Rajmachi Fort Trek - A very doable single-day trek near Mumbai
This longish trail is a fantastic option for single-day hikes
Where is Rajmachi trek?
Rajmachi fort has a trailhead near Tungarli dam, Lonavala. This is about 80kms from Mumbai, and 60kms from Pune.
You can also start the trek from Karjat. However, I would recommend starting from Lonavala.
How to reach Rajmachi trek?
For the Lonavala side, you can drive to Tungarli dam. Take the path through the village as it opens onto a trail. The trail winds down to a jeep track coming from Della Resort.
For a slightly easier trek, you can start the hike from near Della resort.
If you’re coming by train, you can take a train to Lonavala, and then take a cab to the trailhead.
How difficult is Rajmachi trek?
Rajmachi fort trek, when taken from Lonavala, has two stretches.
The first stretch is a walk to Uddhewadi village. This is a 10km walk on an undulating jeep track. You can skip this hike by taking a bumpy ride on a 4-wheel drive/ 2 wheeler.
The second stretch is the hike up the hill from Uddhewadi village to the top of the Shrivardhan and Manaranjan fort.
How I stumbled on Rajmachi trek
I had first visited this trek on a stay near to Tungarli dam in Lonavala.
Fariyas hotel did a guided tour for us to Tungarli dam. The dam is a pretty good spot for visitors, as you can park a car nearby and walk about 1km to the lake.
So, on my next trip to Lonavala, I sneaked out, parked my car near the Tungarli dam, and headed out to the Tungarli dam trailhead
The route starting from Tungarli dam starts through dense greenery and gives a good view of the valley that you’ll be trekking along. It then converges with the jeep track that comes up from Della Resort.
This trek report is from two solo hikes that I did in quick succession in October ‘23. I started both hikes around afternoon.
The itinerary for Rajmachi Fort trek
A two hour drive from Mumbai to Lonavala.
A comfortable 11km walk to Udhewadi village - very easy walk on a jeep track.
The first 3-4 kilometres are besides a hill that separates the Tungarli dam from the trail. The forests are not very dense at this point, and you get a good view of the valley that you’ll be trekking along.
Depending on the season, you may pass the Kaataldhar waterfall. This is a raging torrent during monsoon - special care needs to be taken while crossing this. Rest of the year this may just be a trickle.
After a forest checkpost at about 3km point (from Della resort), you pass the village of Fanasrai.
After crossing Fanasrai, you pass through the dense Shirota forest. This will be a very noisy walk - it is as if the forest has come to life here.
Continue walking, and there is a fork in the road. We have to take the left fork.
(If you take the right fork, you will reach the Shirota lake. )
The scenery will change as you walk through the forest. You will pass through a pass that connects the two ridges.
As you continue walking, the views of the fort become ever more clearer.
From here, you continue walking until you reach the entry point of Uddhewadi village.
Do not continue on to the village - if you continue walking you’ll reach Karjat. Instead there is a sharp turn to the right, which leads to the temple at the base of the Shrivardhan and Manaranjan forts.
The final climb to the top of the fort is along a narrowish route, and on rock steps - you just need to be careful - else it is not tricky - the footings are solid.
About a 1-1.5 km uphill walk to the top of the fort, where you get a 360 degree view of the Sahyadris that connect the hill towns of Lonavala and Karjat.
You can check out my Suunto file for the route here:
Difficulty
The trek is longish - there are 10kms of walking along an undulating trail.
Going over the day again
I started for Lonavala at 1:30pm from home in Palava City, Dombivli
Reached Lonavala at 3:30pm, parked my car, and started the trek.
The heat was more in terms of the sunshine - which was very bright, accompanied by the humidity.
I was carrying two trekking poles on the day. Even amidst the strong sun, I tried to keep a good pace by combining running and walking.
That worked for a while however - till mostly 10kms into the walk + run. I mostly tried to run on the downhills - my initial target was to reach the top of the fort at 5:30, and to be able to return to the car at 7:30, so that I’ll be home latest by 9:30. As it turned out I reach home at 11:07 (which wasn’t all that bad actually).
Udhewadi village to Rajmachi climb
On reaching Udhewadi village - I decided I will just continue to walk wherever I see a trail.
I reached Udhewadi village - at base of Rajmachi Fort trek - at 6pm.
On reaching the village, I took the trail towards Karjat - that was a stupid move, that came from a sense of being in a hurry, and just to keep walking - what I ended up doing was I walked a good 1-km in the direction of Karjat - towards Kondivne village.
I tracked back, and came on the fork for Rajmachi fort - it is a concrete paved path - more of stairs. I started the ascent, and pretty quickly reached the temple at the base of the Twin forts. The onward journey from the temple towards the forest was steep - and I had to stop frequently to gasp for breath.
But with each step uphill the overall valley looked that much more gorgeous.
Eventually I decided to turn around at about 6:30 - it was a mixture of the fact that it was getting dark - and that trekking solo - i was concerned about mixture of the trail being narrow and steep, and also the fact that I had a long walk back. I decided to skip the last 50 vertical metres or so of uphill climb, and decided to return back.
As expected, descending was a little nervy, but I got back before it got dark.
The long walk back
The long walk back was pure endurance - it got dark by about 7, and it was just me, my trekking pole and my lights, and a dog that accompanied me throughout the hike.
It was really lovely, the walk back - knowing that I had effectively no option other than to continue walking.
Back at the car
Once back at the car, I knew I had a longish 2 hour drive pending me towards Palava. I ate beetroot and cucumber that I had packed for myself - it felt so good, and I took a good strong gulp of water.
The One in which I finally reached Rajmachi top - Part Two - photos coming soon!
The next time was a slightly more planned trip - I started from Palava at 12 noon, reaching comfortably at 2pm. While it was indeed quite sunny, my biggest concern this time was the wildlife - the high heat brings out scorpions - I saw 2!, and snakes (I didn’t see any!).
The Shirota forest was full of life during my walk towards the fort - it was really loud, and kind of scary if I am to be honest.
This was all in all a much more comfortable walk - I reached the base of the village at about 4:15, at 4:45pm I was comfortably at the top of Rajmachi, and at 5:15pm I was back at the base village. I estimated that I would be able to get back to the base camp of Rajmachi at 7:30pm, which indeed I was quite comfortably able to do.