It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hot-spots" of biological diversity in the world. It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain, called Konkan, along the Arabian Sea. A total of thirty nine properties including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests were designated as world heritage sites - twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.
I would like to start from the Rural areas of western ghats which are raw and untouched and are completely absorbed in nature, hence close the earthen beauty.
Rural side of Western Ghats
Here I am listing photos of the best road trips around Pune, Maharashtra
#1 Pune to Mulshi Dam - Any time or everytime, this is where you will pass when you go to other destinations and in Monsoons this place is no less than a heaven. I recommend a breakfast at Basho's overlooking the dam views and greens and it has a beautiful seating arrangement.
#2 Pune to Mahabaleshwar - 118 kms one way and there are multiple stops and sight along the way a true driving and riding pleasure.
#3 Pune to Pleateau of Kaas - Well its a pretty long ride and it goes through Mahabaleshwar, we took the scenic route so it was 153 kms one way and took us around 5 hours with a break on the way. The best season is August and this is once in a lifetime kind of view
#4 Pune to Panshet Backwaters - one of the best routes to ride you cant resist taking multiple stops along the way, basically there is no destination its all about the route. 41.6 kms one way so very approachable
#5 Pune to Lohgadh - 64.3 ksm 1.5 hours , again a very reachable site, and great for people who love to trek, this site is at its best during the monsoon with even the fort walls covered with all greens. One great thing about this is during Monsoon, a beautiful waterfall flows upwards in reverse due to high winds.
#6 Pune to Bhimashankar - 110 Kms, take the route from Peth this is where you will find the sceneries
#7 Pune to Tamhini Ghat - 53.6 kms around 1.5 hours, a little ahead of Mulshi, another great scenery and its full of seasonal waterfalls during monsoon.
#8 Pune to Sinhgadh - 54 kms around 1 hour drive. Another great fort with great views, beautiful trek, and delicious local food.
#9 Pune to Diveagar or Shrivardhan- 153 kms approx 5 hours with a short break. Pune might not have any beaches but there are multiple beaches within easy reach of Pune, such as Kashid,Dapoli, Shrivardhan and Divegar. Both the beach has white and clean sand , while Shrivardhan is good for water sports, Divegar has great and plain coastline where you can even ride your bike along side the sea.
#10Pune to Naneghat - 121 to 153 kms based on your route around 3 -3.5 hours. This is again a very different sites and you pass spectacular sceneries along the way.
#11 Pune to Pavana Dam - 62.3 kms 1.5 hours one beautiful dam and there are boat rides too if you want to enjoy sometime on the water.
#12 Pune to Lonavala - 65.3 kms 1.25 hours most visited place around Pune.
#13 Pune to Lavasa - 57.5 kms 1 hour
# 14 Rajgadh Fort - 62.7 Km around 1.5 hours drive and best for trekking - quite long and challenging trek of around 4 hours.
#15 Pune to to Malshej ghat to Mumbai
#16 Pune to Goa - 445 Kms - 8hrs 30 mins non stop or 10 hours with break