India · State of Mahārāshtra
Where to Stay in Lonavla, State of Mahārāshtra
Lonavla, also written Lonavala, is a hill station and municipal council in Pune district, on the corridor between Mumbai and Pune.
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Where to stay in Lonavla
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Lonavala and Khandala share one hill station between them, and the choice of a bed here mostly comes down to which of the two names is on the booking and how the arrival is being made. Khandala is the quieter name. It is the other half of the pair, and a room on that side sits away from the chikki shops and the through traffic of Lonavala.
The railway is the second consideration. Lonavala is a major stop on the railway line connecting Mumbai and Pune, local trains reach it from Pune Junction, and rooms near the platforms save a transfer for anyone arriving without a car. Roads make the third choice.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Pune national highway both pass through Lonavala, and a room off one of them suits a weekend that arrives by car and leaves the same way. Distance decides more than anything else. Pune lies about 64 kilometres off and Mumbai about 96, which puts the hill station inside a short run from either city.
The municipal council covers roughly 38 square kilometres of Pune district, so nothing inside it is far from anything else.
About Lonavla
Chikki is the local export.
What is Lonavla known for?
The hard candy is made here in quantity and carried out along the same routes that bring visitors in, which is a fair summary of how Lonavala works. The hill station is the other half. Lonavala-Khandala draws people out of Mumbai and Pune for the higher ground, and the railway that links the two cities makes the stop an easy one.
The trains bring most of them.
What are the main landmarks in Lonavla?
No single building carries this place. Lonavala-Khandala is the attraction in itself, a hill station rather than a town with a monument at the centre of it, and the record names no church, fort or temple here. Chikki is the closest thing to a signature.
The hard candy is made in Lonavala and sold to the traffic that comes off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the railway.
What is the history of Lonavla?
No founding year is recorded for Lonavala. The record gives a hill station and a municipal council in Pune district, paired with Khandala under the single name Lonavala-Khandala. The line between Mumbai and Pune runs through it.
Lonavala is a major stop on that line, and the local trains that reach it from Pune Junction still tie the hill station to the Pune suburbs more closely than to anywhere else. Chikki grew alongside. The hard candy became the thing sold to everyone changing trains or stopping the car, and it still carries the name of the town well beyond Pune district.
Roads followed the rail. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Pune national highway both pass through Lonavala, which put the place on two separate road connections between Mumbai and Pune. Distance settled the pattern.
Pune sits about 64 kilometres off and Mumbai about 96, close enough that both cities reach it in a short run. The municipal council still administers roughly 38 square kilometres of Pune district, and the hard candy the place is known for is still made and sold along the same corridor that brought the visitors. Lonavala keeps both names in use.
Lonavla and Lonavala appear side by side in the record, and Khandala travels with them.
Where is Lonavla?
Roughly 38 square kilometres of Pune district make up the municipal council, and the hill station of Lonavala-Khandala sits on high ground between Mumbai and Pune. Pune lies about 64 kilometres off. Mumbai is roughly 96 kilometres the other way, and the corridor between them, carrying both the railway line and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, runs straight through the place.
Khandala is the other half of it.
What is the climate of Lonavla?
Height is the whole point of a hill station. Lonavala sits in the tropical band, and the ground it stands on is the reason people come up from Mumbai and Pune rather than staying in either city for the same months. Timing a visit means watching the rain.
The season that decides whether the run up from Pune Junction is worth making is the wet one, not the cold one, because there is no cold one worth planning around.
How do you get to Lonavla?
The railway does most of it. Lonavala is a major stop on the line connecting Mumbai and Pune, and local trains run in from Pune Junction, which makes the hill station reachable without a car from either end. Two roads share the load.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Pune national highway both pass through, putting Pune about 64 kilometres away and Mumbai about 96.
More cities in State of Mahārāshtra
Updated August 2026