With a long, beautiful coastline, ancient historical sites, mountain ranges and culturally rich cities, Maharashtra has much to offer tourists.

Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, is a vibrant metropolis, with several convenient flights daily to locations around the world. You can easily spend a week in Mumbai, soaking in everything the city has to offer –two UNESCO World Heritage sites, teeming bazaars, multi-cultural people, great food, contemporary art, theatre and shopping.

You can go on road-trip from Mumbai to Goa; beach-hopping along the way, tasting the superb coastal cuisine and stopping to see the great sea forts of the Konkan coast. Or you can visit Nashik, India’s wine country, combining it with a visit to Aurangabad (to see the Ajanta and Ellora caves) and Pune (the centre of the Maratha empire under the Peshwas, and also the monsoon capital of the British).

There are several hill stations in the Western ghats, with opportunities for trekking, bird watching and camping. Nature-lovers can also fly into Nagpur, to visit tiger sanctuaries in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh (Pench, Kanha, Bandhavgarh).

Maharashtra also has many sacred places of pilgrimage, such as Shirdi (the birthplace of the spiritual leader Sai Baba), Nashik (associated with the Ramayana), the eight Ashtavinayak temples, the Vaishnavite town of Pandharpur, the Mahalakshmi goddess temple at Kolhapur, the jyotirlinga at Grishneshwar, etc.

If you tell us what your interests are, we'd be happy to design a custom-itinerary for you. Please let us know how many days you have. If your plan includes other parts of the country, please let us know that as well, so that we can suggest how best to fit Maharashtra into the plan.

For more information, and an itinerary best suited to your interests, write to deepa@magictoursofindia.com or call Deepa at +91 98677 07414.