Lohagad fort ❤️Why beginners love this Lonavala trek

Niraj can you suggest an easy beginner trek ? Try Sondai or Karnala . Anything near Lonavala ? Well there are few , how about Lohagad fort trek. There are huge crowds on monsoon weekends but its definitely worth it on weekdays. Lohagad fort used to be a tiring trek before a proper tar road was built to reach its base , now it has become the smallest Lonavala trek which is perfect for a beginner. This Lohagad Fort trek blog will be your travel guide to plan the Lohagad trek yourself. If you like Lohagad you can find many similar treks at the end of this blog.

Is Lohagad fort trek difficult for beginners ?

Niraj, how difficult is Lohagad trek for beginners? As i mentioned earlier Lohagad fort is one of the easiest Lonavala trek. The entire climb from the parking area to the top has proper stone stairs which makes it easy even for families to climb it. Once at the top the entire fort is a flat plateau making it very easy to move around. Only one part some may find difficult is the route to Vinchukada. While getting down to it there is a slightly rocky route which might get slippery in monsoon but can be easily done with help of fellow trekkers.

How long is the Lohagad fort trek ?

Niraj, how much time does it take to complete Lohagad? The climb from parking to the top has some 300 stairs which might take 15-30 minutes depending on your fitness. Plus you would be posing for photos at every entrance door since Lohagad is one of the best preserved forts in Maharashtra. Let say 45 minutes to reach the top. Add another 90 minutes to go around the entire fort & another 30 minutes to click photos. So 30 + 90 + 45 ~ 3 hours to just go around the fort but you can easily spend more time just sitting on the forts edge looking at the beautiful view enjoying a windy day. Since its a short trek many people club this day trek with Visapur fort to make full use of the day. Also they are many people who like to walk the 6 kms from the Malavli station to the Lohagad base village taking about 2 hours of uphill climb.

What is the best time for Lohagad fort trek ?

Lohagad being a small trek is not tiring and can be done anytime during the year. In summer make sure to start early morning to avoid the crazy heat. The best season would be winter and monsoon from June to September. But if you time your visit properly any day would be a good one. Just make sure to stick to Lohagad time limit from 8am to 6pm which is also charged at Rs 25.

Lohagad fort history

Lohagad has seen many changes in ownership from Lohtamia,  Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Yadavas, Bahamanis, Nizams, Mughals and Marathas. Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj captured the fort in 1648 AD but surrendered it to the Mughals in 1665 AD by the Treaty of Purandar. He recaptured the fort in 1670 AD and used it to store his treasury, including the spoils from Surat which was stored in Lakshmi Kothi cave as you will see later in the blog. Later, during the Peshwa era, Nana Phadnavis lived in the fort for some time and constructed several structures, including a large tank and a step-well.

Where can we stay for Lohagad fort trek ?

Lohagad fort closes by 6pm and hence staying/camping on fort is out of question. Though Lohagadwadi has some basic staying options this trek is mostly done as a day trip. If you have a planned weekend visit it would be preferable to stay in Lonavala itself 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)

Lohagad fort trek : Khane me kya hai ?

Being a tourist hotspot you will get to eat everything at Lohagad’s base which feels like a Khau gully /food street. Once you start the climb you will find more juices & snacks centres before the ticket counter after which you wont find anything on the fort. Make sure to carry your own water & food just in case. Also there is a drinking water tank at the top. ( checkout my trek food & trek gear )

How to reach Lohagad fort from Mumbai & Pune?

Where is Lohagad located? Lohagad 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 Lohagad. From Malavali station there are plenty of shared options available on weekends to drop at Lohagad base – Lohagadwadi which is 6kms away. Some trekkers prefer walking this uphill distance to get the full trek effect. Also if you choose to walk you can also stop at waterfalls enroute & even enjoy Bhaje caves before going ahead. For private vehicles just add Lohagad to google maps and enjoy the ride.

BRO TIP:

If you plan to take your bikes, while getting down from Lohagad to Malavli remember that it is too steep and curvy. Using disc brakes on your bike on such demanding slopes can overheat them causing brakes to not work properly. Remember to keep your bike in gear to prevent disc brakes from overheating.

TheFreeBird

Things to see & Lohagad fort map

Lohagad fort has many things to offer as you can see the image below. Apart from the artifacts Lohagad provides tremendous views of its surrounding including Pawna dam & forts like Visapur, Tikona, Tung, Morgiri and on good days even Rajmachi , Korigad & Dukes nose are visible. But the best feeling would be to just experience the wind combing your hair on a cool day & to experience reverse waterfall in monsoon.

