Road trip to Murud

Day 1

Airoli

A long weekend was approaching but this time I didn't want to go to the usual Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar, Alibaug. People have told me that the Konkan coast is very pretty. So I manually started searching on Google Maps for beaches on Konkan coast. Before finalizing the place, there were few things which I considered:

1. Travel time (<5 hours by road)

2. Good beach – blue water & light colored sand (at least half as good as goa)

3. An additional tourist attraction apart from beach

People who have visited Mumbai beaches might be able to relate to why I wanted blue water & light colored sand. We ideally go to goa for that experience but I wanted a cheaper and a less explored option. I came across Murud.

I had heard at times about this place having a famous fort, but still was in doubt whether the beach I wanted would be there or not. After going through more photos and reviews, this place did fit my criteria so I decided to give it a try.

This was a road trip. Murud is approximately 135 km from Navi Mumbai if you take the Alibaug route but the road is bad, so we customized the route and ended up with Airoli-Dolvi-Roha-Murud. The roads are nice and approximately 137km. Added the route below:

Trip route -

Airoli -> Dolvi -> Roha -> Murud (137 km)

https://goo.gl/maps/ZyCWphgocoszppzB7

It is a 4 hour drive from Navi Mumbai. We started at 6 am in the morning and reached Murud around 10:30 am. I was preferring an affordable stay with a beach view and there it was, a resort right on the Murud Beach. This hotel was a pretty decent one and affordable too. When we reached there, the rooms were clean and the check in was smooth. This place costed us 2k/person for 3N 2D including breakfast.

Sea Breeze Beach Resort - Murud

This place had a nice balcony (you can enjoy your beer with the breeze while listening to some soothing music, my personal favourite - Joel Adams - Please Don't Go)

Murud Beach

The Murud beach had black sand and it was pretty. Since our resort was right on the beach, we went on an evening walk. It was clean and the weather was nice.

After walking for sometime, we came across few stalls, had bhurji, chai and were back to hotel.

Day 2

Murud

This was more of a touristy day. We were planning to go to the famous Murud-Janjira fort. We left a little late from our hotel at around 4pm for the fort. The path leading to this place was beautiful. The fort is huge and surrounded on all sides by water (BLUE WATER).

The road leading to the fort was scenic. We stopped by to click few pictures

Murud Janjira Fort

Photo of Murud, Maharashtra, India by Roshni Patel

As we moved forward, there were few more less explored places.

Since it was already late and the fort closes by 6 pm we headed back to hotel.

Day 3

Murud Janjira Fort Boat Route

Today our main task was to visit the Murud Janjira Fort. The fort is situated on an island and can be reached by a ferry from Rajapuri jetty. It is considered one of the strongest marine forts in India. We left at 10 in the morning, reached to the Murud Ferry Point around 10:30. There are ferries leaving in intervals of 30 minutes on average. Ideally, once they have enough people on board, the journey starts.

And finally we reached the fort. The fort was huge.

Inside the Murud Janjira Fort....

The ferry which takes you to the fort, you are supposed to come back in that ferry itself. It leaves after an hour for the port. So you have 1 hour to tour the fort.

This place is of one a kind. It really made my day. Once we were back to the ferry point, headed to hotel and then left for Mumbai. And yes we did encounter the blue water and light sand beaches but didn't get much time to photograph it.

So if you are bored with the usual Alibaug, Kashid stuff, you should definitely try Murud. This trip was an affordable one. It costed us 3k/person including hotel, food, fuel(PS: We took our own vehicle) for 3D 2N. We went there primarily for beaches but Murud had a lot to offer!

Road trip to Murud!