Nilkantheshwar Temple, Pune - Day trip to a nice place...

Nilkantheshwar, a lord Shiva temple is on the hill between Khadakwasla and Panshet dam. This temple was built by Sarje Mama. It is an ideal place to experience nature and mythology. 

Lord Shiva drinking poison (Halahala)

We were planning a day trip for Diwali holidays to nearby location and the main purpose was to show Aaravya a new place and a small break from the daily routine. To fulfill this purpose, we decided to go to Nilkantheshwar on the day of Bhaubeej i.e. 6th November, we were accompanied by my sister-in-law and her husband. 

Travelers for trip

After starting our journey at 8.30 am we reached the destination at 10.00 am, distance traveled was around 45 km. 

Please refer the below route as it shows another Nilkantheshwar temple near Donje and you may mislead. Road is little narrow but good in condition except few rough patches. 

Route to Nilkantheshwar

As it was morning, the weather was very pleasant. I can imagine how beautiful the scenery and nature would be in the rainy season. The temple was located almost a km from parking and was a climb uphill. After 45 mins of puffing we reached at the top of hill. You may get your fitness tested here!! The road is very steep so you should wear shoes and carry napkin and water bottles. 

The view of the surroundings were simply wonderful, the shades of coloures grey, brown, blue and green were awesome. 

Way to Nilkantheshwar temple

We were tired of climbing and needed something cold to drink. An old lady was selling lemonade and buttermilk, so we quickly satisfied ourselves with a glass with buttermilk and lemonade. This was the only stall we saw there. Though the climb was a bit laborious, we enjoyed it meticulously.

Once you enter the temple, you are greeted by a huge sleeping Hanuman. 

Sleeping Hanuman

After reaching the top we saw numerous statues from Indian mythology which include statues from Ramayana, Mahabharat, Deshavatar etc. On the left beyond the statues there is a valley below, and the view of Panshet-Varasgaon dam from there is breath-taking which will stay in your mind for a very long time.

Panshet-Varasgaon Dam view 

You can easily spend 2 hours on the top seeing each and every statue and trying to recollect the story behind the same. You have to walk little long to see all those statues and are no roofs for many statues, there are very few trees in the yard so no option to stay in the shade after walking so keep an umbrella or avoid visiting the place in summer.

Draupadi Vasraharan

Pandavas, Shakuni and Duryodhana

Lakshamana cuts off the nose of Shurpanakha

The waking of Kumbhakarna

Bheem and Bakasur

Shri Gurudev Datta
PC - Sachin Tambekar

After the darshan of Lord Shiva, we saw sabha mandap, idols and the surrounding area, just as we were leaving, we smelled hot kanda bhajji and our footsteps automatically turned to that only shack there. My son Aaravya ate sabudana khichdi which was very soft and tastier than Kanda bhaji. After having a cup of tea, we started to descend and reached our vehicle within 25 mins. 

There is a temple of Someshwar but as very tired so we did not go there and headed straight towards Panshet Dam. On the way we had lunch at MTDC's restaurant, meals were served within few minutes and taste was okay, except bhakri…bhakri was not made properly. 

Heroes at MTDC

After the lunch we went for boating in Panshet, enjoyed boating and a long session of photography, we set off in 1 hour. On the way back to Pune, our intention was to have quick stop at Khadakwasla, but seeing the crowd there, we canceled the plan and reached home around 5.30 in the evening.

PC - Sachin Tambekar

Highlights - 

Trip duration - 1 day (11 November 2024)

Distance travelled - 120Km

Budget - 5K

A perfect weekend gateway for nature lovers - Baneshwar, Pune

Baneshwar is a temple of Shiva located in the village of Nasarapur about 35 km southwest of Pune. It is a pleasant and calm place amidst a jungle. The temple was constructed in 1749 by Balaji Baji Rao, son of Peshwa Bajirao I. Baneshwar was recently declared as a small bird sanctuary hosting a decent amount of rare birds with many Malabar grey hornbills seen. The place is a conserved forest area and wildlife sanctuary where a variety of birds, flowers, plants can be seen. Baneshwar is worth visiting for forest lovers and trekkers as well as for pilgrims.

I wanted to visit Baneshwar after seeing the photos of the waterfall, stream and greenery there and had been thinking of taking a short trip for the coming weekend. I decided to go on Saturday because Sunday is a bit crowded. 

We left from Pune at 7am in the morning as planned and reached Baneshwar around 8.30 am straight away. Due to the rain, the place was very green and the weather was very pleasant. Ample of parking space available in the dense shadow of tall trees. We entered the temple after washing our feet. There were a couple of shops for selling puja items and few eateries items too. But better to carry your food as there were very limited options available for snacks and no good hotel around. 

The idol of Baneshwar is very beautiful and the temple architecture is old –fashioned with lots of place available at surrounding for a pradakshina/walk.  The temple has Shivling, Hanuman temple, Ganapati Temple, Nandi the bull and the Laxmi temple. There is a huge bell hanging at the entrance, which has some history to it, that it was captured by Chimaji Appa after defeating Portuguese in the battle. In the temple, there was a holy pond in which few fishes and softshell turtles can be seen.  You can spend some quiet, silent relaxed time there.

Baneshwar Temple

After taking blessings from Lord Shiva we went to botanical garden there. The botanical garden in the temple premises that has bamboo groves, exotic trees and river beds. After wandering around the garden for a while, went to play slides near the parking where kids can play. Just behind the temple, dense trees make a pleasant forest to roam around and spend relaxed time there.  There was a scenic waterfall amidst a forest, there was not much water in the waterfall as we visited a little early.  You can enjoy that waterfall but be careful of the potholes which are naturally created there. Just be careful while playing in the water when it is fully flooded as it could be risky.

We walked around the whole area and enjoyed watching flora and fauna there and sat on the bench and chatted. Didn't want to come back from there but then remembered the lunch as we all were hungry. So left at 1 pm and had revel in South Indian cuisine at Vitthal Kamat and reached home at 4.30 pm.