Lohagad fort trek blog: TheFreeBird’s story

Lohagad had huge crowds on monsoon weekends and if you want to escape the city chaos then weekend trips should be avoided. With that in mind I came here on a weekday just at the onset of monsoon so that the weather is clear & surroundings are visible and the fort is just a hint of green and washed clean. After paying Rs. 20 as bike parking fee & Rs 25 as entry fee me & my friend started on the 300 stairs to one of the best preserved Maharashtrian fort.

Not wanting to see the crowd on the fort I started early morning from home and didnt stop anywhere meaning not visiting Bhaje caves which was also on my to do list. Without wasting any time we overtook many slow people on the stairs to reach the first gate / entrance of Lohagad. This Ganesh Darwaja has Ganesh idols on both sides

Just crossing the Ganesh Darwaja you dont exactly enter the fort as there are three more gates to be crossed to actually reach inside. This multiple entries made it tougher for the enemy to breach the fort. This gate was added by Nana Phadanvis who renovated the fort extensively. After the this entrance are three cannons which if I remember were present at the top of the fort when I had visited Lohagad during my school days but have been placed here for aesthetic appeal. Works.

The entire fort structure is just a masterpiece. All the remaining three gates are visible in the above picture are surrounded by fortifications and vertical cliffs making it difficult for attacking. Plus the gates are very small only allowing few soldiers to enter helping the small amount of fort soldiers to defend against larger enemy just like 300 movie. The view from here is terrific which was used to track enemy movement near Tikona & Tung fort.

Climbing ahead we reach the main entrance of Lohagad which is well known for its perfect design and best possible condition even after 100’s of years of wars & incessant weather. From the entrance you will a see a unique maze below which being a curved route to the top didnt allow the enemy to gain speed and had to move slowly making them easy targets.

After the main entrance there are two more gates which are in good condition – Narayan gate & Hanuman gate. Hanuman gate is supposedly the oldest entrance of the fort and was the main entrance of the fort before the lower gates were constructed under the reign of Nana Phadanvis. Looking at the Lohagad architecture these people definitely knew how to create a beautiful practical monument.

On crossing the Hanuman gate we enter the fort & the first thing visible is the dargah / mausoleum. Besides the Dargah are the remains of a assembly which have now been adorned by 3 cannons. Behind which is the Mahadev temple which has been newly built besides the 8 sided tank called the Trymbak take.

Near by the above Trymbak take are many water cisterns. One of the tank has drinking water while are other tanks are no longer suitable for drinking. In monsoon one can also see a reverse waterfall in this area. But more than anything reaching the top of a mountain rewards you with a terrific view

After this we went around the fort in an anti-clockwise along the edge as the center of the fort is mostly devoid of any monuments. First we reach a horse stable & then a Lakshmi Kothi which are carved inside a rock. Lakshmi Kothi was used to store the loot of Surat , hence the name.

Lakshmi Kothi is huge and can easily fit a hundred people. There are 4 huge compartments which could have easily stored 10,000 kgs of gold. If the gold was still here you could see me glowing with a golden hue and my child hood dream of swimming in gold coins like Uncle Scrooge would come true. But more than the gold what really made me happy was the awesome view from here which beautifully frames the fort.

Enjoying this beautiful view we continue to the North eastern end of the fort where we get to see Visapur fort . The twin forts are the most favorite of the Lonavala treks. Visapur fort was built strategically after Lohagad to protect it. However when Visapur fell in hands of British in 1818, Visapur being taller than Lohagad was used to bombard Lohagad and ironcially take control of the fort.

There is not much on this side of the fort, so we moved towards the northwestern side to see the famous Vinchukada, which, needless to say, gets its name from its shape. The rocky walls of the Vinchu kada are built on a existing vertical rock surface making it taller & very formidable . We got down from the Lohagad top to reach the Vinchukada which is slightly lower. As we walked on the Vinchukada to see the buruj/bastion at the end , the kada got narrower

It must have been tiring to build such a wall after carrying all the heavy stones from the top of the fort. The stones are excavated from the Lohagad fort & the place from where they are removed becomes a cistern/tank to store water. Such dual purpose usage was the true ingenuity of that time. We sat on the edge of the buruj getting some fresh air till a group of rowdy teenagers destroyed the peace.

On the way back we see a huge 16 sided tank built with geometric precision. The entire architecture of this fort is just so well planned.

It was almost 3 hours since we started and now it was starting to get crowded here. I hate to see crowds on forts and I took it as a hint to start the descend. Lohagad fort trek is perfect for people of all ages and provides terrific views and experience to cherish for a long time. With that we headed down and reached bottom in about 10 minutes looking at the hordes of people arriving. Glad we came early.

Reaching the parking area, I had lemon juice & some bananas , hoped on my bike and headed to Visapur fort for the second trek of the day.

Bye !!

That’s it for the Lohagad fort trek blog.