Kaas plateu , also known as Valley of flowers is situated 25 km from Satara city in Maharashtra. It has become part of UNESCO world heritage site in 2012 .
The entire grassland turns into valley of flowers during monsoon season, August to early October.
Kaas is located 25 km from Mahabaleshwar and around 30 km from Satara in Maharashtra. The distance between Pune and Kaas Plateau is 136 km and it can be reached in 2.5 to 3.5 hours via NH4. Its distance from Mumbai is 278 km and takes around 5 hours to reach by road via the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and then NH4.
The final drive upto the valley is an extremely picturesque road trip. If you wish to take a bus, there are several overnight buses from Mumbai to Satara for all kinds of budgets.
The entry fee for kaas plataeu as per I can recall is Rs 100 but still its advisable to check the website. No entry fees Children below age 12yr. No entry fees for Senior citizen ( age above 65 yrs ). Since per day visit is restricted to 3000 people ,always pre book tickets from the kaas website -https://www.kas.ind.in/
I traveled to this place with group Travel Trikon. We had our private bus from Mumbai till the kaas plataeu. We reached here early in the morning ,since it was too early to start we decided to take the nap in the bus only. Around 6:30 am we all got down from the bus and freshened up at dhaba near by and had breakfast.
From the entrance of kaas , we were accompanied with a guard who had deep knowledge about the huge variety of flora. We asked him all sort of questions from the names of those species to how they maintain such amazing locality.
The entire valley was covered with the sheet of greenery and different colorful varieties of flowers making the place looks totally amazing. Certain parts of plateau has been covered with barrier.Reason being ,the area has some special variety of flora which needs to be preserved .
The last part of the plateau is the beautiful lake which will conclude this entire journey with the best view.On the way to lake there are few shops for tea,coffee and also other snacks items including maggi and pakodas. The perfect place to take rest and satiate your hunger with beautiful lake view.
It was then time to head back towards our bus in parking area and move back to Mumbai.This journey of approx 5 hrs is itself picture some ,that too during monsoon, it wont let you sleep for a minute also.
Best time to go: August to October. Check kaas website for further exact details of blooming.
How to Reach-The plateau is just 22 km from Satara city and can be reached through a hired taxi or public buses - there are a few state buses that ply on the route from Satara to Kaas
Why Kaas: Full of biodiversity ,truly a paradise for nature lover and for those interested in flora. A Perfect weekend gateway during monsoon .
If you are driving your own car, you would need to park a little ahead of the main flowing area and walk for about 1km.
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