Travel blog: Dapoli

A view of Dapoli Hills

Coastal Maharashtra has many hidden, enthralling locales that can put to shame some of the famous tourist destinations. One of those many hidden jewels is Dapoli. 

Nestled between the Sahyadri range and the coastal belt is this beautiful town that has an unusual gift of being a small and cozy hill station at the same time a gifted beach destination, I say gifted because one can explore as many as 5 major beaches along its coastline.

I was introduced to this beautiful coastal town by a cousin, since then i have visited this place 4 times.

Apart from the beaches and hills, Dapoli is also famous for mango orchards, beetle nut plantation and coconut gardens. One can find the famous Alphanso variety of mango here and the Agriculture Institutre of Dapoli grows some of the best export quality mangoes (Check out their sale during the peak mango season, ideally April onwards till about first half of June).

There I found a very unusual coconut tree which had three trunks of the tree coming from the same coconut I call this The Triplets tree.

Talking of beaches the best beach is the murud harne beach (not the Murud Janjira) It is safe, flat and has a long beach with a lot of shade just before the beach

Pears Beach Resort

There are many resorts one can stay, plus there are homestays where one could experience the warm hospitality of konkani family. I stayed in a new resort 'Pears beach resort' that was right on the ladghar beach. They had nice individual cottages for couples and bigger cottages for families

Apart from great location, comfortable rooms they had the best fried fish and alphanso aamras ( fresh mango pulp)  I had ever tasted. The fish was fresh, the aamras was tasty, the food was great overall.

Atypical Konkani Thali

One can laze on these beaches or can go dolphin spotting arranged by the local fishermen. Ideally the best time to spot these friendly mammals is early morning. The boast services start by 6.15am and the earlier you book, better are  the chances  to spot dolphins in huge numbers. 

The boat ride is safe and lasts for about an hour. we saw many dolphins coming on to the surface and jumping out of water. they were so swift that it was very difficult to catch them on camera.

Once you visit Dapoli it becomes like a addiction. It is a place to relax rejuvenate and re energize oneself. Dapoli truly deserves a visit. As I said before It is one of the many underrated destination on the coastal Maharashtra.

Dapoli Fact Sheet: 

By Road from Mumbai via NH-17 : 220Kms
By Road From Pune its 185 kms
By Railway one can take Konakan Railway from Mumbai till Khed from Khed its about 40 kms, one can take bus or autorickshaw till Dapoli.

Nearest Airpot is Pune