This is your short break from Mumbai: palm trees, quiet beaches and old sea forts, a ferry ride away. Families and relaxed couples will like it. Solo travellers will find fewer people to meet. Skip it from June to September, when boats stop and the sea is unsafe.
Go in the coloured months. The black ones are best avoided.
The M2M Ro-Ro car ferry takes about 60 minutes from Bhaucha Dhakka, a Mumbai jetty, to Mandwa. One source says it keeps running in the monsoon, and sailing times disagree, so check that day's timetable at the jetty.
Sources differ on this, or we have only one, so check locally.
Go to Nagaon, about 9 km away, if you want quiet. Alibaug town beach gets busy at weekends.
A sea fort 1.5 to 2 km offshore. Walk out at low tide or take a boat at high tide. Check a tide table first, and never walk back on a rising tide.
A beach about 30 km from Alibaug, good for a day away from the town.
Make a long day of it: drive to Murud, about 48 km away, then take a boat from Rajapuri jetty to the sea fort. The boats stop in the monsoon.
Further down the coast, scuba diving runs from about October to May. Our sources are mostly blogs, so check the operator, and we haven't researched how to get there.
On this coast, lunch means a fish thali, a plate of fried fish, curry and rice bread. The best places are plain. Vegetarians can eat here, but the coast is really about the catch.
Bombay duck, which is actually a soft fish, fried crisp. Pair it with sol kadhi.
Fried fish, fish curry, rice bhakri (a flatbread) and sol kadhi on one plate. Have it at lunch.
A flat local fish, fried crisp, simmered with kokum and coconut, or grilled in banana leaf. Ask how they're cooking it today.
A pink drink of coconut milk and kokum, a sour local fruit. It comes with most seafood meals, and it's cooling after spice.
Vegetarian
An unfussy pomfret thali with fish curry and sol kadhi.
Cheap eatsWorth planning around if you're visiting Murud-Janjira: seafood thalis.
Cheap eatsA fish thali with rice bhakri. It's a lunch place, so don't leave it late.
Mid-rangeHotel seafood, if you want tablecloths with your fish. Check it's serving before you go.
A treat
Take the car ferry from Bhaucha Dhakka in Mumbai to Mandwa, about 60 minutes. We couldn't confirm sailing times or the road transfer from Mandwa onwards, so ask at the jetty. From June to September the catamaran boats from the Gateway of India stop, though the car ferry reportedly keeps going.
Alibaug The town has the cheapest rooms, so stay here to save money. You give up the quieter beaches.
Kashid A beach base further down the coast, with villas at the top end. You're about 30 km from Alibaug.
Nagaon Quieter, with many private villas, which suits a family or a couple.
Do not swim in the surf from June to September. The sea is rough in the monsoon, and the boats to the sea forts and the Gateway of India catamarans stop running.
Look up the day's tide times before you walk out to Kolaba Fort, and go by boat at high tide. Start back well before the tide turns, and never walk back on a rising tide.
Don't plan a fort visit before October without checking. Fort boats and Gateway catamarans stop June to September with no official restart date, and the Mandwa car ferry reportedly runs, so check.
In Maharashtra the minimum age is 25 for spirits (a permit rule) and 21 for beer. The excise manual we read is undated, so expect to be asked for ID.
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