Weekend Trip To Arnala

A weekend trip to Arnala, Road trip from Mumbai

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          Maharashtra is blessed with a number of beautiful and Exotic sea beaches i.e. a long coastal-shoreline along the Arabian Sea extending from Dahanu and Bordi in the north-up to Konkan coast in Maharashtra (section of the western coastline of India) and to Goa, proceeding Southward. I am sharing my travelling experience with all, who love beaches and mostly prefer to visit coastal places for enjoying everything from adventurous beach surfing to authentic coastal-sea food. Planning and getting ready for a long tour frequently is obviously not a feasible option but short and memorable night out with friends was what I preferred this time. So I decided that Arnala would be my next travel destination to explore. This is all about my short trip to a beach resort in Arnala, a trip with my friends. This is my second trip of this New Year after my Mahabaleshwar trip.

Cycling - ride along the beach in evening

Arnala is a coastal town in Palghar District of Maharashtra and it’s a popular weekend getaway near Mumbai, a good place for a weekend outing for families, Friends and couples to enjoy beach and resort/waterparks. Arnala Beach is the beautiful beach located off the west coast of Virar (Maharashtra), situated at a convenient distance from Mumbai and is well connected by road and rail-ways. Beach is situated approximately 9 Kms (30 mins) from Virar railway station. Tourists come to Arnala and the nearby adjacent beaches to spend weekend/holidays. Frequent State transport buses and Auto-rickshaws services are available from Virar (west) to carry the tourists to the beaches from the railway station. MSRTC state bus service provides direct connectivity to several towns across Maharashtra. So it is well connected via road and rail transport. For Mumbaikars, reaching Arnala would take hardly 2 hours.

Arnala beach located at Virar is the famous and most visited of total 4 beaches connected in the vicinity. Adjacent beaches are cleaner and less crowded compared to Arnala. You can play games like cricket, football on the shore also you can enjoy roaming around the clean beaches and cycling on nearby vacant roads. A beach cycling can be enjoyed here. Many food stalls-basic eateries like Cold drinks, Tea- cutting chai tapri & coffee, Ice-gola, Chinese food and snacks like Vada Pav etc. are available near a beach.

Places of attraction:

• Arnala beach, Rajodi beach, Navapur beach and Vatar beach – Arnala beach is the famous and most visited of other beaches connected in the vicinity. Adjacent beaches are less crowded as compared to Arnala. Enjoy the evening n the beach environment.
• Arnala Fort - located on a small island off the Arnala. You can spend your time by visiting the Arnala fort. Get a ferry to reach the fort.
• Jivdani Temple, Virar - You can visit Jivdani Mata Temple, situated atop a hill, in Virar (East)
• Beach resorts and waterpark - There are number of resort and hotels available near the famous Arnala and adjacent beaches that offer Amenities like well-maintained swimming pools and waterparks, slides as well as DJ-Rain dance floor, Food courts for Breakfast and Lunch (dinner also included in night stay package), AC/nonAC rooms for overnight stay, lockers for day picnic and cottages on rentals for functions & get-together's. You can have a comfortable stay at any available good resort in Arnala also each of these has well maintained amenities.
• Amusement parks

How to reach Arnala from Mumbai:

What is nearest Railway station to Arnala: Virar (on Western Suburban Route -55.3 Kms from Mumbai) is the nearest railway station for Arnala. A number of trains, including Mail-Express & EMU/local halts at Virar. Saurashtra express is the fastest train to reach Virar from Dadar in Morning time. It always runs on time. But you may need to take a ticket up to Safale station. Halt is hardly abt few minutes so you will need to be prepared if you are going by mail/express train. From the railway station, you can reach the destination by taking auto-rickshaw or get on the bus. Board the Arnala bus from station and get down at the last stop which is just at walkable distance from Arnala Beach. Many travellers prefer train to reach Arnala. Bus and car are other alternatives available a for traveller to reach Arnala.

Nearest Railway Stations for Arnala: Virar (Approx. 9 kms), Vasai Road (Approx. 17 kms), Thane (Approx. 62 kms)

By road Journey to Arnala from Mumbai:

How to reach Arnala from Mumbai by road. Arnala is about 86 kilometers away from Mumbai, and it takes about 2.50 hour to reach the destination by car. There are frequent MSRTC state transport buses (ordinary and asiad) plying to Arnala from Thane, New Mumbai, Pune i.e. connectivity provide by state transport buses to several towns across Maharashtra. If you don’t want to drive and just want to relax during the journey, you can either take a bus or a private vehicle-taxi/cab to reach Arnala. The exact distance of the beach from Mumbai can be navigated by means of road and rail transport.

About my trip plan and experience

Our primary requirement of this trip was to spend time on the beach and enjoyment at good resort with amenities like swimming pool, rides, garden, delicious veg-non-veg food and beach should be within walkable distance and less travel time i.e. trip destination should be within 100 Kms.

