Visapur Fort ❤️ Biggest fort in Lonavala

Niraj have you visited the famous waterfall stairs trek to Visapur fort ? Yes when it was not famous & crowded. But my recent visit was in monsoon unfortunately it didnt rain that day so it was just a trek over dry stairs . So was it worth it ? Visapur fort has much more to offer than just the waterfall stairs – a rocky trek through a jungle crossing waterfalls, huge cannons , beautiful views of Lohagad, Tung fort, Tikona fort , Korigad & Pawna dam but mostly lesser crowds than the nearby Lohagad which means a peaceful trek in Lonavala especially on weekdays. In this Visapur fort trek blog, you will find all the details needed to plan the trip yourself. If you like Visapur fort you will find many similar treks at the end of this blog.

What is the best time for Visapur fort Trek ?

In monsoon Visapur fort comes alive with waterfall stairs, water streams flowing through the trail, the jungle trail freshens up, all the lakes & tanks become full. Needless too say Visapur is a perfect monsoon trek near Lonavala. However even after monsoon till winter the fort remains green and the cold winds provide a lovely experience preferable for camping. Summer time is mostly for professional trekkers & hard core fort lovers.

Visapur fort history

Visapur was built during 1713-1720 by Balaji Vishwanath, the first Peshwa of Maratha Empire. It was built much later than the nearby Lohagad with strategic purpose of protecting Lohagad. Ironically when Visapur fell in hands of British in 1818, Visapur being taller than Lohagad was used to bombard & take control of Lohagad. Considering, the strategic importance of Visapur, both its north (Konkan) and the south (Deccan) gateways were blown up, and except a few huts, nothing was left standing. In contrast, most of Lohagad fort is still intact.

Where can we stay for Visapur fort ?

Bhaje village has some basic staying options but could be avoided as this trek is done as a day trip. If you have a planned weekend visit it would be preferable to stay in Lonavala for a comfortable time. ( During my Lonavala visit I had stayed at the luxury resorts of Dukes Retreat & Upper Deck which are very close to nature)

Khane me kya hai ?

In monsoon there are many food huts which crop up throughout the trail especially on weekends. On other days there are plenty of food options at the base village of Patan & Bhaje . Lohagad route through Gaimukh Khind also have many hotels at the bottom . As with any trek always carry back up food & water. ( checkout my trek food & trek gear )

How to reach Visapur from Mumbai & Pune?

Where is Visapur located? Visapur fort is located in the Mawal taluka, Pune Maharashtra. It is 16kms from Lonavala, 50 kms from Pune & 110 kms from Mumbai. Nearest major city & express railway station is Lonavala. Malavli railway station on the Lonavala-Pune local trains is the easiest & the cheapest way to reach Visapur.

There are 4 different trek starting points. For someone who has already completed Lohagad trek that day and decides to do Visapur as well, Gaimukh khind route & Malewadi route bases are nearest at 1.5km & 4kms from Lohagad fort. For someone doing this as a fresh trek – the route from Bhaje caves & Patan village are recommended however they are lengthier than the previous two. From Malavali station Bhaje caves & Patan village are both about 2kms walkable distance.

For private vehicles just add your preferred starting location , drive & start trekking. What i would recommend is to do Lohagad trek , walk 1.5kms to Gaimukh base , climb the fort and then get down by Bhaje caves route so as to get best of your time. For someone who just want to look at the famous waterfall stairs other routes would be preferable as per your liking.

Is Visapur fort trek difficult for beginners ?

How difficult is Visapur for trek for beginners? Visapur has 4 trek routes of varying duration which end with a final climb through a water stream to reach the top. Apart from rainy days these rocky streams are dry and seem to be a normal climb. On monsoon days these rocks may turn slippery. However with more fame these routes are used more frequently and are more easily doable . Apart from the water stream all the four routes are easy with the ones from Bhaje caves & Patan village being a bit lengthy.

How long is the Visapur fort trek ?

From the four routes – Gaimukh Khind from Lohagad & route from Malewadi take about 45 minutes to reach the top. The Bhaje caves route would be about 2 hours & the Patan village would be a proper jungle trek taking about 2 hrs 30 min one side. Visapur is a huge fort and to go around the entire fort it would easily take more than 2hours. So it will likely take your entire day if you do it from Bhaje or Patan.

Things to see at Visapur

Most people are only here for the waterfall stairs & the climb through the water streams however Visapur is a huge fort and has many things to offer as you can see the image below. Apart from the artifacts Visapur provides tremendous views of its surrounding including Pawna dam & forts like Lohagad, Tikona, Tung, Morgiri and on good days even Rajmachi & Dukes nose are visible. But the best feeling would be to just walk on those huge green plateaus and sit on the walls or buruj and just enjoy the fresh air

Visapur fort trek blog: TheFreeBird’s story

Visapur has been one of my favourite monsoon treks even before it became famous so when I decided to do Lohagad trek I happily planned Visapur fort in the afternoon. From Lohagad base I took my bike off roading on the rough road to Gaimukh Khind base about 2 kms away. From the huge crowds at Lohagad, Visapur feels like a totally secluded place. My plan to have lunch here instead of Lohagad was paying dividends with the cool wind & the silence broken only by some wild birds.

After resting for some time we started on the jungle trail which soon changes to a waterfall route, full of rocks . It didnt rain here for 3-4 days catching me off guard as I had planned this as a monsoon trek . The route looked slightly steep and would have been better with some rain. The dense tree canopy have variety of birds which seem to melodiously sing for rain.

Within 30 minutes of ascend we had almost reached the entry point of the fort where we could see the huge fortification walls fallen at some places & hoped that the remaining didnt fell that day 😁.

Once at the top I could see the Southern entry of Visapur in pieces as British had blown of the entrance to this majestic fort. I could only imagine the wonderful sight of the fort in its hey days. Visapur being such a huge fort required lots of stone bricks to build the entire fortification around it. These stones to build the walls & entrances were produced by cutting the rocky plateau of the fort. Such excavations were used to create water tanks serving dual usage. As large excavations were done here this fort has one of the biggest & the largest number of water tanks I have seen

Since we started to go around the fort in the anti-clockwise direction the fort was completely empty as most trekkers generally prefer the other side west of the fort which has more artifacts. But more than monuments this side provides better views & lesser crowds which is what I like. I could imagine myself as a mavla on this fort looking at the enemy movements near the nearby forts of Tikona , Tung & Lohagad.

From the south end to the north side I spotted many water tanks but the real hidden jewel seems to be this big buruj bastion guarding the north -eastern side of the Visapur. The rains few days ago had filled up lakes and puddles around the fort and provided a beautiful refection of the mighty buruj. The monsoon winds were cool and we just chillaxed here for hours looking at the grey clouds crossing from Konkan side to Deccan plateau.

As mentioned earlier, this mighty fort needed lots of rocks for construction . hence the large water tanks. Initially i took many pictures of these tanks but after capturing like 50 tanks it became too common place. This fort should be renamed to a Tankgad. Near by this big buruj and the huge tanks there are many remains of small buildings. Going ahead is the Mahadev mandir, a chunyacha ghana ( which was used to create a paste of chuna to joing stone bricks in walls ) & finally reached the northern wall from where the north entry from the other routes become visible. This is where the famous waterfall stair lies.

The stairs lead to the Northern entrance of the fort which has also been blown off . There are two cannons placed here overlooking the entrance & further ahead on the North western buruj is a bigger cannon.

Below this North eastern buruj is a secret door which opens up out of the fort. I didnt find the exact location , instead just found a entrance which just takes you to a lower level outside the buruj.

By now the monsoon clouds had gathered and the evening was darker than usual. It didnt rain since morning when I was looking forward to it & now I had no energy to get drenched. With that we picked up speed to see the remaining part of fort on the Lohagad side which was a vast plateau with few monuments scattered around scantily.

Towards Lohagad side the Visapur plateau is too large and my legs had slowed down a lot making it feel even longer. The fortification wall on this plateau towards Lohagad side is in good condition.

The never ending plateau was bordered by this huge wall on one side & had an endless amount of water tanks flanking the other side. I hurried towards the Lohagad view point with the signs of impending rain getting stronger

This was the probable place from where Lohagad was bombarded by the British. I had not expected to spend 4 hours on Visapur. But time has just withered past as I had reached end of my journey today. We descended in another hour, had some snacks at the base, hoped on my bike and headed home.

Bye !!

That’s it for the Visapur fort trek blog.