Sudhagad Fort Trek Blog

Sudhagad Fort Information

• Sudhagad Fort Trek Difficulty Level Medium
• Sudhagad Fort Trek Endurance Level High
• Sudhagad Fort food arrangement carry packed food. One can also cook food at the wada
• Transport Regular buses are available from Nagothane to Pali Village. Change bus at Pali village for Thakurwadi the base village for Sudhagad Trek
• Height of Sudhagad Fort 2030 feet
• District Sudhagad Fort Raigad
• Region Pali off Mumbai Goa NH highway
• Accommodation Facility Sudhagad Fort
• Approximately 50 people can stay in palace of Pant Sachiv.
• Even Bhorai Devi temple is good place for a stay on the fort.
• Food Facility: It’s better to make food arrangement by yourself.
• Drinking Water Facility: There are many cisterns, lakes and tanks on the fort. Hence drinking water is available throughout the year.
• Time to Reach: 2 hours by Pachchapur route.
• Best time to visit: Monsoon to Winter.

How to reach Sudhagad Fort ?

1. Sudhagad route from Pune – Lonavala – Khopoli – Durshet – Pali – Sudhagad
2. Sudhagad route from Mumbai – Panvel – Wadkal – Pali – Thakurwadi – Sudhagad
3. Sudhagad distance from Mumbai 135 km approx
4. Sudhagad distance from Pune: 145 km approx
5. Total time required for climbing Sudhagad Killa 2.5 hours
6. Total distance for trekking Sudhagad Killa 5 km one way
7. Duration Sudhagad Fort Trek 2 days 1 Night

About Sudhagad Fort

Sudhagad also called Bhorapgad a hill fort situated in Maharashtra, India. This fort is said to date back to the 2nd century B.C the same age as the Thanale caves and Khadsamble caves nearby. It was then called Bhorapgad after its presiding deity, Bhorai devi. In 1436, it was captured by the Bahamani Sultan. In 1657, the Marathas took over and renamed it “Sudhagad” the sweet one. It was a large fort and Sudhagad was considered by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as the capital of his kingdom. He surveyed it, but instead choose Raigad because of its central location. In the regime of the Peshwas, the Pantsachivas of Bhor became the custodians of this fort. After the annexation of princely states in 1950 the fort became patron less. As a result, the fort is in a state of ruins, even though it escaped the wrath of the British.

Place to visit at Sudhagad Fort

• Temple of Goddess Bhorai Devi, Lord Shiva and Hanuman
• Pantsachiv Wada
• Two lakes and water cisterns
• Maha darwaja
• Dindi Darwaja  Pachchapur Darwaja
• Chor darwaja (Secret door)
• Ambarkhana
• Bastions of the fort well in condition
• Remains of old structure
• Echo point
• From the fort top we can have glimpse of Sarasgad, Tel-Baila and Ghangad.

Fascinating Spots

The perimeter of this fort is quite big. There are many lakes on the fort. There is a palace of Pant Sachiv on the fort, where 50 people can stay comfortably. Also there is a temple of Bhorai Devi, where 25-30 persons can be accommodated. Different kind of medicinal plants and trees can be seen in the surrounding forest.

Bhoreshwar temple

There is temple of Bhoreshwar near the palace. If we move further, we can see a well with a secret door. There are steps from palace to the ‘Bhorai Devi’ temple. If we descend towards the other route, it takes us to water cisterns, which hold good drinking water. The route on the left side of these cisterns takes us towards a secret door. But this route now closed.

Pachchapur Darwaja

If we enter to the hill through this door, we come across a plateau after climbing some distance. To the left is the temple of Siddheshwar, storehouses of food grains, some cisterns, and a lake named Hawaldar Tale and Hattimaal. On the right hand side we can see natural fortification of the fort.

Takmak tok of Sudhagad

After leaving the palace come up with the steps and turn to right hand side of the route. This route goes through Hatti Paga place where elephants were tied. It directly takes us to one peak. This peak is very similar to the cliff Takmak Tok on Raigad. From this peak Ghangad, Korigad, Tel-Baila can be seen very clearly. Similarly river Amba and the villages surrounding it can be seen from this place.

Dindi Darwaja

The way from Ghat of Sawashni takes us directly to Dindi Darwaja. This door is exact replica of the Mahadarwaaja main entrance on Raigad. The construction and arrangement of this door is of the type called Gomukhi in shape of cow’s mouth. This door is well protected since it is hidden in between two huge bastions. There is one secret path well on the fort at the backside of the palace.

It has one tunnel in it, but now it is dumped by mud. There is also a secret path to move down from fort in case of any difficulty. There are some tombs at the backside of the Bhorai Devi temple. We can find beautiful carvings on them.

From the Mumbai there are State Transport buses or local transports are available to Pali, Distance between Pune to Pali is 98 kilometers. Then you can go to Pachchapur, which is 12 kilometres from Pali, then you can walk from Pachhapur to Thakurwadi, whereas Pali to Thakurwadi is 13 kilometres.

From Thakurwadi, one has to ascend by ladder, this route is not only exhaustive, but also slippery, from Pachhapur takes 2 hrs to reach the fort, and this way directly go to Pachhapur Darwaja.