Every June, somewhere around the first proper downpour, the hills east of Mumbai change character almost overnight. Brown slopes go green in a fortnight, dry gullies become waterfalls, and the basalt cliffs of the Sahyadris start to look like something from a much wetter country. It is the best time of year to walk in the Western Ghats, and also the most dangerous. This piece is about both.
I am not a mountaineer. I am a Mumbai resident who has spent a good number of monsoon weekends getting muddy within a few hours of home. What follows is where I would go, and what I have learnt about coming back safely.
Before you go: the rules that matter
I am putting the safety section first, because most monsoon trekking accidents near Mumbai are not caused by technical difficulty. They are caused by crowds, water, and people ignoring warnings.
Check closures before you leave. The forest department and district administrations regularly close trails, forts, dams and waterfalls during heavy rain, and district collectors have in recent years issued prohibitory orders banning visits to specific spots. These orders change week to week. Check local news and the district's official announcements the day before.
Watch the weather warnings. The India Meteorological Department issues colour-coded alerts for districts such as Raigad, Pune, Thane and Ahilyanagar. An orange or red alert is a reason to postpone, not to go early and hope for the best.
Respect water. Streams that you crossed ankle-deep in the morning can be chest-deep and fast by afternoon. Never cross a flowing stream if you cannot see the bottom or if it reaches above your knees. Do not bathe under waterfalls or in dam backwaters, however inviting; people drown this way near Mumbai almost every monsoon, often in water that looked calm.
Avoid peak crowds. Popular spots on a Sunday in July can have thousands of visitors on narrow paths, which turns slippery rock into a genuine hazard. Go on a weekday if you can, or start very early.
Go with someone who knows the route. For anything beyond a well-trodden path, go with an experienced group or hire a local guide from the base village. It supports the village economy, and guides know which paths wash out.
Tell someone your plan, carry a charged phone and a power bank, and start down well before dark. Mist and early dusk can make a familiar path unrecognisable.
Leave no trace. Carry out every wrapper and bottle. Do not play music on speakers. Do not carve, spray-paint or build little stone towers. The forts in particular are heritage sites, not backdrops.
Lonavala and Rajmachi
Lonavala is the obvious monsoon escape, which is exactly why its best-known spots, the waterfalls and the dam areas, are so crowded on weekends. For a better experience, head to Rajmachi, a village and pair of forts, Shrivardhan and Manaranjan, set on a ridge between Lonavala and Karjat.
There are two approaches. From the Lonavala side, a long, mostly level dirt track of roughly 15 km runs through forest to the village; it is more a long walk than a climb, and fine for most reasonably fit people. From the Karjat side, the route from Kondivade is shorter but steep, and in the monsoon it is slippery and involves stream crossings. Many people walk up from one side and down the other, or stay overnight in the village with a local family.
In season the plateau is covered in grass and small wildflowers, and on a clear afternoon you look across to the Duke's Nose and the ghats. Clear afternoons are not guaranteed.
Harishchandragad
Harishchandragad is the serious one on this list, a large hill fort in the Kalsubai Harishchandragad Wildlife Sanctuary, known for the Konkan Kada, a vast concave cliff that drops away towards the Konkan. On a monsoon day the cloud rises up the cliff face and sometimes, if the wind is right, seems to hang in place.
The fort also has old rock-cut caves and the Kedareshwar cave temple, where a large linga stands in water. In the heavy monsoon the water can make that cave inaccessible.
The common routes start from villages such as Khireshwar and Pachnai. Some routes involve rock patches that are genuinely risky when wet, and the harder approaches are not for monsoon amateurs. This is a place to go with an experienced group or a guide, ideally with an overnight stay, and only when the sanctuary and district allow access.
Malshej Ghat
Malshej Ghat, on the road from Kalyan towards Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar), is less a trek than a monsoon drive with walks attached. The road climbs through a pass lined with waterfalls, many of them tumbling right beside the tarmac, and the views across the valley are some of the most dramatic within easy reach of the city.
The road is also prone to landslides and fog in the heaviest weeks, and traffic stops wherever people pull over for photographs. Drive slowly, park only where it is safe, stay back from cliff edges, and check whether the road is open before you set off. Weekdays are far calmer.
Bhandardara
Further on, in Ahilyanagar district, Bhandardara is a quieter base in the shadow of Kalsubai, the highest peak in Maharashtra. The village sits by Arthur Lake, the reservoir behind Wilson Dam, and in the monsoon the area around it runs with waterfalls, including Randha Falls on the Pravara river.
It suits people who want a gentler weekend: short walks, long lunches, rain on a tin roof. Kalsubai itself is a popular climb, with iron ladders on the steeper sections, but in the heaviest rain it is slippery and exposed, and I would treat it as a post-monsoon outing in September or October for most people.
Why go at all
It is fair to ask, given everything above, whether monsoon trekking is worth the risk. I think it is, as long as you accept that the rain sets the terms. Some weekends you will turn back halfway. Some weekends you will see nothing but cloud. And then there is the one morning when the mist lifts off a ridge and you see a dozen waterfalls pouring off a single cliff, with the valley below the brightest green you have ever seen. The Sahyadris in the rain are the best argument I know for living in Mumbai. They ask only that you arrive humble and leave them as you found them.
