Pandavgad Fort - Fortress in Wai - Satara, India

Almost 650 m steep climb. Giripremi staff was very supportive and helpful. Abhijit Belhekar contributed to knowledge of the group. Later tasty lunch in Wai. Thank you Giripremi group, I will be coming for trekking regularly.

Pandavgad can be approch easily via a small village on Wai - Mandhardevi road. Just park your vehicle near a village house and take a small trail just behind the village house. It takes around and hour to reach the top. Whole trail is very well marked till the top. After reaching the top. You will come across a private mapro land. One need to register yourself before continuing the trek. Just take left trail till the Balekilla. Balekilla has 2 Mahadarwaja and its fortification is still intact. There is a temple of Lord hanuman and Pandjai devi on the top. There is small lake in the balekilla, while there are around 6 water tanks and lakes and set of 5 rock cut taki on the balekilla trail. It takes around and hour to explore the whole fort.

It is a moderate trek. This is owned by a private owner n not by government... So there is no as such specific path built to go at the top. Few village people have constructed a path to reach to the top... Good to visit in summer n winter season.

It's an amazing fort. Fort surrounded by multiple mountains and scenery is awesome.Total 6km trek (3km upward and 3km downward)

Took us 1.30 hrs to reach at the top. Not recommended for kids and elderly people unless someone has good stamina. It is a private property, we need to make an entry in the register. No drinking water and toilets. Doest have bike or car parking. We parked our car at the base on request in a local house.

I visited in December-January. There are two routes; one from Menavali and the other from Dhavdi. I chose the route from KambatWadi (kaaNbttvaaddii), that is on the boundary of Dhavdi (dhaavddii) village. This is the easiest route. Also, you can visit the Buddhist Leni and Dhavdi Caves from this side. You can take your bike/jeep up to the fort base till KambatWadi. The small road beyond Kambatwadi is not recommended for cars. For jeep/bike you can park at the very base where climbing starts. You can find KambatWadi on wikimapia. Or you can locate The Yellow Retreat resort on Google map which is near by. Ask for directions to any local guy. From the base, it takes 1-1.5 hrs till the top. The route is simple. There are no rock-patches. There are teak trees (saagvaan) all over this hill. At this time of year (Dec-Jan) you will find lots of dry teak leaves on ground. It becomes almost impossible to walk without making noise. Loosened soil makes some small patches slippery. At half height of the hill, you will find two houses and a temple near by. The moment you reach to the temple, you will start admiring the scenic view of Dhom dam. The path behind this temple takes you to the first gate. But it is not easily identifiable as there is hardly any structure remaining. Then the path goes to left side, keeping stronghold (baalekillaa) to your right. You will find one large water tank on the way. There are many water tanks carved on this fort. But only one is in use as of now (next one after this, on the right). You can get drinkable water here. I am not sure how long the water lasts throughout the year. There is one house at the rear end of fort. The way to balekilla will be on the right. There are two temples, one limestone grinder (cunyaacaa ghaannaa) on balekilla. The view from here is good. From here you can see Mandhardev, Dhom dam, Kamalgad, Wai etc. It would be best to reach the first temple below fort for sunset. The sunset here is just superb! But make sure you reach at base before it's dark. Climbing Time: 1:30 hr Difficulty Level: Easy Endurance Level: Medium

The fort is owned by mapro compnay. The are 3 guards there. It is a simple trek starting from gundewadi or menavali village in wai, satara. It has 7 water cisterns, hanuman yemple, pandavjai devi temple, bastions, etc. The fortification is intact to some extent. It offers a beautiful sight of dhom dam, mandhardevi temple from the top. It should preferably be done in nov-dec because in rainy season and aug, sept, the grass is too heighted and it is difficult to even walk through it.

A wonderful place to visit if you are looking for one day trek . It takes nearly 2 hours to reach top of fort .You may go through any of the three routes which include one from Shelarwadi(MIDC),others from Pandewadi and Dhavdi village respectively. There are many small water tanks on the fort. Also there are two temples namely PANDAVJAI DEVI Temple and HANUMAN Temple.The fort is private propety and you need to make entry in the register there but Entry is Free.