a drunk bike rider😅, while he was trying to gain control of his bike.
Things to do
If you are visiting during rainy season, you can admire innumerable waterfalls along the way, some of which are small ones and some falling from heights.
 Small waterfalls throughout the way |
 Dhimbhe Dam |
The Bhimashankar surrounding area still has good amount of agricultural land left, thanks to the sanctuary, the area is not taken over by buildings yet.
As it was rainy season and also start of rice plantation, we decided to stop and ask the farmers if we could have the experience . Obviously, they dint turn down our request and we stepped in to plant some rice saplings.
 Rice plantations on the way |
Its one out-of-routine activity for city people that I feel they should do, to be in touch with nature.
Places to visit
Below are some common tourist places to visit which unfortunately we couldn't
- Naghphani Point - trek for approx. 2 hours.
- Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary - Famous for its Red Giant Flying Squirrel which is only found here
- Lenyadri Girijatmaja Ganpati Temple - 1hour from temple
- Dhimbhe Dam- 10min from the temple
- Kondhaval Waterfall - on the way
- For Trekkers , there are many Bhimashankar treks covering Gupt bhimashankar, Hanuman lake, Bombay point etc.
👌🏻👍🏻
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