Why Visapur Fort Trek Is Found To Be The Most Attractive In Monsoon?

VISAPUR FORT TREK SUMMIT VIEW

Why Visapur Fort Trek Is Found To Be The Most Attractive In Monsoon?

About Visapur Fort

Visapur Fort Trek is located at Visapur village in Lonavala, Maharashtra state of India. Monsoon Trek to Visapur fort is one of such attraction from Lonavala, where photos from this place will touch your soul. Same thing happened with me; Visapur fort was not known much earlier. In recent couple of years, monsoon photos of this place started getting viral, especially the one where water is flowing down from the stairs and one has to trek in that. This has become remarkable photo and also known for staircase waterfall in Lonavala. This has become the mark of Visapur trek. The day I saw those photos, and guess what? I got so excited and eager to visit this place. It is one of such adventurous trek where trail route involves the waterfall, jungle route, and rocky terrain. Visapur village is the base village to reach the start point of this trek. This fort is a part of Lohagad, and it shares the fortification as a twin fort with Lohagad fort. It is situated on the height of 3556 feet. This fort is larger and higher in elevation than Lohagad fort.

How To Reach Visapur Fort Trek 

By Air

There is no direct airport to this location. Mumbai serves as the nearest International airport located on the distance of 100 km and another airport is at Pune on the distance of 65 km from this place. One can drive from airport to Visapur fort.

By Rail

Lonavala and Malavali is the nearest rail head to reach this destination. The fort is further 5 km from Malavali station and 14 km from Lonavala station. Lonavala is major railway station where few express trains from different location like Bangalore, Chennai, and Delhi halts here. From Malavali station one can either walk for few minutes or can also option for rickshaw to reach the base village Visapur. The road involves the steep walking and it is crowded on weekend in monsoon days.

By Road

One can drive up to Visapur village from Mumbai, Pune and other major cities. The drive from Mumbai is very scenic and one can come across the different waterfalls on route. There are three routes to reach the summit of Visapur fort, but the base to all route is Malavali. First route is from Patan village, second is from Bhaje caves, and third is from Gaimukh Khind.

From Patan village the route is bit confusing with medium grade, this route further meets to Bhaje caves route. From Bhaje caves, route takes approx 2 hours to reach the top. Bhaje caves are also part of Visapur fort. From Gaimukh khind, there is diversion for Lohagad and Visapur fort. This is easiest trail to reach the fort. We had taken Patan village route that meets the Bhaje caves.

Trekking Route To Reach The Summit Point Of Visapur fort trek

Monsoon in Maharashtra is known for its breath taking view of Sahyadri mountain, and Visapur is one of the part of it.  Visapur fort trek in monsoon is one such trek, I was eagerly waiting to take out from my bucket list. There was one more person who was eager like me to visit here, and he is the one who accompanied me here. As like other treks, I prefer to travel on my own bike which is time consuming and also make my trip in my budget. As decided the day was right here to give positive energy a direction. A direction to make my dream come true, a direction to see viral photo in real. One staircase waterfall photo that made me to visit long way. You must be thinking, what is special in that photo, that brought me here. As you go ahead, you will find your answer. 

Everything happened as decided and we left from Mumbai on bike, it was time to utilize all collected information of this place into reality. With the help of GPS, we managed to reach the base village. Reaching the base of this fort was not big task, the big task was to find initial trekking route from Patan village. It was completely new trek with new route for me. After spending some time with villagers, they guide us towards starting trial, and it became very easy to reach initial trail of this trek. Villagers here were so kind. Initial route is easy but confusing, it involves the vast path and little ascending trail. There are so many diversion here that takes you to different routes. One has to keep eye on waterfall route parallel to path which is being followed. Slight ascend from this trail will take you to the rocky terrain. The place here was completely dipped in the mist, at some point it seems that clouds were walking with us, it was so dense. Water making their way through the rocks, foggy weather, and climate that chill ups the spine is what, Visapur trek is known for. My excitement was increasing and heart was getting attracted towards the scenario here. I was still waiting for staircase waterfall. From here another 15 minutes trek lead us near to rock cut steps, where the statue of Lord Hanuman carved on the wall. It was looking so captivating.  There is small caves on right, this caves can easily accommodate at least 50 people. In addition to this, there are also few temples here.

