Kolhapur

Kolhapur (Marathi: कोल्हापूर) is a city in the south west of Maharashtra. It has a population of around 619,000. It is situated on the banks of river Panchganga and is famous for the Mahalakshmi Temple. The city also lends its name to many things it is famous for, like Kolhapuri Chappal, Kolhapuri Lavangi Mirchi, Kolhapuri Gul (Jaggery), Kolhapuri Pailvan (Wrestler), Kolhapuri Mutton and spicy Kolhapuri Cuisine.

Understand
The history of Kolhapur can be tracked back to the Satavahan Empire era.

In the modern times, Kolhapur has played a significant role in the politics of Maharashtra state. The city is famous of Kolhapur SAAJ (necklaces with traditional patterns), jaggery, Kolhapur chappal (traditional leather sandals) and wrestling. Kolhapur is also famous for its non-veg food recipes (Marathi: Kolhapuri pandhara rassa, tambadaa rassa) and unique spices.

By train
Kolhapur is on the Pune-Miraj-Kolhapur section of the Central Railway. The railway station is named after Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj. It is well connected with all the important cities in India. Mahalakshmi, Koyna and Sahyadri express connect Mumbai to Kolhapur and they run daily. Miraj is the nearmost major railway station and is well connected to important cities in India. From Kolhapur Railway Station, there are daily trains for Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Tirupati, while weekly trains also run for Delhi, Ahmedabad and Dhanbad.



By road
Kolhapur lies on National Highway 4 a.k.a NH4 which connects Mumbai to Bangalore. Mumbai to Kolhapur is an 8-hour drive by road. Pune to Kolhapur is around 3 hours journey by private car, while bus takes around 4 hours. The road is excellent and almost like Pune-Mumbai express highway.

The MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation) has buses running every 30 minutes from Pune to Kolhapur and vice versa. These are A/C, Non-A/C general transport buses and cost approximately ₹220 for Non A/C & ₹360 for A/C. There are also hourly buses from Mumbai, which are non-A/C general transport buses and cost approximately ₹180-₹240.

Private operators also operate buses on this route with A/C and Non-A/C option, the fare ranging from ₹200 to ₹350.

Similar options are available from Pune. The private/state buses and shared taxis all start from Swar-Gate in Pune which is a large bus/transport hub to the south of Pune.

From the south side, there are direct buses (private and state-owned) from almost all places from Karnataka, including Bangalore, Belgaon, Mangalore, and Hubali.

Get around
Overall, Kolhapur has become a crowded place. Huge number of two wheeler vehicles precides over the number of four wheelers (private & commercial). The central city being non-planned is very crowded during peak hours. Also, due to many road constructions going on, the roads are jammed. You can avoid traffic jams by travelling on newly built roads, which are much more wider and better ones. Auto rickshaw is the popular public transport available.

By car
There are quite a few car rental agencies in Kolhapur. Most of them charge around ₹2400 a day for a mid-size car. There are extra charges for distances above 250 km.

Do
A visit to Mahalaxmi Temple can be followed by a trip to Panhala Fort. The Auto Rickshaw charges approx. ₹450 for Panhala Trip from Kolhapur to Panhala and back. The visit will take around 6 hrs and after coming back to Kolhapur city one can go to Rankala Lake in evening and visit Shalini Palace Hotel and Chowpatty there. One can enjoy snacks from vada pav to South Indian dishes at the Chowpatty.

Next day one can start the morning in Kolhapur with a visit to New Palace Museum. After seeing museum one can proceed to Jyotiba Temple.

It is also recommended to visit a local" Gurhal" a traditional family owned Jaggery Making place just outside of the city. Here you can watch local people make jaggery from scratch with sugarcane juice. They are also open for visitors to try and taste fresh sugarcane juice and jaggery.

One should also visit Bhavani Temple near Mahalaxmi Temple.

Also to visit is much forgotten "Ruikar Colony" which was Maharashtra state's first Residential Bunglow estate (and so far the only estate that has remained like this and most estates are now being converted to apartments) Ruikar Colony, always featured in Marathi Films, is famous for its huge beautiful mansions complimented by landscaped gardens, nature strips, well designed roads, community gardens, Ganesh and Jain Temple, playground and Community Hall and its own shopping area.



Eat
Kolhapur is well known paradise for non vegetarian lovers, but it has many eating options equally wonderful for vegetarian food. Also, in general there is a misconception about "Kolhapur" food that it has to be really spicy and having lot of chillies. Only when you visit Kolhapur, one realizes that this is a myth.

Once in Kolhapur, you should never miss out on misal, which is a famous Maharashtrian snack made from spicy sprouted moth beans. Authentic misal can be tasted only in Kolhapur. Outside Kolhapur, in many other places in Maharashtra, people only add lot of oil and red chilly and serve it as 'kolhapuri misal'. There are many famous misal eating joints.



List of restaurants

Don't forget to eat the "paandhraa rassaa" & "taambdaa rassa" in non-veg. These are two special curries which are tradition of Kolhapur.

Drink
For party freaks Kolhapur has got some decent bars & restaurants like Scores (beside Hotel Victor Palace) & Texas (in Hotel Ayodhya), also Mithila is a family bar & restaurant in Hotel Ayodhya.

Go next

 * Goa
 * Belgaum
 * Anshi National Park.
 * Karwar
 * Bijapur