India Maharashtra Konkan Coast: Alibag, Tarkarli, Kashid, Ratnagiri, Malvan and Sindhudurg Fort Complete Guide 2026
Browse more guides: India travel | Asia destinations TL;DR I drove the Maharashtra Konkan coast across nine days in February and came back convinced it is the most underrated 720 kilometre stretch of coastline in India. Three districts (Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg) hold over 30,000 square kilometres of Sahyadri hills sliding into the Arabian Sea, with eight million Marathi and Konkani speakers living between cashew groves and fishing villages. I started in Alibag (100 kilometres from Mumbai, a 1.5 hour drive), watched the Siddi-built Murud-Janjira Fort from 1490 emerge from the sea, slept on Kashid Beach, then took the Konkan Railway (opened 1998, 760 kilometres, 92 tunnels and 2,000 bridges) south to Ratnagiri where Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born in 1856. I finished at Malvan, snorkelled three to five metre visibility water around Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's 1664 Sindhudurg Fort on its 48 acre coral foundation, and crossed the border into Sawantwadi for wooden toys. Budget r...