Blue and red, is that the sun
Million magic in reflection
Billion colors, zillion hues
Here goes worries, there my rues.
No poet, that’s what I am. Yet these words came naturally, standing on the beach all by myself, an experience I had never had before. In a population of a billion people it is hard to imagine a sea beach just to yourself at six in the evening. And here I was facing the majesty of Arabian Sea in its full glory. The hushing sound of the waves echoed “welcome to Kashid”.
I know the name won’t ring a bell to most ears, and that is the best news. Located just 3 hrs away from Mumbai, this place only comes to life over the weekend, and then too you can find just a group or two on the kilometer long beach. The water is pristine, and the beach extremely clean.
Kashid is located 18 kms away from Murud, another beach and fort city with relatively higher footfalls. It is about 170 Kms away from Pune, you can get there by Bus but we drove to the place. We started at about 11 in the morning and we were there by 3, we had stopped over near Khapoli for a rather hefty lunch and we drove in silence enjoying the magic of November sun.
Pune to kashid
If Kashid is beautiful, most part of the drive from Pune to Kashid is equally enjoyable. The Mumbai Pune expressway was beautiful that day and with a mild November drizzle, the view of the green mountains as it appeared from one tunnel after other was breathtaking and extremely picturesque. My 300$ aim and shoot camera could not do justice to most of clicks and after some frustrating attempts at fiddling with the controls I decided to put it back and feast my eyes. We decided to save on some toll money as advised by friends and exited the expressway at Khapoli. We were now driving along the Ghats, the roads are not the best but they are good enough to drive an Alto at 70. Also, there is hardly any traffic. We turned from Alibag and in about 45 minutes we had reached our destination.
Guesthouse or Hotel?
Kashid has a number of staying options, some good resorts especially the Kashid Beach resort is quite famous but it is quite expensive. We decided to rent out one of the many guest houses on the beach. We went to a few and negotiated the price and settled for a 2 room suite with attached bath for 1200 for a night with meals. There are more inexpensive options available ranging from about 700 rupees onwards. An AC room is not required in a quite beach town like Kashid, where the day temperature in Peak summer is about 27 deg Celcius.
relax , relax and relax some more
The place is quite and there are no activities normally associated with more commercialized beaches like Para-sailing etc. in the evening, you get to buy coconut water and chips from vendors and they will let you sit on the hammocks. We had some noodles and relaxed on the hammock for hours.
All in all it is great place to visit if you are looking to get away from the busy city life and relax by the sea. Less people, no shopping and magnificent beach. And it can give you the sense to stop coding and try your hand at some poetry.
You can say Kashid is a lonely beach compared to others. Totally uncommercialized with very little facilities, quiet and not many people have heard of it. It is actually a stopover on way to other places like Murud and Alibaug.
And the best part is that it is just 3 hours from Mumbai..been there long time ago during my Murud-Alibaug trip ..lovely pic
Lalkshmi
Welcome aboard Srijan. It took time but finally you are here and I can tell you that we are going to get richer (esp if you write about Japan).
I haven’t heard about Kashid and it seems like a right place for someone like me.
Be around.
Stop coding and try poetry. I like it.
If only I could get that hammock now……
Your well written post with an excellent picture of hammock, did remind me of a relatively lesser known beach called Manoribel, where we stayed for a couple of days in early March. The beach is close to Manori. Being close to Mumbai, it is a good place for a weekend get away.
Welcome aboard and keep on sharing your experiences.
I like the look of the Kashid beach in that photograph. Hundreds of miles of clean and serene beach and the best part is, it looks uninhabited. Thank you for sharing. :)
Hi Srijan,
Excellent, thanks for sharing. Reminds me of Ganapatiphule, near Ratna-griri. White sand and solitude, that’s Ganapatiphule.
perfect for what i have in mind… relax on that hammock with the book Ram gave me and a chilled beer to go along with it… Aaaaahhhhhh heaven on earth….
Thanks a lot for the encouragement. yes, Kashid is the perfect place for that lonely evening with the “desired beverage”. The sound of the ocean, nice evenign wind, I had had a great time and I am longing to get back. But I come to this wonderful site and get more ideas, to visit places I had not heard of before.
It seems to be a really nice place to visit and surely I would like to see this place atleast once in my lifetime.
Bhaiji, you have inspired Kshitija to write and now this inspiration has got into me. I wrote a 4 liner about our “Mussorrie” trip and then dozed off to dream about our next trip to Khardung La.
I would like to see more of you and your trip to the known/unknown places you visit.
Chow.
Beautiful write-up Srijan. For few moments, I felt that I too was enjoying the beach with you. From the comments, I feel that this is part of Konkan Maharashtra. It increased th urge to visit the place.
It is indeed surprising that at 6 in evening you got a sea beach just for yourself :)
Hi Srijan,
Beautiful write-up. Made me nostalgic about the Konkan-Goa coast (I had spent my teens in Goa).
On a visit to Goa in May 2008, I had a similar experience. I was driving from Goa to Sirsi in the morning; and on impluse, I decided to detour to Galgibag beach. Imagine my surprise when I reached the beach around 10:30 am and found not one single soul there! I spent half an hour all alone at the beach.
Agreed that it was off-season and not even the right time of the day for tourist activity – but still .. i was left shaking my head in disbelief at the experience. I had only heard about such beaches in some remote islands in the South Pacific or in Carribean!
Thanks Kiran. Yeah it is rare to find such lonely beaches in our populated country, but a treasure is always worth the effort of a few failed attempts.
Galgibag sounds interesting, will try and visit on my next trip to west of india.
can someone please give me contact infos of cheap guesthouses in kashid.(vishranti guesthouse especially)