Most tourists are from within the country (and primarily on a weekend getaway from wither Pune or Mumbai), although there is a liberal sprinkling of tourists from around the world as well.

What you can expect from Murud Janjira is beautiful sunsets, few lessons in history, an unforgettable boat ride to the Janjira fort, beautiful and untouched nature and forestation, and visits to Buddhist ruins complete wit stupas –  what you will not see however is a crazy beach night life.

Where
Murud is a beach town located in Raigad district in Maharashtra and about half a days drive from Pune and Mumbai.

How to get there
Plenty of options are available:
- State transport and privately operated bus services are available from Mumbai , Pune and Alibaug
- Trains are also available from Roha
My personal pick however is driving down, there are plenty or beautiful locales en-route and you can also drop by Kashid and other beach fronts on the way to Murud. The roads are good and you can make better time in your own vehicle.

Sights and Culture
History
Janjira Fort
Plenty of history is in store if you venture around Murud. One of the reasons for popularity of Murud is the Janjira Fort, which comes peaked with stories of war, invincibility, town dwellings inside the fort and the sweet fresh water that ‘miraculously’ is available in the middle of the sea.
It is famous for being the only fort along India’s western coast that remained undefeated despite Maratha, Dutch and English East India Company attacks.

From inside the walls of Janjira

The design of the fort allows the main entrance to appear as one of the walls during low tide, while in high tide the entrance remains submerged and well hidden.

Kude Caves
Further inside and away from Murud, you will be glad you came here. Kude caves enjoys a vantage point that gives a sweeping bird’s eye view to the valleys below. You will see plenty of ancient architectural marvels in way if the ruins from what are Buddhist quarters and stupas inside carved caves.

Along your drives from one destination to another ask your tour guide or driver to stop at interesting places and you will see that there are pit stops every half hour – plenty of relics to see and ruins from very long ago.

Culture
Village Fair
There is a local village fair on specific days of the week and is quite a delight to visit. These fairs hold the old world Indian charm with cheap trinkets and local bite size foods available for take away. The fair is a riot of colour and light and the town people are clearly proud of it as you can see from their shining faces as they walk about in their ‘fair’ best.

Temples
Although we skipped visiting the temples the Birla Mandir and Sidi Vinayak mandir are quite popular here and are located to take utmost advantage of their sea side location.

Nature
The beach front in Murud is quite expansive and beautiful and offers great sweeping view of the Arabic sea (with Janjira Fort in teh foreground). You can climb up the many vantage points and catch breath taking view’s of the sun setting over the Arabian Sea

If possible do visit the jetty area near Murud and you will see fishermen lugging in their daily catch.

Gossip and Bollywood
You can see a lot of barricaded markings in the seemingly vast expanse of ‘no mans land’. Mention this to the locals and your tour guide/driver and he will point and say ” That belongs to Salman Khan” and “This to the Big B”,  it appears that almost all of B-town has invested in Murud town.

Town
The winding, narrow lanes and streets of Murud town in itself is quite a sight. There is a chaos of old and new in almost everything and the hustle and urgency in every transaction. The images of the local mosques, temples, vegetable market are the riot of colour everywhere is tattooed in my memory.

People
The people of Murud are incredible, the locals manage to create such a sense and feel for their region based on historical facts, architectural relics and geography.

Visit Janjira and you see pride and eagerness in each local individual – their stories creating a warmth and charm that is hard to miss and giving you a true essence of Murud and Janjira, its heritage and the fantastic stories from then and now.

How much time to spend in Murud
A weekend (+ 1 day at a maximum) is sufficient to take in the place. Do check with your hotel to arrange a complete tour of Murud and Janira – there are auto’s and cabs on hire with Drivers who will give you a guided tour of all the important locations around Murud and Janjira (it would also help if you negotiate on this as you book your stay.)

Where to Stay
There are plenty of stay options available in Murud, but only a couple of places truly offer sea facing views. Most of the hotels and guest houses can be rented on a shoe string budget.

During my stay in Murud I had stayed at Hotel Sea Face and after my visit here, I can safely say that this is possibly the best hotel to stay in Murud.

Hotel Sea Face is a low budget hotel  which offers rooms at rates raning from 600 to 3000 (try and get the rooms on the first floor with views to the sea). The rooms are all clean and the staff is incredibly helpful. Bang opposite the beach with an imposing view of the sea, this is probably the only budget hoteloffering fantastic views .

The hotel has its own restaurant and also is walking distance from many of the other eating joints. It is through negotations with this hotel that we got a personal tour around Murud and Janjira for a very reasonable price. Further in case you need transfer from Murud back to Pune or Mumbai you can check with the staff for the best (and safe) deal.

Eating Out
Cramping all the sightseeing and relaxation on a two day weekend, we could not explore the food scene much.

Although I had read a lot on the amazing sea food that is available my actual experience was quite contrary and the food here left me absolutely unimpressed and uninspired.

