WAI: Temple Town
Wai may not feature among the conventional holiday places around Pune. On your way to Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar, it’s a place easy to miss. But Wai offers a refreshing change from a stereotype holiday. A detour of three km en route to Mahabaleshwar will get you to this scenic location. Wai’s ultimate selling point is the silence it offers, away from the usual tourist buzz.
Get there by road: it’s around 95 km from Pune. Or take a direct train to Satara and hitch a ride to Wai. The developed part of the town offers plenty of accommodation options. Nestled in the Sahayadri ranges, Wai was earlier known as Viratnagari. The river Krishna flows through the town, setting up scenic locations and plenty of ghats. Also known as the temple town, Wai has a number of temples - from Chakreshwar and Kaleshwar temples near Brahmanshahi Ghat to the Ganpati temple on Ganpati Aali.
What adds to the charm of the place is the little peak into history that it offers. Wai is over 350 years old and it hides inside it many small repertoires of the past. The wada of minister to the Peshwas, Nana Phadnis called Rajwada, is a beautiful place on the bank of river Krishna. Other places of interest are the Banawdikar Wada which was captured and used by Afzal Khan, Deshpande Wada and a 400-year-old wada of the Kathavate family. “These historical places make your visit all the more memorable. Especially as a lot of past architecture and style is seen,” says Kapil Shah, who had been to Wai on his way back from Mahabaleshwar recently.
On your way to Wai you can also choose and plan a lot of treks. Says Swapnil Pawar, founder of Raanvata, who has been organising treks in the area for the last eight years. “ Wai also leads to many trekking points. It is surrounded by numerous forts in the Satara district, such as Pratapgarh, Pandhavgarh, Vairajgarh, Chandan Vandan and so on.”
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