Best way to reach if u are traveling from outside Maharashtra
Nearest Airport – Mumbai/Pune
Mumbai – By road 6 to 7 hours of road journey/Can opt for public transportation(easily available)
Pune – By road 5 to 6 hours of road journey/Can opt for public transportation(easily available)
Accommodation – Reasonable stay with 15 to 20 USD per night
Food – you can enjoy local foods as well as food of your choice in restaurants and pubs.
Day 1
We have planned for a road trip on a long weekend from Pune and we decided to discover this place which is known for ancient Indian carvings, sculptures, and paintings back in 400 – 650 CE opting Aurangabad(City in Maharashtra, India). We started around 10 in the morning and reached the destination by evening 4 pm including breaks on our way for lunch on the highway. In the evening we went for Bibi ka Maqbara, a tomb commissioned by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in memory of his first wife resembling The Taj Mahal(one of the 7 wonders of the World), the tomb of his mother. This historic place is well maintained and will surely give u vibes of Taj Mahal. We enjoyed this piece of beauty with the sunset 🌇 making a memorable moment. We then headed to a well know restaurant to have our dinner. Well, the city, not a late-night city so we wind up early and went back to our room.
Day 2
After having our breakfast we went to Ajanta and Ellora Caves which welcome visitors from 9 am. Don’t forget to put on sunscreen as the temperature is quite high. In total there are 34 caves consisting of halls of worship, monasteries, Hindu and Jain temples so if you are going to explore each and every cave it’s going to consume a lot of your time. We tried to explore most of the caves, it was an amazing experience, and quite astonished how they managed such an amazing art with the use of colors and tools that are used to carve such huge rocks back then. The archeologists are still studying the later part.
Tip – majorly the caves are of a similar structure except a few which are exceptionally marvelous and shouldn’t be skipped. So check out for instructions mentioned on the site or do your study in advance.
We completed our visit by around 3 o’clock in the afternoon and had our lunch in a nearby roadside hotel. From there we headed towards Nashik(Wine city of India) which is a 4 to 5 hours journey. We reached the destination around 9 pm all tired.
Day 3
Nashik is famous for grape vineyards in India and has some local vineyards to explore. SULA is a well know vineyard in Nashik that organizes a day tour which will cost something 11 USD to 28 USD per person depending upon what you choose.
Well, there are other Vineyards that have opened recently for tourists and you can choose them as well.
We went through the process of winemaking and barrel room. We took some wine tasting tours also with an additional charge, which was an amazing experience as you get to know a lot of things about the wines, like the type of wine, the difference between the types, even how to hold a wine glass.
They are selling their products so you have a variety of options to choose from directly from the producer. We brought few wines for us to bring along.
The vineyard has a lot of photo booths to capture your beautiful moments. I personally loved all those props placed for social media freaked people. Well if it’s a seasonal period the wait to get your picture with the props is longer than expected 😂 There are various renowned food chains available within the premises to enjoy food with the view of the vineyard.
Well, they have a resort also if anyone is planning to spend more time relaxing and drinking wine.
We had our lunch in one of the food chains. The food was pretty good. You will get a lot of variety of options. We then started our journey back to Pune with lots of pictures and memories in our hearts. It took 4 – 5 hours of drive and we are back to our home by late-night enjoying breaks in between and dinner on the highway. It was an amazing short trip over a long weekend under our planned budget.
