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Guys, I've seen many questions on this forum about what all places to take your visitors when they are at Pune. One of them is Lavasa. And my question here is .... when in Lavasa, what exactly are the activities one can indulge in. I'm talking about at maximum a day trip - go there in morning, and come back by late evening. Suggestions are welcome considering there would be kids in age range 5 yrs to 12 yrs in my group. |
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For a day trip, the short answer is... "nothing". The longer answer is... "mostly nothing". You can't will a city into existence, no matter how much money you throw at it. Give Lavasa a decade or so, maybe it'll shake out well, as it grows a community of permanent residents. Right now it's like one of those Chinese ghost cities, where the property bubble has blown prices sky-high while occupancy is virtually nil. Township? Concrete pile with chain stores. City? A four-dimensional wonder. In a city, there must cobbled streets worn smooth by millions of feet. There must be hawkers selling suspicious fried foods to eager mobs. There must be dozens of little shops, each being the "only" place for something, run by autocratic soup nazis. There must be dingy little places sold as great monuments to forgotten glory, infused with romance by culture, history and imagination. In Lavasa, you have a bunch of chain stores and restaurants, huge and deserted buildings, some half done, and most of the people you see are actually day-trippers. Frankly, the only thing which got me excited was the bhutta walas outside Lavasa. If you do get a booking for Ekaant during the rainy season, however, go for it. It's definitely worth an overnight stay for the monsoon scenery. EDIT: Some masala from our first trip to Lavasa. Out of the blue, ambulances and motorcades started arriving, and soon enough, the prime movers behind Lavasa sat down to lunch at the same buffet. The pawar and money concentrated at that table - literally thousands of crores - would have severely warped space-time, if physics paid any special heed to human affairs. Fortunately it didn't, and we caught a few snatches of conversation from where we were sitting. If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall at such high-power meetings, let me tell you it's rather mundane. Shorn of suspenseful sound effects ("govindagovindagovindagovindaGO-WIN-DAAA!") and dramatic close-ups, it's merely a bunch of guys talking about business. As it should be. ProminentBuilderFromPune held forth on how Lavasa would succeed where Aamby had failed. Lavasa was an open city, he said, for all classes of people, while Aamby was a gated community for the super-rich. At that time, Lavasa had not yet opened its doors to the public, and the prices I heard then sounded high, but not unreasonable by today's standards. So they had the right idea, but I guess the property bubble blew up prices beyond the point where all classes of society could afford it. I agree with them about Aamby - I've been there and wouldn't live there if you paid me, while Lavasa, perhaps a couple of decades from now, with a more lived-in feel, is certainly a possible retirement destination. Interestingly, the Big Men all got up and served themselves, standing in line with the rest of us. No haranguing the waiters, no theatricals or demands for special treatment. I hope you are writing a book, it would be fun to read. +1 for the form :-)
(14 May '11, 15:27)
nik ♦
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MxC You can check the site for all adventure sports available in Lavasa. |
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Hi tubelite (nice name!), thanks for sharing your thoughts on the place! I tend to agree...I've been there twice in past, but it so happened that we always managed to turn up there by late afternoon only with hardly any time in hand to check out anything. So all we ended up each time was to refill our tummies, loiter around the area, and then head back. I did see some boating that was in progress. But that's about it. I read at Lavasa.com about some nature trails but did not find any information about them. So I've been left wondering if it's really worth the time and effort to take visitors as well to this place, and if we could do anything there other than some boating and taking in the sights. Anyhow you are right about those bhuttas near the Lavasa big gate. They are a recommended must stop and eat! BTW I've also heard a lot about Ekant but looks like its quite pricy! Anyways any additional thoughts are more than welcome. (BTW I'm writing this in an answer instead of in comment as I ran out of space in that area :) 1
Hi MxC, this is not a forum for conversation :-) so, your entry should be a bit more focused towards answering the question (in this case, your own question). If you have any comments for
(14 May '11, 04:07)
nik ♦
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There's so much we have at Lavasa, even for a day trip. There are adventure sports from Xthrill like rappelling, paragliding, rafting and much more. We also have boating, water bike rides and other water sports. There's the Dasvino club where you can get relaxing spa treatments and enjoy some fine meals. You may take a look at some of the attractive one-day packages we have during the summer http://bit.ly/is3IQm. For more information, you may follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/LavasaCommunity Or join us on the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/lavasacommunity |
