Lingmala waterfall mahabaleshwar, Mahabaleshwar points, Mahabaleshwar in monsoon
Mahabaleshwar is located at 17.9237°N 73.6586°E. It has an average elevation of 1,353 metres (4,439 ft).
Located about 120 km (75 mi) southwest of Pune and 285 km (177 mi) from Mumbai, Mahabaleshwar is a vast plateau measuring 150 km2 (58 sq mi), bound by valleys on all sides. It reaches a height of 1,439 m (4,721 ft) at its highest peak above sea level, known as Wilson/Sunrise Point.
Mahabaleshwar comprises three villages: Malcolm Peth, Old Kshetra Mahabaleshwar and part of the Shindola village.
Mahabaleshwar is the source of the Krishna River that flows across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The legendary source of the river is a spout from the mouth of a statue of a cow in the ancient temple of Mahadev in Old Mahabaleshwar. Legend has it that Krishna is Lord Vishnu himself as a result of a curse on the trimurtis by Savitri. Also, its tributaries Venna and Koyna are said to be Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma themselves. An interesting thing to notice is that 4 other rivers come out from the cow's mouth apart from Krishna and they all travel some distance before merging into Krishna. These rivers are the Koyna, Venna (Veni), Savitri, and Gayatri.
Climate of the area is suitable for cultivation of strawberries, Mahabaleshwar strawberry contributes to about 85 percent of the total strawberry production in the country.It also received the geographical indication (GI) tag in 2010.
In old Mahabaleshwar, 7 km from Mahabaleshwar, there are many tourist points and 5 temple to see, with examples of old Indian architecture. There are also natural view points, some named by the British, who made holidays in these places during the British Raj.
MUST SEE- Panchaganga temple which is origin of 7 rivers-Krishna,Koyana,Gayatri,Savitri,Venna, Saraswati and Bhagirathi.Out of them, springs of first 5 are continuously flowing where as the spring corresponds to Saraswati comes alive after every 60 years (coming in 2034) and the spring correspond to Bagirathi comes after every 12 years (coming in 2016-in marathi month Shrawan)
The temple is 4500 years old
After this temple Krishna flows individually. There is separate temple of Krishnabai lingmala waterfall