Rambaug Point Trek – An offbeat way to Matheran

Matheran is a hidden gem for all trekkers. Not many understand the potential this place has for trekking. Once you realise there are more than 10 trekking routes to Matheran with each route having its own flavour you would be stuck in Matheran loop till you cover them all. I am currently active on #ProjectMatheran to complete all such routes. Rambaug point trek to Matheran is one such offbeat & fascinating trek. It was once a famous as a British trade route. These days its used by locals & trekkers to reach Matheran and is also known as “Four Plateau Trek to Matheran” since it crosses 4 plateaus. This Rambaug Point trek blog will be your trekking guide to plan this trek yourself. More adventures like this one at the end of the post.

Matheran is one of the most famous hill stations in India where vehicles are not allowed. Normal tourists reach Matheran via the Neral toy train or just drive on the normal road to reach Dasturi Naka ( which is the entrance point of Matheran). These tourists then visit different view points of Matheran by walking or on a horse. However adventure lovers like me love to reach Matheran by trekking from base village to these view points & then descend by some other point or return from Dasturi Naka. There are more than 10 Matheran trekking routes

How long is the Rambaug point trek ?

Niraj, how much time does it take to complete this Rambaug point trek to Matheran? The Rambaug point from Dhanwadi takes about 2-3 hours. The interesting thing is that on somedays the weather is so clear you can actually see all the landmarks by naked eyes & on other days especially during monsoon you dont get to see anything at all

Is Rambaug trek difficult for beginners ?

Rambaug Point trek is an easy trek for beginners. Earlier the base village needed to be reached by walking a long distance. But currently a road reaches right upto the base Dhanwadi thus saving lots of time. Also the trail doesnt have any diversions hence no chance of getting lost.

What is the best time for Rambaug Point Trek ?

Matheran treks are perfect monsoon treks. Winter provides its own twist with beautiful sunsets & sunrises. This treks are also worthy of summer time because once you toil through all the climb Matheran provides with a very cool weather ( should preferably start early morning). Hence I term it as an all weather trek. Mostly trekkers do this trek on monsoon morning. But i also prefer to do this Rambaug point trek on winter to enjoy sunsets from the western Matheran points

Trek pe khaane ko kya milega ?

The treks starts in Dhanwadi, Burujwadi or Dandwadi which are very small villages, And as these are treks are bit offbeat no one has put up a hotel. So you will get food directly at Matheran. ( checkout my trek food & trek gear )

Rambaug Point Trek Route Map

As you can see Rambaug point can be trekked from Dhanwadi, Burujwadi & Dandwadi ( also called Borichi ghaani). All these treks are of same easy level. The route from Dandwadi is much more straight forward requiring climbing on a ridge , while the route from Dhanwadi has its advantage as being the first base village you can reach & chance of getting to see a monsoon waterfall which we preferred. I would be discussing the trek from Dhanwadi

How to Reach Rambaug Point trek Base village from Mumbai and Pune ?

You can reach Dhanwadi which is the base village for Rambaug point trek complete the trek & walk further to the start of Matheran @ Dasturi Naka & take a shared taxi to Neral railway station to head home OR after reaching the top descend back to Dhanwadi from routes mentioned above ( for people getting there personal vehicles )

Nearest Railway Station is Karjat

Base Village for Beatrice Cliff Trek is Dhanwadi

Karjat > Borgaon Phata > Pokharwadi> Dhanwadi > (Trek to) Rambaug pt.

Update 2023: There is very good road till Pokharwadi. Earlier one needed to start trekking from Pokharwadi to Dhanwadi ( 1.5 kms). Now a road is built till Dhanwadi. So after Pokharwadi >Dhanwadi is now doable . Even the other two bases are just a km away

Shared Public Transport to reach Katwan

• By Road to Borgaon Phata: For guys coming from Mumbai side one can take the Karjat bus and get down at Borgaon phata ( Or reach Chouk and take rickshaw to Karjat and get down to Borgaon phata). Many ST bus & shared EECO ply on this route
• By Train: If you reach the Karjat Railway station. No direct Bus is available from Karjat to Pokharwadi but one can take any ST bus / Rickshaw from Karjat Station going towards Panvel/ Chouk / Rasayani which can drop you at Borgaon Phata for 10-15 Rs per seat ( 12 kms ) .
• From Borgaon phata There are EECO which run between Borgaon Phata to Ambewadi on hourly basis which can drop at Pokharwadi. In case the vehicles are not available one can walk 3.5 kms of scenic road to Pokharwadi enjoying the views of huge Morbe Dam.
• BEST OPTION is to reach Karjat station (if you are more in number) is to meet a rickshaw / tum tum driver and negotiate a drop till Pokharwadi or till Dhanwadi which would cost around 350-400 for one way drop. One can also ask the same driver to come back to pick u up after the trek ( if you plan to go back to Karjat station again ). In case you end your trek at Matheran there are plenty of options available from Matheran to reach Neral railway station.

