Visit to Superb Town of Satara in the State of Maharashtra in India

The State of Maharashtra is situated in the Western part of India. This royal state is full of many hill stations, holy places of pilgrimage, and the beautiful sea beaches. As I belong to the same region of India, I have been able to visit most of the sightseeing places located in the Royal State of Maharashtra. The historical town of Satara is one of the most beautiful places to be visited in case you love Indian history. I was able to visit this silent town of Satara during our last visit to India during December- 2010. We really enjoyed our visit to this lovely town of Satara and hence, I have covered my review of our said visit in this article.

Satara is well connected by rail and bus services from most of the major cities of Maharashtra. However, it may not be convenient to reach Satara by air. We traveled to Satara in hired car from the famous hill station of Mahabaleshwar, which is situated at the distance of around 180 miles from Mumbai. Satara is situated at the distance of around 50 miles in South of Mahabaleshwar. We started at around 7 am from Mahabaleshwar and could easily reach Satara by around 9 am. Satara was the capital of Maratha rulers during seventeenth century. The famous Maratha Kings Shivaji and King Shahu Chatrapati were ruling from this city of Satara. The city of Satara is full of the memories of famous King Chatrapati Shivaji. The tourists start their trip of Satara from the famous palace of King Shivaji. This artistic palace has a very impressive design. It has around 80 rooms in all. The main Darbar hall is really the best of all. This hall can accommodate around 1000 people and is decorated with the ancient pictures showing the history of all Maratha rulers. Some of the personal belongings used by King Chatrapati Shivaji are kept here at this palace. The most important of them all is the sword of King Shivaji. This curved sword was used by King Shivaji himself in the war against Moguls. The personal protective body cover and tiger nails used by King Shivaji in his famous war against Mogul King Afzalkhan have been kept here at this palace for viewing of all the visitors. This royal palace is really full of historical monuments and it is suggested to avail the guide services while visiting this grand palace. Such services are easily available at the rates of around Rs.200 ($4.5) per trip.

The next place to be visited is the famous museum of Satara. This famous museum is situated just opposite to main bus station. This museum remains open from 10 am to 5 pm on all days except Sundays. The museum is full of ancient hand written books, rare photographs and paintings of seventeenth century, some of the weapons used personally by King Shivaji, and the gold and silver ornaments belonging to the Maratha royal family. It can easily take around two hours to view this rare historical museum. The next spot to be visited is the Mataji temple. This ancient, Goddess Ambaji temple was built by King Shivaji in seventeenth century, specifically for his mother Jijabai, and it still attracts thousands of tourists every year. The next place is the company garden. This beautiful garden is full of rare breed of plants and flowers. The botany students visit this garden from all over the country to see various plantations and learn Botany.

The stay of one day is sufficient at Satara. There are no good hotels available here at Satara for the tourists. However, there are some guest houses available that can provide basic facilities only. It would be the best option to return to either Poona or Mahabaleshwar from Satara by late evening on the same day after visiting all the places at Satara. It also would be better to carry your own packed food items along with the mineral drinking water bottles as the quality of food and water may not be that good here.

If any of my readers are interested in the history of Maratha rulers in the State of Maharashtra, they must plan a visit to this historical town of Satara during their next visit to India.