Matheran

Matheran sits at around 800 metres in the Western Ghats in Raigad district, about 90 kilometres from Mumbai and 120 from Pune, and ranks among India's smallest hill stations. Its name means forest on the forehead, and the government has declared it an eco-sensitive zone. Motor vehicles are largely kept out, so its roads of red laterite earth are walked or ridden.

Hugh Poyntz Malet, then collector of the district, came upon the plateau in May 1850, and Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay, laid the groundwork for a summer retreat. Colonial buildings and Parsi bungalows survive among the hotels. The Matheran Hill Railway, built in 1907 by Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy, winds 20 kilometres up through forest, though services have been halted at times, including after a landslide in 2019. The freedom fighter Veer Bhai Kotwal was born here.