It should take about 45 minutes from Karjat station to Pokharwadi

Private Vehicle : Just add Dhanwadi on Google Maps and enjoy this beautiful drive. Roads are newly made in Feb 2023.

My Journey @ Rambaug Point Trek to Matheran

With the usual set of freinds we were geared up for the Matheran Range trek from Rambaug to Garbett. My freinds reached Karjat station and booked a tum tum to Pokharwadi. I met them at Borgaon phata. After taking the diversion on Borgaon phata we reached the first landmark which is a beautiful railway track view which appeared to be some 3 storeys below the bridge.

Soon enough we reached the huge Morbe Dam. With the cloudy atmosphere the other end of dam was not visible at all and it seemed like a ocean with a green shore.

This is the same route which goes for One tree hill trek & splits for Sondai fort trek. Having set Google map location to Pokharwadi after crossing the Morbe dam we should usually see the Matheran peaks in clear view as in picture above ( winter pic). In the above Matheran points like Chowk points and Garbett pt & plateau (right) are visible. The ridge route from Dandwadi is also visible.

However being a very rainy day there were clouds everywhere and nothing much was visible on that day. Just before reaching Pokharwadi the road forks up with another one leading to Sondewadi. After cross the Pokharwadi bridge we started the trek from the right side of the road.

The next route marker was Dhanwadi village. It didnt rain that much but Matheran was still completely hidden in the clouds. The only option we had was to take pics of the lovely green paddy cultivation. Also this is the first plateau of the “Trek of Four Plateaus to Matheran” .

Update 2023 – the muddy route is replaced by a tar road

We reached the small village of Dhanwadi . After the village there are two routes – a trail on the left and the rough road ( 2023- a tar road) on the right which goes to Burujwadi & further to Dandwadi. Since there is a small waterfall enroute we decided to take the left trail after Dhanwadi.

This trail passes beside a stream ( which comes from Kadam Naal ) and you can constantly hear the water gushing down the hill. The crescendo of the stream reached its max as we took a small detour to reach a small but beautiful waterfall which got me excited. It was a good place to have a quick brunch.

Though the waterfall was too beautiful we couldn’t wait for long since we had a longer distance to cover. This was the end of the first plateau of the “Four Plateau trek to Matheran” . We started our climb towards the second plateau after crossing a small stream.

As we neared the second plateau Morbe Dam started to become prominent in the background. We could also spot the Sondai fort on the left side of this dam

All the 3 routes meet at this second plateau, the ridge from Dandwadi was clearly visible and felt like a huge whale. The climb was easy and felt like we were walking towads the Chowk Point of Matheran rather than the Rambaug point. It was only after reaching “Chowki” that we realised that we were on the right track.

Bro Tip: Starting from any village your aim of climbing should be towards Chowk Point of Matheran. When you reach the Chowki- a small rest place below the Chowk point you will get a traverse to take you to Rambaug point Matheran

This point is know to local villager’s as Chowki & provides a panoramic view of Morbe dam. At this place we are directly below the Little Chowk Point of Matheran and from here we traverse towards the Rambaug point on the third plateau

This plateau of Rambaug jungle constitutes the Third Plateau in the Four Plateau Trek. The jungle is pretty dense and if you are lucky you might get to spot some exquisite birds. Someone from our group spotted a hornbill & Shekru. After the plateau stretch we come out of the jungle to a zig zag trail that reaches Rambaug point after 40 minutes.

Being monsoon there are water streams and waterfalls at every nook and corner. Alexander point & Garbett point was visible for a split second before vanishing into clouds.

Within no time we reached the grilled fence of Rambaug point . This was kind of anti-climax with no prized view from top because of clouds. After waiting in vain for some time for the weather to clear up we moved towards Matheran market through the misty & empty roads of Matheran which were equally appealing & haunting. Having walked for almost two hours in such wet conditions through the clouds we were in need of hot cup of tea & some well deserved snacks.

We ventured through the Matheran tracks towards the next part of this range trek to descend via Garbett point. Monsoon is Matehran’s off season but few horses were still available to serve the scarce crowd

We continued to walk towards the Garbett point. Reached the famous Matheran railway station where the toy train waits for monsoon to end. Due to land slides the toy train route remains closed in monsoon.

Walking along the railway track and taking some more pics of Matheran we had quickly reached the fork for Garbett point. Here one of us decided to leave for Mumbai since he was too tired. He walked further to reach Dasturi Naka to take the shared taxi to Neral railway station for 70 Rs. Remaining bunch of us continued to walk till the Garbett point

My descend through Garbett point was quite scenic , windy and presented some brilliant art work by the clouds.

Bye !!

That’s it for the Rambaug point trek blog.