Why this ride
A 760 km round trip from Mahād - roughly 13 h 07 in the saddle. It goes by way of Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg and back through Pratapgad. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Raigad and Suvarnadurg
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 760 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 13 h 07
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Raigad
Raigad is a flat-topped mountain in the Sahyadri, the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, with cliffs falling away on almost every side, and it was chosen by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as the capital of the Maratha kingdom. In 1674 he was crowned here, a ceremony that announced the Marathas as a sovereign power in the face of the Mughal empire, and the fort became the political heart of the young state. Today the summit holds the ruins of the palace, the market street with its rows of stone shop plinths, water tanks cut into the rock, and Shivaji's samadhi, which draws a steady stream of visitors who come as pilgrims rather than tourists.
Read the complete Raigad write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Raigad is where the day begins. Next is Rajgad.
2. Rajgad
In the folded hills of the Sahyadri, south-west of Pune, a great flat-topped mountain rises above the valleys with sheer cliffs on all sides and walls running along its crest. This is Rajgad, the king's fort, and for about twenty-five years in the seventeenth century it was the capital of Shivaji, the Maratha warrior king who carved out an independent kingdom against the Mughal Empire and the sultanates of the Deccan. It is one of the most revered places in Maharashtra, and climbing it is something of a pilgrimage.
Read the complete Rajgad write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rajgad comes up about 83 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pratapgad.
3. Pratapgad
Pratapgad stands on a spur of the Sahyadri, the Western Ghats, about twenty kilometres from the hill station of Mahabaleshwar, guarding the old route between the Deccan plateau and the Konkan coast. Shivaji, founder of the Maratha state, had the fort built in the 1650s, and in 1659 it was the scene of the most famous episode of his life. Afzal Khan, a general of the Bijapur Sultanate, came with a large army to crush him, and the two met for a parley below the fort. Accounts differ on who struck first, but Shivaji, wearing armour under his clothes and the wagh nakh, a claw-shaped weapon, on his hand, killed Afzal Khan, and his troops hidden in the forest routed the Bijapuri army. The story is told across Maharashtra with immense pride, and Afzal Khan's tomb lies below the fort.
Read the complete Pratapgad write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 203 km into the recorded legs you reach Pratapgad. Next is Suvarnadurg.
4. Suvarnadurg
The Konkan coast of Maharashtra is a long green strip between the Sahyadri hills and the Arabian Sea, and every few kilometres a fort stands on a headland or an island. Suvarnadurg, the golden fort, rises from a rocky islet just off Harnai, a fishing port with a morning market that is one of the sights of the coast. The fort was strengthened in the seventeenth century by Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha state, as part of his drive to build a navy, and later it became the base of the admiral Kanhoji Angre, who ruled the sea here for decades and clashed with the British, Portuguese and Dutch. The walls are of black basalt, thick enough to withstand cannon fire, and they stand out against the green water.
Read the complete Suvarnadurg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Suvarnadurg, about halfway. Next is back through Pratapgad.
5. back through Pratapgad
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pratapgad write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Pratapgad sits at 506 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rajgad.
6. back through Rajgad
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rajgad write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Rajgad comes up about 679 km into the recorded legs. Next is Raigad.
7. Raigad
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Raigad write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Raigad closes the day.
Leg by leg
Raigad to Rajgad
Raigad → Rajgad is 83 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rajgad to Pratapgad
Rajgad → Pratapgad is 120 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pratapgad to Suvarnadurg
Pratapgad → Suvarnadurg is 178 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Suvarnadurg to back through Pratapgad
Suvarnadurg → back through Pratapgad is 178 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Pratapgad to back through Rajgad
back through Pratapgad → back through Rajgad is 120 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rajgad to Raigad
back through Rajgad → Raigad is 83 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Suvarnadurg and Lohagad · 696 km
- Pratapgad and Raigad · 166 km