Perhaps, it would be best to find out which houses cater to provide home cooked local delicacies and try the same. The restaurants I tried were not very good and the food I tried was just about average to say the least.

Some pictures from my trip to Murud Janjira can be found here.

In Conclusion
Murud is a good weekend getaway with plenty of sights to take in, the people are proud of their heritage and make excellent hosts. A visit to Murid Janjira is more than the  generic sun and sand kind of trip, with promise of surprises you cannot imagine a quaint sea side town could hold.

For any specific queries please leave a comment or write to me at jchaitanyareddy@gmail.com.

Just yesterday while placing an order at a fast food restaurant, I requested for a change in the beverage that comes with the meal. This was not just a healthier personal choice but also a great chance for the manager to make a profit, as the swap in drink would cost ME dearer.

I was quite surprised when the manager refused my request in a heartbeat. What is more puzzling however, is that such incidents are not one off cases. Restaurants and fast food chains do not entertain any ‘downsizing’ requests, but ask them to ‘double cheeze’ this or ‘unlimited coke’ that and they seem to oblige.

Sadly most patrons are greedy too, and even the most ambitiously adamant restaurants who started with giving out perfectly sized portions end up succumbing to the ‘unlimited’ demand.  Most restaurants in the city of Hyderabad either have a side of buffet going on, or have ridiculously large portions (which ofcourse cannot be changed.) . In either case, you are either eating insane amounts of food or throwing away insane amounts of food.

With the exception of ‘Juice Booster’ , that comes with a option of ‘Junior’ size drinks and Fusion 9 that has kid portions I am yet to come across food and drink places in Hyderabad that allow for flexibility in portion’s without a grumble.

Over the years elements like increased spending power, rising raw material prices coupled with a craving for ambience and quality had led to the mushrooming of coffee shops and deli’s in the larger cities of the country. The prices here though exorbitant, were justified with aspects of quality food, quality service and an almost guaranteed quality time.

However, this trend triggered a price rise in the street stalls and the not so ‘posh’ coffee outlets. Once the owners realised that the customer did not care very much for the price and was simply looking for satiating her/his hunger, the prices saw a upward trend.

It is true, that I am willing to spend an additional buck for the quality of experience, but what I not willing to do is be cheated into spending more for an inferior product.

After all, not all 100 Rupee Dosa’s are created equal.

The entire spa was fresh with the aroma of rose petals and I could already feel relaxation setting in as I waited for the ‘herbal facial therapy’ to begin.

As the relaxing music of the spa was turned on and the cubes of ice placed on my eyes I was so glad that I choose to finally come here.

A thought too soon – just when I was feeling that the therapy was worth every penny,  I got a little more herbal treatment than I had paid for.

The message therapist’s hand reeked of all kinds of spices – almost every pungent kind that I have encountered in my entire life. Definitely not the kind of herbal facial I had in mind, I had to close my nose and run out before I started smelling like meat ready to be barbecued.

Chinese Hakka noodles, veg-manchurian, egg-soft noodles – almost like a staple diet, Chinese food is readily available in most of India’s busy street corners. The truth in the recipe and use of authentic ingredients in these ‘Chinese’ delights however, is highly questionable. The street vendor adds a quick dash of spice and chilli to suit local tastes. What we eat is usually a localised version of the original recipe, so distorted and far away from the original that the only similarity is perhaps just the name.

Makes me wonder, is it really possible to stick to the original recipe?

Forget the street vendor who is looking for brisk business, what about the hugely successful chef at a five start hotel. Does he not personalise cuisine just a tad .. a swig of cilantro or any another local herb, a drizzle of secret sauce perhaps. 
Personal touch, regional influence or business sense – you can never tell the original unless you chase the treat in its own land.

I am not traditionalist with my views about gender treatment in a restaurant. 

What makes me uncomfortable though is the fact that more often than not, opinion about the food/service is sought first from the gentleman and then, if at all, from the lady - most often as a cursory afterthought.

Look around and you notice that food and the bills are brought to the gentleman first. Although, not the case in all restaurants this phenomenon is widely prevalent.It can be blamed on the lack of staff training or simply on the customs deeply ingrained in the Indian society about serving the men first.

My take: Restaurants should either warm up to growing women diners and train their staff for ensuring a more ‘with the times’ service or follow the proper restaurant custom of giving the lady special treatment.

Equality or proper customs – you choose. Just don’t neglect half (and growing) of your customer base.

Almost every eating joint/restaurant/fast food centre has a “bad table” – too close to the washrooms, tucked in a stuffy corner, bad lighting. No customer would want to be seated here.

So why have this table?

Why not replace it with some of restaurants own property - like a pantry corner, cell-phone charging zone, ‘collect your coupons’ station.

Another solution: make the table desirable – complimentary food, a visit by the manager/chef, flowers for the lady, discount for the kid at the table.

The point being it doesn’t matter what your constraints are, if you cannot avoid having a ‘bad table’.. guarantee a good experience despite that .