Visit Panchmadhi in the State of Madhya Pradesh in India

Each and every State of India has beautiful hill stations. Even the State of Madhya Pradesh, which is situated almost on the flat ground at sea level, has many famous hill stations. This is the gift given by the Mother Nature to India. Panchmadhi is one such hill station of Madhya Pradesh. Panchmadhi is full of thick forests, ancient temples, and the large lush green trees and plantation. It is located at a height of around 4000 feet from the main sea level. You can reach Panchmadhi by road from Bhopal that is around 78 miles away. If you want to reach here by train, get down at Pipariya station on Mumbai-Jodhpur railway line. Panchmadhi is just 10 miles away from Pipariya. The nearest airport is Bhopal, which has regular daily flights from Mumbai and Delhi.

There are some good hotels like Girishrinagar, Nilamber, and Nandnavan in the tariff range of Rs.2500 ($63) to Rs.4000 ($100) per day for air-conditioned double room. We had stayed in one middle class hotel, named Hotel Pandava. It charged Rs.800 ($20) per day for a nice double room. It has a nice restaurant that serves good Gujarati, Punjabi, and local food varieties. The location of the hotel is also very nice and convenient in the middle of the shopping market and the city. The best time to visit Panchmadhi is during the winter months from October to March. You must be prepared to take long walks of around 5 to 8 miles per day as most of the points to be seen can be covered on feet only as the cars are to be parked far away from the actual tourist attractions. My advice is to take utmost precautions while walking through the thick forests as there are many bee hives in the forests. And if you disturb one bee hive, there is a real danger to your life due to the fierce attack of these bees. I have myself seen couple of persons meeting their deaths due to this bees attack.

There are many sites seeing spots at Panchmadhi. All these spots are really wonderful offering all the visitors the nature in its most fundamental way. The first spot is Jatashankar. The name is given due to the shape of this hill that is in the shape of Lord Shiva's hair. This cave is considered very holy. You have to go down through around 150 steps to reach inside this cave. The lake of Jambudweep originates from here. Dhupgadh is the next spot that is the highest summit of Satpuda Mountains. You need to walk around 3 miles and climb 5000 stone steps to reach to the top. Pandavgufa is the next place. There are five large caves here. It is believed that Pandavas stayed here for couple of years prior to Mahabharata war. The lake of Apsara Vihar is the next point to be seen. This lake is not very deep and taking a bath here is really enjoyable due to the falling water in the form of a fall. Forsyth point is the next spot. British captain Forsyth invented Panchmadhi from this point. The total fabulous view of Panchmadhi is available from this point. This point is also called Priya darshini point. Rajat falls is also one such point, where the clean, pure natural water is falling from the height of around 200 feet. The mountain of Mahadev is having an ancient lord Shiva temple that is having a very large lingam of Shiva. It is said that lord Shiva had hidden himself in this cave to save himself from Danavs. The way inside this cave is very narrow and you must be careful while going inside. The very fat persons may not be able to pass through this cave. The Satpuda National Park is the next place to be visited. This fine garden was established in the year 1981. You can see many wild animals at this national park. There are many special types of caves also at Panchmadhi, deep inside the forests. The visit to such caves is advisable only for the lovers of adventure sports.

I would strongly recommend all my AC friends to visit this hill station to experience thick forests and large lakes and falls. It shall be certainly a fantastic outing for around 3 to 4 days.