Dahanu is a small coastal town in Palghar district, about 100 km up the shore from Mumbai, where the relentless suburban sprawl finally gives out and the Konkan coast reasserts itself in long, empty beaches and a green hinterland of fruit orchards. It is best known for chikoo (sapota) — the soft, sweet, brown-skinned fruit that grows in vast plantations around the town and turns up in everything from milkshakes to chikoo barfi. The orchards run almost down to the sand, and the contrast between the lush groves and the open Arabian Sea is the whole charm of the place.
The town has a long, low-key beach that stretches north towards Bordi, a quieter resort village popular with Mumbai families looking for a weekend by the sea without the crowds of Alibag or Juhu. The coast here is dotted with the homes and orchards of the Parsi community, who have farmed this stretch for generations, and Dahanu has a working fire temple and an old Irani character that lingers in its cafés and bakeries. Inland, the area is Warli country — home to the Adivasi people whose distinctive white-on-ochre wall paintings have become one of India's best-known folk art traditions — and the hilltop Mahalaxmi temple at nearby Vivalvedhe draws pilgrims, especially during its spring fair.
There is not a great deal to do in Dahanu in the conventional sense, and that is rather the point: it is a place to eat fruit straight off the tree, walk an empty beach, and slow down. Avoid the peak of summer; the town is most pleasant in the cooler months from November to February, and the chikoo season runs roughly through the winter.
Dahanu is on the Western Railway line and reachable in around 2.5–3 hours by local and express train from Mumbai, which makes it a feasible long day trip, though most people stay a night to make the journey worthwhile.