Approx. Travel Time: Around 2Hrs 30 Mins from Mumbai via Eastern Express Hwy and Mumbai Ahmedabad highway. (Approx Distance of Arnala from Mumbai: 86Kms)

Day 1: As planned, the day has come when we have to prepare and start the journey to Arnala from Mumbai. We packed our bags and started the journey from Parel to Arnala in the morning at 7:30. I went on this road trip with my friends. Pickup points were decided at defined locations on the way to pick up other members of the trip. We made a halt for about 10 minutes at food restaurant on the highway (near Varsava bridge, Bhayandar) and moved again to Arnala. It took just two and a half hours to cover the distance from Mumbai to Arnala via Eastern express highway and Mumbai Ahmedabad highway. You can note and follow this direction If you are planning a trip to Arnala by own car. (Our travel route from Parel to Arnala à Parel – Sion - Thane (via Eastern Express Highway) – Thane Ghodbunder Rd. - Vasai (via Mumbai Ahmedabad highway) - Nalasopara Phata – Nalasopara Bridge (from east to west crossing rail-line) - Vatar (Navapur Naka) - Beach resort – continue towards your destination in Arnala, Virar West (Maharashtra)).

There are a number of resorts available near the famous Arnala and adjacent beaches like Vatar beach, navapur beach. You can get complete package from resort that includes waterpark-swimming pool charges and Accommodation charges including stay as well as food.

(Accommodation - we had booked a good beach side resort for a night stay, food and other fun activities in the Water Park).

We reached the beach resort in morning at 10.15. The resort was located in prime location (just 1min walking distance from adjacent beach to the beach of Arnala), situated about 7Kms from Virar and 3 Kms from main beach of Arnala. The resort we booked has 4 swimming pools and water slides are main attractions, DJ-Rain dance floor, ample parking space, coconut garden surrounding, Children play-park, rooms and party halls AC/nonAC, food restaurant and small shop.

After reaching there, we parked our vehicles in parking space (Resort has an ample parking space available). We collected keys of our reserved rooms from the booking office and kept our bags in rooms. We were served breakfast at around 11AM in resort’s dining hall. We had a quick breakfast and after that real fun began when we entered into waterpark. There were many different types of slides (like tunnel ride, wave & zig-zag shape ride) in the resort. First I tried midsize water slide where there was a large swimming pool for landing in water. After spending some time on all these rides, we entered into a large swimming pool. I missed my favourite wave pool here in this resort, in wave pool, waves like sea are generated which gives you real experience of swimming in sea water. We enjoyed a lot swimming in the pool.

Then we went to the other side where there is DJ and rain dance floor and artificial waterfall, small size pools and rides for children. We observed that there are number of slides and swimming pools are available in almost all nearby resorts which can be enjoyed by adult and children. (Please check for package/rate of resort booking online). After enjoying a lot in water, we proceeded for lunch as there is fixed lunch timing decided by the resort management. There was a big food court for lunch in resort. We took some rest after having lunch as we were tired. Again we moved to rain dance floor and then ride on the big water slide. Till 5 in evening, we enjoyed swimming in pool and slides. Entry to pools was closed after 5pm.

In evening, we enjoyed a bike ride along coastal way from resort to Arnala market. We visited Arnala market to bring night stock coldrinks, water bottles and vadapav. We just roamed around the beach in the evening and spent some time in sea water and captured some beautiful photographs there on beach.

Arnala beach

Beach and fort are the major attraction associated with Arnala. You can enjoy a short distance ferry ride to visit the fort, Camel rides along the beach (which will give a desert experience by taking you on a ride) also you can enjoy horse rides along the beautiful beach. You can also try coconut water here on beach. You can find several good eating places along the beach, food stalls and restaurants serving delicious sea food. Sea food is most popular here. 
After enjoying beach environment, we headed towards resort and went for Dinner. After dinner, we again went to the beach for a while, sat down on the beach and seeing beauty of the sea and waves at night time was really great experience. After spending some time there on beach, We came back to the room in resort for overnight stay. We could hear sound of sea waves from our rooms whole night, as resort was right in front of the beach.

Day 2: Next day we woke up a little late in morning as we slept late last night. We quickly finished our breakfast and started return journey to home via same route.

Note: You can visit Jivdani Mata Temple next day morning.
I reached home safely at 12:30pm, via same highway route from Arnala to Parel.

Travel Tips:

• Please note that sometimes waves are powerful and swimming in beach water is dangerous during high tides. Also avoid traveling alone during night on beach areas.
• When you enter into large size swimming pool, it is advisable you should not cross 3.5-4ft depth level if you don’t know swimming. (Although there are life guards available but don’t take a risk if you don’t know swimming)

We had great time here at Arnala, it was really an amazing travel experience. I would definitely recommend Arnala beach and stay at nearby resorts. It is charming picnic spot for day picnic and is one of the best weekend getaway cum holiday destinations near Mumbai.

Where to stay in Arnala: Resort and hotels provide good accommodation at reasonable price.

Details of expenses during my trip to Arnala:
1.Resort entry charges: Rs1000/- (for overnight package)
2.Accommodation charges: Rs200/- pp (one room can accommodate max 6-7 persons). We were total 11 number of people went for Arnala trip and we had booked 2 Nos. Rooms (Rs. 1250/- per room).
3.Car fuel and Toll: Rs200/- pp (4 ppl in each car)
4.Water bottle: Rs40/- pp
5.Food and refreshment during the journey: Rs100/- pp
6.Other individual expenses

I would be delighted to answer travelling related questions; you leave in comment box of the blog. You can also leave a comment to suggest where i should plan to travel next.

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