Pune is the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai and the eighth largest metropolitan city in India, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. It is the cultural capital of Maharashtra. the administrative capital of Pune district is Pune city. It is about 5-hour drive from Bombay. Pune is known for its educational facilities and relative prosperity. The city is famous for various cultural activities like classical music, spirituality, theater, sports, and literature. These activities and job opportunities draw migrants and students from all over India and abroad, which makes for a city of many communities and cultures. Pune has a tropical hot wet and dry climate with average temperatures ranging between 20 to 28 °C.
Transport
Pune International Airport is an international airport at Lohegaon. It is approximately 10 km north-east of Pune. In addition to domestic flights to all major Indian cities, this airport serves international direct flights to Dubai and to Frankfurt. There are pre-paid taxicab services to and from airport along with pre-paid auto rickshaws. There is a coach service to various key locations in Pune and private car rental services are also available.
The city has railway station, Pune Railway Station. It is the main railway head of Pune. It is a railway junction with on the Mumbai - Chennai railway line. Pune Railway Station serves as a halt for south bound trains from Mumbai, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as the origin/destination for trains to north India. Pune is well linked to the entire country by this station. Local trains connect Pune to the industrial town of Pimpri-Chinchwad and the hill station of Lonavala, while daily express trains connect Pune to Mumbai, Howrah, Delhi, Jammutawi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Goa, Varanasi, and Jamshedpur. The city of Pune was the first in India to experiment with a Bus Rapid Transit system. Pune is well-connected to other cities by Indian highways and state highways. National Highway 4 connects it to Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolhapur. National Highway 9 to Hyderabad, and National Highway 50 to Nashik. State highways connect it to Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, and Alandi. Pune is served by two intra-city highways: Old Pune-Mumbai Highway and Katraj-Dehu Road Bypass.
Tourist Attractions
Bhuleshwar
Bhuleshwar temple is just 40 km from Pune and is dedicated to lord shiva. It is situated on the hill top and it was build on 13 century. The temple is on the Pune-Solapur highway.
Khadakwasla
Khadakwasla is situated around 20 km from Pune. Khadakwasla is famous for its dam. It is main Source of supply of water to Pune. The dam was built on 1879 but later was rebuild on 1961.
Malshej Ghat
From Pune Malshej Ghat is neraly 130 km. It is located on western Ghats. This place is famous for trekking and hikes. It is located on the Pune - Nashik Highway. It is also the birth place of great warrior Shivaji Maharaj. It is the known weekend destination for Pune. Buses from Pune play on regular intervals.
Khandala
Distance of Khandala is about 70 km from Pune. It is situated at top end of bhor ghat. It is one of famous hill station in Pune. There are lots of dams, caves & forts around Khandala. One can reach to khandala by bus or train. It will take 2 hrs to reach from Pune.
Mahabaleshwar
Mahabaleshwar is located in the western ghat range. It is about 120 km from Pune. Source of krishna river start from mahabaleshwar. It is one of the famous holiday resorts in Maharashtra. The Venna lake is the popular spot in Mahabaleshwar. One can visit Mahabaleshwar by train. It took almost 3 hrs to reach to hill station from Pune. Nearest Airport is Pune about 120 km away from here.
Panchgani
Panchgani is located near Mahabaleshwar and about 20 km from Mahabaleshwar. It is also one of the most visited holiday destination in Maharashtra . It is around 100 km from Pune. Panchgani is between five hills in the Sahyadri mountain range and Krishna river will flow nearby. It is one of the largest table land in the continent and many Indian films have been shooted.Direct buses are available from Swargate
Sinhagad Fort
Sinhgad Fort is located around 30 km from Pune. It is one of the famous Picnic Spot of pune. This fort has seen many battle. The most famous being battle of sinhgad. It has 2 gates. One is called as kalyan darwaza in the South-East and Pune darwaza in the North-East. It is also a good treking place. The PMT Buses runs every hour from shaniwar wada and swargate.
And there are other forts like Lohgad Fort, Purandar Fort, Pratapgarh Fort, Rajgad Fort and Janjira Fort.
Dagduseth Halwai Ganpati
Dagduseth Halwai Ganpati in Pune, India is a temple dedicated to the Hindu God Ganesh. The temple is situated a short distance from the historical Shaniwar Wada fort. The temple is famous in Maharashtra and is visited by thousands of pilgrims every year. The temple was founded in 1893 by Dagduseth Halwai, a sweetmeat seller who became a wealthy businessman. Halwai had lost his son the previous year, and at the request of his guru created murtis of Ganesha and Dattatreya. The beautifull idol of Ganesha is decorated with gold and precious jewellery which have been offered to the Elephant God by the devotees as a token of their love and affection. The idol of Ganpati has a solid gold ear and is adorned with nearly 8 kilos of gold
Shaniwarwada
This fortress was constructed by Bajirao Peshwa in the 18th century to challenge the Mughal Empire and the British. It was a 13 storey building. It used to be the head quarter of the Peshwas and it represent Pune s culture
And there are other historical places like Aga Khan Palace, Lal Mahal Palace, Chaturshringi Temple, Parvati Temple and Shinde Chattri Temple.
IT Industry
Pune s nearness to Mumbai, good climate and availability of talent made it a preferred destination to large firms like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Capgemini, KPIT Cummins, Persistent, Symphony Services, Sungard, Tech-Mahindra, IBM, Accenture, Symantec, Systems Plus Technologies, Aztec, Atos, Siemens, WNS, Tata Technologies, Capgemini, Veritas, Cognizant, Patni Computer Systems, Eaton, Avaya, Zensar, Parametric, Geometric, Xansa, HSBC, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Syntel, Fujitsu, Softenger, Oracle Financial Software Solutions ThoughtWorks.
