India

Pune

Collegiate

Bustling

Engulfed

Wada Pav street food ❘ Ajay Kampani/Getty Images

Trishund Ganpati Temple ❘ Vinayak Jagtap/iStockphoto

Shaniwar Wada ❘ Dinodia Photo/Getty Images

Aga Khan Palace ❘ Dinodia Photo/Getty Images

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A city surrounded by mountains and waterfalls is full of ancient temples and stories of Gandhi.

While Pune is home to plenty of green space, it’s also an ideal base for exploring the Western Ghats mountain range.

Just a three-hour train ride from Mumbai is Pune (pronounced poon-nuh), a city of 4 million people, centuries-old temples and statues, and deep-fried dumplings. And as it’s surrounded by the Western Ghats, it offers plenty of opportunities for journeys up into the hills for hikes, waterfalls, and crisp mountain air.

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Pull up Pune in the Atlas Obscura app, and you’ll find a trove of places to explore. Among the city’s laid-back neighborhoods, there are fortress gates, a temple built of basalt, the stairs of an ancient fort, a 200-year-old temple being swallowed by a tree, a Gothic mansion, and a quartet of Medici lions. Northeast of the city center is Aga Khan Palace, built in the late 19th century by Sultan Aga Khan III, supposedly to provide work for the city’s impoverished residents; 50 years later, the palace was used to imprison Mahatma Gandhi. Today the palace contains the Gandhi National Memorial, which includes photographs and memorabilia from his life, plus gardens all around.

Western Ghats ❘ Getty Images/iStockphoto

While Pune is proud of its history and its wealth of educational institutions, it’s also an excellent food city. It’s famous for vada pav, a deep-fried potato dumpling packed into a fluffy bun and topped with chutney. Grab some at Garden Vada Pav, which has been serving up hot potato sandwiches for over 40 years. Vaidya Upahar Gruha, a restaurant in the city center that’s been open since 1912, has perfected misal pav, a traditional Maharashtrian bean curry. And most corner shops sell bakarwadi, a deep-fried, sweet and spicy, chickpea-dough roll.

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While Pune is home to plenty of green space—the Empress Garden, the Pune University gardens, and the Pune-Okayama Friendship Garden—it’s also an ideal base for exploring the Western Ghats mountain range. Hiking, waterfalls, and high-altitude vistas sit within an hour drive. One of the most popular treks in the area is up to Sinhagad Fort, a now-overgrown hillside fortress. From Necklace Point, you can see the oxbow of the Yelwanti River. Farther out of the city are a handful of hill station towns, which provide stopovers between waterfalls, caves, and fortresses. Whether you travel by rail or car, the views will be half the pleasure.