Chikhaldara

Chikhaldara is a hill station in Amravati district, at roughly 1,118 m in the Melghat hills, and is the one place in Maharashtra where coffee is grown. The British began planting coffee in 1840, drawn by the cool, wet climate. Captain Robinson of the Hyderabad Regiment is credited with noticing the spot, and it was once even weighed as a seat for the Government of India.

The name is traced to the Mahabharata: Bhima is said to have killed Kichaka and thrown him into the valley, giving the name Kichakdara, and then washed his hands under a waterfall now called Bhimkund. The town sits beside Gugamal National Park, part of the Melghat Tiger Reserve, and offers viewpoints, lakes, a toy train in the Government Garden, a specimen museum at the forest rangers' college, coffee estate tours, and treks with ziplining and valley crossing. Gawilgarh and Narnala forts and the Jain hill shrine of Muktagiri, with 52 temples on the border with Madhya Pradesh, are within reach.