LORD HANUMAN CARVED IN THE WALL LOOKS SO PRETTY

ROUTE WITH ROCKY PATCH

Are you excited to see staircase waterfall, then do click on video;

Trek doesn’t stop here, summit point of the trek was yet to come. Next to this caves, it was time to finish up my waiting, yes, the stairs route starts here, and it was copy paste of the viral photo that brought me here. Yes; staircase waterfall. The water flowing from the stairs, and people ascending through this, looks so alluring. Soothing sound of water flow, beautiful views from nearby touched my heart. From here, one can have the glimpse of perfect monsoon adventure. This is one of the spot where travelers are so eager to shoot the video, but due to huge crowd on stairs, very few people gets the nice shoot of this waterfall. We had to wait here till evening to get the perfect shot. When crowd reduced, it became easy for us to shoot this small patch. In monsoon, crowd remains continue to visit this stunning place. This stairs route further takes you to the North entrance of the fort. Moving further, there is vast surface on the summit and it was invisible due to fog.

SUMMIT POINT WITH WATER BODIES

TREKKING ROUTE TO MOVE ON SUMMIT POINT

Its bit tough to explore the entire corner of fort in monsoon, because of dense clouds and fog. There is small cannon on top along with grinding wheel, which was used in old time. Number of water tank and food storage tank on top will make you think about the fort being sustainable for long war. The clouds on top was playing hide and seek with us, you will not be able to see anything from long distance because of fogs, when it disappears, one can see the complete view of summit. When clouds disappears, one can also see the fortification of fort built with great thick walls. It is long wall spread across the corner of the fort. The walls are still intact and good in condition. Top of the fort gives astonishing view of Lohagad fort along with all three trek route of the Visapur fort. We spent a peaceful and precious time on top. There is small reverse waterfall on top. It is been said that," best of the view comes after hardest climb" and it was true. It was another dream came true for me and I was so happy till.

FORT WALLS AT SUMMIT

Do click this video to see reverse waterfall

While descending, it was raining heavily that resulted in increase in water level on route. This all happened just because of staircase waterfall shoot. It was difficult task to get down through rocky terrain, especially when water force level was increased, where we could hardly see the rocks. Somehow we managed to cross the rocky trail and reached back to base village. Descending is always easy and time consuming. For beginners its easy trek so one doesn’t need to worry. Ideal time required to trek is 2 hours. We ended another dream destination Visapur fort trek with cherish memories.  

Increase in water force, sometime makes descend difficult, do watch the video

When Is The Best Time To Visit Visapur Fort

The ideal time to visit Visapur fort would be from June mid to September in monsoon time. One can get mesmerizing view of waterfalls especially staircase waterfall. One has to be careful in heavy monsoon.  Winter can also be the best time to visit here. Temperature sometimes falls below 10 degree here. From October to February is ideal time for camping lovers. One can camp at summit point also. However, summer here will not be the ideal time to visit, sun rays heats up the rock and becomes difficult to trek. 

Other Places To Explore Around Visapur Fort

Lohagad Fort-Lohagad is one such fort that shares the fortification with Visapur fort. It has great relevance which was captured and recaptured by Shivaji Maharaj. It is one of the easy trek for beginners. The distance from Visapur is hardly 1 km.

Karla Buddha Caves-Karla caves are ancient Buddhist rock cut caves at Karli near Lonavala. It has been carved from rocky hillside. The distance from Visapur is 9 km.

Pawna Lake Camping- Pawna Lake, is a reservoir turned artificial lake in Lonavala. One of the famous tourist spot for lake camping with amazing view of surrounding mountain. It is 15 km from Visapur fort.

Stay Option Near To Visapur Fort

There are so many hotels available on the distance of 2 km from Visapur fort. The hotel price range varies as per Deluxe to economic. One has to do booking in advance on weekend, as booking gets full on weekend. Apart from hotels, there are multiple resorts for stay along with swimming pool and indoor games.

Visapur is also known for its camping activity in winter season. There are lots of tour company in Lonavala that arrange Visapur camping. One can do pre booking online.  

Things To Know Before You Visit Visapur Fort Trek

• Monsoon near to this place stays continue for long time, so one has to be prepare if you want to be wet throughout the day.
• Carry rain supporting gears to trek in monsoon.
• Carry some energy bar and water with you.
• Do not try to climb the wall of the fort at summit due to some risk factor.
• Keep proper trekking shoes that can support on wet surface. In monsoon, routes are slippery.
• Do not drink and trek.
• Do not litter the area around.