My TripAdvisor Review No.453: Aamby Valley City, Lonavla.

Weekend Getaway

Aamby Valley City is a great weekend getaway for the city dwellers of Mumbai and Pune. It is about 120 km from Mumbai and about 100 km from Pune via the Mumbai Pune Expressway. At Lonavla we had to turn off and drive past the Bushy Dam and Lion’s Point to enter the gated city of Aamby Valley.

At the gates, there is a strict security check and all the baggage goes through an X-ray. Professional and commercial photography is banned in the city so you will have to leave your DSLR cameras at the gate.

You are escorted or dropped to your hotel or lodge by the security staff. We were staying in a private residence so we carried on inside with our group to the bungalow. The campus is well laid out with broad tree-lined avenues and water bodies and fountains. There are a number of restaurants and hotels where one can stay. The campus looks festive during the night when some of the buildings are lit up in a dazzling display.

The restaurants and hotels are luxurious and expensive. There are many water sports activities like jet skiing and banana boat rides, and a swimming pool as well.

The best time to visit Aamby Valley is during the monsoons when the climate is superb with a light drizzle and low lying clouds floating into the residences.

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Date of stay: April 2019

Trip type: Travelled with family

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My TripAdvisor Review No.452: Kerala Cafe, Kalyani Nagar, Pune.

Authentic Kerala Food.

Kerala Café at Kalyani Nagar is located where ‘Tvum’ used to be earlier. There is new management and they specialize in Kerala food only, whereas Tvum had signature dishes from all regions of India. So it is a specialty restaurant and opened on 2nd November 2018. It is a very good concept in specialized dining.

They have various types of seating arrangements. There is open-air seating, a/c hall, and semi-open covered terrace on the mezzanine floor, where they have a bar as well. Service is courteous and professional and the food is served within 20 minutes of ordering.

We had fried papadams as starters and ordered Bangda (mackerel) Fry, Surmai (kingfish) Kerala Curry, appams, and Lemon Rice for the main course. We wanted to try Meen Curry but the steward warned us that it could be too spicy, so we opted for Kerala Curry instead, which was mildly spicy. We enjoyed the authentic Kerala taste. Food was served in traditional earthenware pots.

The seating was a bit uncomfortable without any cushioning on the wooden chairs, but the ambiance more than made up for it.

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Date of visit: November 2018

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My TripAdvisor Review No.451: Alpha Restaurant, Secunderabad.

Located Near Railway Junction.

We decided to have lunch at this restaurant as it was located bang opposite the Secunderabad Junction Railway Station, and we had to catch the afternoon train to Pune.

The air-conditioned family section, named ‘Alps’, is ironically located underground. We had to go down a narrow flight of steps with our luggage. We found a table next to the standing air-conditioner, as the rest of the tables were not getting the cooling effect. The lighting was quite dim, though they do not serve alcohol.

We ordered a Vegetarian Dum Biryani, a Dal Fry, and a Roti. Food was quite tasty and the quantity was good. However the service was a bit slow and the waiter somewhat reluctant to serve us, maybe because we had not ordered the more popular non-vegetarian biryanis.

The prices were very reasonable, considering the sizeable portions served. We had our fill, satisfied with the food, but not with the ambiance and the service.

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Date of visit: March 2019

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My TripAdvisor Review No.450: Botanical Gardens, Hyderabad.

Open Space For Recreation.

The Botanical Gardens of Hyderabad, officially known as Sri Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Botanical Gardens, is located on the Miyapur-Gachibowli Highway in the Kondapur area. There is a huge free parking lot for cars and two-wheelers.

Upon entering you have to buy a ticket for ₹25 per person, and there is a stiff fee for photography and videography. It seems that these fees are meant for commercial shootings, but everyone was entering without paying for their cell-phone cameras, and many were taking selfies. If you are a regular morning walker you can buy a pass for ₹400 per month or ₹1500 for an annual pass.

As you enter there are some life-like statues of animals and birds laid out in neat gardens. There are some demarcated areas for yoga, a wellness center, a party zone, skating rink, mini golf course, fitness center, an adventure arena, a video hall, conference hall, and an amphitheater. There are some cottages for rent and a Food Court which opens later in the day.

The main walking track leads into a dry forest which is more brown rather than green. The track is made of a mixture of sand and gravel. The full round of the track is about 3.5 km. You can hear peacocks early in the morning, and if you are lucky you may even see some. Other smaller birds like bulbuls, babblers, sparrows, and bee-eaters can also be seen and heard.

It is best to go early in the morning if you want to exercise your limbs. Compared to parks in other parts of the country, like Bangalore or Pune, the entry rates are very high, and the park is not so green and soothing to the eyes. The Telangana Forest Department should work on these aspects to make it a better experience for the nature lovers.

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Date of experience: March 2019

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My TripAdvisor Review No.449: Pala Pitta Cycling Park, Hyderabad.

Cycle To Your Heart's Content.

“You don’t stop Bike Riding when you get old, you get old when you stop Bike Riding”. This is a quotation on one of the boards displayed as you go cycling around the well laid out cycling tracks in the Pala Pitta Cycling Park in the Kothaguda Reserve Forest in Hyderabad. It is located just opposite the Botanical Gardens in Kondapur.

Here you can hire bicycles for ₹50 an hour. The track goes around a fenced in forest and is about 2.5 km in circumference. The track is a mixture of sand, gravel, and mud and is quite suitable for the sports bikes of which they have plenty available in their shed. They have ladies bikes, as well as smaller bikes for kids too.

The park opens at 6 am and it is best to go early in the morning when it is cooler. It is only for cycling, and walking is not allowed on the cycle track. There are benches for sitting and there is a washroom.

The terrain is flat but there are some small hillocks to challenge your pedal power, and the track curves around treacherously in some places, making your ride a bit challenging. If you are lucky you will get to see peacocks wandering around in the forest.

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Date of experience: March 2019

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC