Lonavala is a small hill station in the Sahyadri range (Western Ghats), halfway between Mumbai and Pune on the old British-era railway line and the Mumbai–Pune Expressway. Sitting at 622 metres in the folds of a volcanic escarpment, it was developed in the 19th century as a cool-weather retreat for the British administrators of Bombay, and today serves the same purpose for the middle classes of both cities — on weekends it is busy with families from Mumbai fleeing the heat, and during the south-west monsoon (June to September), when waterfalls cascade down the basalt cliffs and the landscape turns a luminous green, it is one of the most popular short breaks in western India.
The town itself is unremarkable — a main street of sweet shops selling the local chikki (hard peanut-and-jaggery brittle) and fudge that Lonavala is famous for — but the landscape around it is spectacular. The nearby Bhushi Dam, Lonavala Lake, and the monsoon waterfalls at Kune and Tiger's Leap all draw crowds in the rainy season. The real attractions, though, are further afield: the Karla and Bhaja caves, a pair of rock-cut Buddhist chaityas and viharas from the 2nd century BCE carved into the cliffs of the ghats, are among the oldest surviving Buddhist monuments in India. The nearby hilltop fortresses of Lohagad and Visapur — both originally built by the Maratha warrior-king Shivaji in the 17th century — offer excellent short treks with sweeping views over the valleys. For the more adventurous, Rajmachi and Tungi forts, deeper in the hills, are fuller-day outings.
Lonavala is on the Central Railway line and about 1.5–2 hours by train from both Mumbai (90 km) and Pune (65 km), making it a very easy overnight or weekend trip from either city.