Fifteen quirks of Matheran

Mumbai region’s only hill station many surprising features for travelers

Matheran, Mumbai’s hill station, a few hours away from the city, has many interesting features.  Though most people know about the hill railway they can take to reach Matheran from Neral and that the hill station does not allow any motorized vehicles, Matheran features numerous quirky things that will enchant every visitor. 

A collage of Matheran sights

In today’s Times of Urbania, we list fifteen Matheran facts that will enthuse you to visit this tiny hill station of the Mumbai region.

1. Driver for the ghats: As you approach the junction which connects to the ghat road, which goes to Matheran, some men will stop your car and offer to drive your car up the hill!  As many tourists in cars are learners or not confident of navigating the road’s sharp curves, Matheran locals drive their vehicles to the hill station for a charge.

2. The giant car park: Dastur Naka, is where you must first pay a parking fee to the Matheran city council before letting you into a massive open-air car park amidst trees.  As two and four-wheelers jostle this space on weekends and popular holidays, if you reach it post afternoon, you are likely to find parking only at the parking lot’s far end.  Helpful villagers accompany you to empty parking spaces even as you keep a wary eye on monkeys in the trees ready to snatch food from your hands and bags.  Finally, you pass a giant open-air horse stable en route to your parking spot, where resting and feeding horses create a sight you may not have seen anywhere else.

3. The helpful locals: Soon after you park your car, you realize why the locals are extra nice to you!  They are the ones operating the horses or hand-drawn rickshaws or as porters!  At Matheran, you need help moving around and carrying luggage on its dusty streets at inclines that leave even fit people panting.  Further, locals depend on the hill station for their livelihood, and you are generating their ployment for getting to your place of stay through a porter and horse or rickshaw.

4. Entry fee to the hill station: The thickly forested Matheran Hill station charges a fifty rupee entry fee to each adult entering the place.  As there is only one entry road to the place, you pay for your ticket for the city administration staff to let you in.

5. Your constant companions: You will find monkeys everywhere during your stay, whether at the parking lot or while walking around Matheran.  Some are mischievous and snatch food from tourists, even from restaurant tables.  As you enter Matheran, you will cross through a tunnel-like structure at the entrance made of steel mesh to protect you from monkeys!  Shop owners carrying sticks and shooing away monkeys are common at Matheran.  Even at your hotel, you will find monkeys rummaging through trash cans for food and drink.

6. Equine support: Imagine a place that does not let any motor vehicle inside, and you can imagine the task of moving people and things in and out of it.  If there are hundreds of licensed horses (with badges issued by the Matheran City Council) for people, shorter workhorses only move goods.  Only when you ride on the horses for your sightseeing will you realize how much easier they make your trip.  Unfortunately, a result of so many horses inhabiting it and moving around is that you will find horse dung everywhere you go at Matheran.

7. Sightseeing: Matheran is full of spots with unique views that can also be stunning and spread across the hill station.  As its name suggests, the panorama point gives the most comprehensive view of Matheran’s surroundings, with the hotel close to being among the most expensive to stay while there.  Though you can cover all these 38 viewing points over two to three days depending on your mode of travel, some tourists cover all such places by horseback in just one day.  The city council and local businesses all display maps of the tourist places across Matheran.  Tour operators with horses offer packages for which they charge by the hour or have multiple sightseeing spots in the itinerary.

8. Caretakers who enjoy comforts: Matheran is full of bungalows whose owners reside elsewhere, mostly in Mumbai.  As a result, you will find numerous large homes with only the caretakers’ families residing in their quarters.  Enterprising caretakers operate the small kiosks serving food and hot beverages to tourists near the bungalows.

9. Chikki and fudge: Like the Lonavala hill station famous for Chikki and fudge, Matheran has its stores famous for those two products.  You can spot them on the hill station’s main street with tourists throning such stores to purchase a variety of chikkis, fudge, and other food products.  Nariman Chikki Mart is one such business famous for its products.

10. Smarter option than walking on the road: Our porter, Pandu Kaka, told us that walking along the railway line helps avoid the steep slopes along the road, and we used it both ways, to and from our hotel during our Matheran visit in February 2022.  As the train is slow, you can easily spot it in either direction and can stay away from the track when it passes you.  In addition, you will find small kiosks selling food and other refreshments for tourists even along this route.

11. Farthest hotels are cheaper: The hotels farthest from the entrance to Matheran hill station are likely to be the cheapest as fewer tourists go there.  Also, your porterage and horse riding or rickshaw cost will add to your room charges and can be very high compared to the hotel rent.

12. Surprising features: Matheran has a racecourse and a lake, features you wouldn’t think of at a hill station.  The Charlotte Lake that supplies water to Matheran residents has a dam and the Pisarnath Temple on its shores.  The Olympia racecourse is another feature that is more than a century old, having started in the late nineteenth century and today is popular for horse riding and training on horses.

13. Vehicles only for emergencies: The hill station has two ambulances helping people with sickness.  The city council disallows all other motorized vehicles into the hill station.

14. Local population: Matheran has a community of about five thousand people with all amenities you would expect in a city with such a population.  Thus, you have places of worship for different communities, a school, and a park.  In addition, people working in the travel trade are either from Matheran or travel there daily from the villages and towns at Matheran’s foothills. 

15. Common sounds you will hear: With no vehicles around, the most common sounds at Matheran are bird calls.  You can hear bird songs throughout the day, especially in the morning and evening.  However, due to the thick forests, you won’t spot many birds during your visit there.

Matheran is just about a two-to-three-hour drive from Urbania, depending on your route choice, and is a cool place worthy of visit anytime of the year.  I hope our article has tickled your interest in visiting Matheran soon.