Panchgani — the name means "five hills" — is a small colonial-era hill station in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, about 100 km southwest of Pune and 250 km from Mumbai. Set on a plateau at 1,334 m, surrounded by five flat-topped hills and thick forest, it was founded in the 1860s as a summer retreat for British colonials, and the legacy is still visible in the old bungalows, gabled boarding schools — most famously St Peter's — and mission churches that line its lanes. Today it is a weekend escape for Mumbai and Pune families, famous above all for its strawberries (April–May is peak season), its jam and syrup factories (Mapro Garden, Sherbaug) and the fresh cool air.
The main sight is Table Land, the long, completely flat lava plateau on top of the highest of the five hills — the second-largest mountain plateau in Asia, wide enough to hold a small airstrip and often used as a backdrop in Bollywood films. The walk around the rim takes about an hour and the views over the surrounding valleys are the reason to come; Devil's Kitchen, a cave shrine with a Mahabharata legend, sits just below its southern edge. The classic Panchgani viewpoints are Sydney Point and Parsi Point, and the Rajpuri Caves and Kamalgad Fort are worthwhile short excursions. Neighbouring Mahabaleshwar, 20 minutes' drive up the road, is the bigger and more famous hill station of the two and makes an easy half-day combination.