India is gifted with brilliant long coastline from Gujarat to West Bengal. The landscaping holds a variety of eye catching textures with brilliance of golden sands, black sands, white sands and a lovely circumference by beach-side trees. In this micro-blog, I will be taking you to the beautiful patch of sand on the west coast of India, in the great state of Maharashtra, in Palghar district, known as Kelve or Kelva Beach.
Kelve
Beach is a beautiful 8km long stretch of black sand beach which is
washed by Arabian Sea. The place is at a close proximity to Mumbai, with
suburban railway serving this destination. Due to the ease of
connectivity, the beach serves an attractive weekend hot-spot for
tourists. The population here is mostly involved in fishing business and
tourism. The development here is limited, which somehow helped to
maintain the pristine nature of beach.
Things to Explore
Kelve Beach Area:
A beautiful beach that serves as the major sight seeing in this area. It is a semi-developed with only basic infrastructure. The beach provides activities like cart rides, camel rides and other activities.
Beach Forts of Kelve:
There are two small forts near the beach. The one in the southern stretch, Kelva Pankot is smaller and gets covered by sea waters during tides, whereas the one in the northern stretch is larger and architecturally more intact, and is presently named as Kelva beach fort. These were built by Portuguese rulers.
Shitladevi Temple:
A temple of many believes dedicated to goddess Shitala Mata, who is believed to provide protection and relief from diseases and illness to her believers. The temple is well built and is present in a beautiful green surrounding.
How to Reach
The most preferable way to reach the place is via Road as it is connected to Mumbai and Surat with beautiful highway with a small patch of district road that takes you to beach area. The other preferred way is via suburban local train from Mumbai (Churchgate, Dadar or Andheri) through the Western line services. You have to get down as Kelve Road station, from where you can hire a Tuk-tuk Auto (6-8 seater auto) that will take you to beach.
Where to Eat and Stay
The area has limited well established stay options and restaurants. Options are ample for easy adjusting travelers as most stay options are mid-to-basic in terms of being lavish. Most resorts offers a Day package (i.e. Day stay, Lunch with no night stays) and a full package (i.e. full stay with lunch and dinner), as most people visiting here returns back to home after evening. Along with food at resort, you can have a bite at local street-side lunch setups that offer meals at fairly cheap rates.
There are many micro-destination in our country that serves a weekend destination for urban dwellers. These sightings not only act as tourism joints, but also provides a mediation destination far away from a major highways or concrete jungle. These destinations provides a much needed mental soothing for the week of work ahead.
Keep traveling and keep rejuvenating !
