The state of Maharashtra is most visited place in India by foreign people and the fourth most visited place by Indian tourists in the year 2010. Maharashtra has declared Aurangabad as its tourism capital recently.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) was established in the year 1956 under the Companies Act towards systematic development of their tourism on commercial basis. This Corporation was fully managed by Maharashtra Government with 25 crores as authorized share capital. As on March 31st 2008, their paid up share capital of this corporation was 15.38 lakhs. MTDC receives financial assistance from their state government in the form of grants and share capital. Their government has trusted all their promotional and commercial tourism activities to MTDC.

Right from its establishment, MTDC has been focused towards development and preservation of several tourist spots of Maharashtra. The corporation possesses and manages several significant tourist destinations and also planning for some more resorts.

Location

The state of Maharashtra is bounded by Arabian Sea to its west, Union territory of Dadra, Nagar Haveli and Gujarat to its northwest, Madhya Pradesh to its northeast and north , Chhattisgarh to its east, South lies the Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh to its southeast and southwest lies the Goa. This state covers up an area of about 307,731 km square (118,816 sq mi) or approximately 9.84% of total geographical area in India. The capital of this state, Mumbai is the largest city in India and financial capital of India. Nagpur serves as winter (second) capital of Maharashtra. The official language of this state is Marathi.

Cuisine of Maharashtra

Marathi cuisine (or Maharashtra cuisine) is the cuisine of people living in Maharashtra, Marathi’s. Marathi cuisine covers wide categories ranging from very spicy to mild delicious dishes. The main ingredients of Maharashtrian diet include jowar, rice, wheat, vegetables, bajri, fruits and lentils. Signature dishes of Marathi cuisine are batatawada, ukdiche Modak and puranpoli.

Religious Venues in Maharashtra

The state of Maharashtra consists of various significant religious centers that are thronged by huge volume of local and people from other states. Shirdi, the place well known for Sai Baba, God-like priest trusted by people all over India, is situated near Nashik. There are also Gajanan Maharaj shrine at Shegaon, Tulja bhavani shrine at Tuljapur, a Mahalakshmi shrine in south Mumbai, a well-known mosque in seas besides Mahalakshmi temple, suburb of Bandra carries Mount Mary church,  Sarasbaugh Ganpati Mandir, pond temple besides Parvati in the city of Pune and also Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati. There is an Osho Asharam in Pune which is admired by good population of devotees. There is also a renowned Gurdwara in the name of Takhat Sachkhand Shri Hazur Sahib near Nanded which has got its own followers.

Tourism in Maharashtra

Maharashtra also comes under the category of highly industrialized Indian state. Apart from Mumbai, Nashik, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad fill the list of the urban cities in Maharashtra. Their mother tongue is known as Marathi and the people are referred as Maharashtrians or Marathis. Hindi and English are widely spoken here.

In the year 2010, Maharashtra was one among the highly visited Indian state by foreigners and 4thhighly spotted state by Indians.  Aurangabad was crowned as Maharashtra’s Tourism Capital, very recently.

Countryside

The countryside of Maharashtra is also equally attractive. There is large number of places to visit and explore here. The most famous Konkan region runs between west coast and all through the foot of Western Ghats extends from the state of Maharashtra down till Kerala.  This particular region of Maharashtra is decorated with tropical and greenery geography. This is the greenest portion of this state. Destructed forts on the hill tops in Western Ghats all through the coastline of the state provide great climbing experience together with a touch of our history for trekkers. Konkan Railways provide exclusive train journey all through this hill region till Goa and further beyond.

Best Time to Visit

The month of October is after at the end of the summer season and also monsoon. Thus, there is no need to for the presence of scorching sun or sticky humidity.  This is the perfect time to enjoy the pleasant climate and hence ideal time to tour this state. Towards November end, winter season starts and extends till the mid of February.

How to Reach

By Air

The capital of Maharashtra, Mumbai has one international (Sahara International Airport) and one domestic airport (Santa Cruz domestic Airport). All prominent international and domestic airlines manage routine flights to Mumbai. There are several other domestic airports in this state including Aurangabad, Pune, Kolhapur, Sholapur and Nagpur.

By Rail

Mumbai serves as major junction for railways in Maharashtra, which is touched by various prominent trains connecting the city to other major cities in India. Apart from this station, there are other major stations in or near to all tourist destinations.

By Road

There is an outstanding network of roads in Maharashtra. Several state and national highways link all major Maharashtra cities to several other parts of India.

Mahabhraman

Travelling all the breadth and width of Maharashtra to explore the life-style of people, their tradition and customs, that is something unique among all the traditional notion of tourism. This is an experience that every tourist should feel and cherish for long period.  This results in the concept of Mahabhraman.

Enterprising farmers together with NGO groups experiments a unique and novel tourism notion focusing on the multiple importance of Maharashtra displaying farmers life challenging Sahyadri rock-faces, Huge winds in forest, growling strong rivers, strange and colorful under water life their crafts and arts.