Maharashtra Homestay: Review Rustic Holidays in Tural, Konkan

Rustic Holidays is a Homestay located at Tural in the Konkan area of Maharashtra and run by a wonderful couple who have not made this old ancestral property their permanent house (call it reverse migration, maybe, as they moved from Mumbai to Tural). I stayed there for two days a while back and here is my review.

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As I lay on my bed and look at the ceiling above, the one thing I can surely agree is that the place had a very authentic rustic feel to it. The walls all around me are mud and the ceiling is made up of Mangalorian tiles, aptly named 'BEST QUALITY'. There is no television and no phone network, both of which are highly welcome. Bottles of beer are embedded in one of the walls in front of me, while I wait to take another sip from my goblet of red wine ( leftover from yesterday's party at home). It's a prefect gateway to the week long road trip which will take us through Konkan and end at Goa towards the end of the week. But for now I am in this wonderful Homestay near Ratnagiri, and very content with it all...

Our Hut at Rustic Holidays

Located at a distance of 275km from Pune and 310km from Mumbai, the drive to Rustic Holidays is nice, mainly because the road is good and the Ghats are beautiful. We started from Pune at 10am and reached here by 4pm, with a good coffee break (we found Cafe Coffee Day on the highway) and a mini lunch break as well. 

I had found the place online and had booked it on phone just an hour before we started from Pune. It was only on the way that we realized that it belonged a friend's family and that M had already been here a few years back for a project with a Pune based NGO. Small world :)

About Rustic Holidays

Rustic Holidays is the brainchild of Nitin and Shilpa Karkare. It had been Nitin’s dream to do something at his home town (village) since his college days. In 2003 Nitin and Shilpa decided to give birth to their Dream Project – Mamachya Gavala Jaauya – THE camps for children. The idea was to let the children from metros enjoy a perfect Rustic Holiday. And since then over 5000 children have enjoyed their summer, Diwali and Christmas vacations at Tural.



Main motto behind starting Rustic Holidays has always been generating employment for the local people. All the facilities you experience at Rustic Holidays have been created using local labor from Tural may it be the cook, casual labor, carpenters, masons, electricians, plumber and the list goes on. All the groceries, vegetables, milk products, building materials, etc is purchased from the local market. We are producing food products such as Pickles, Murabbas, Papad, Masala Powders etc with the help of local women from the village and these products are for sale at a small outlet at Rustic Holidays.

Overall review

I spent only two days here, but loved the place. It's got a very welcoming feel to it. Raju, the caretaker, always has a smile on his face and always up for a quick chat. Aarti, the cook, has magic in her hands and cooked excellent meals for us. I like Maharashtrian food anyway, and she made me love it. Do insist on eating thalipeth for breakfast if you are there, it's really really good.

The owners were not around when we visited the place and we met them just before we left for Ratnagiri after lunch. However, the staff was excellent and provided all possible travel tips, including recommending a visit to the hot Springs Rajawadi. 

Guess the fruit! :)

From where I stand

Since we were the only guests there, we had the entire place to ourselves. So we walked around as if the whole property was ours, we did yoga and stretching, walked in the fields, climbed up on the tree house, took pictures of the people at the village close-by and so on.

The food here is cooked on traditional wood chulha, and you can feel the taste with every bite you take. I overate at every single meal, but never regretted it. Our cook, Aarti, was fantastic and we must have complimented her many many times.

A view from the old house...

The broken roof in the old house...great place for photography

While you are there, make sure you take a tour of the ancestral house. You can climb up to the attic and its also a great place for taking pictures. The light is great, and the smell is very rustic as well. The beautiful texture of the old walls makes for amazing portraits. 

I found the place a little pricey, but my time spent there was so good that I can easily forget that.

Rooms and costs

When you enter the premises you will be pleased to see the 200 year old wadahaving capacity to accommodate 150 people under one roof. The old wada has been maintained in its original form structurally. 

My bed :)

There are two types of accommodation available:

1. Mud cottages with attached toilets and other facilities
2. Family room hall to accommodate bigger groups

The cost is seasonal, and usually hikes up during the months of December and January. Check out more details here.

To make the booking you can directly call up Nitin (+91-9820340332) or Shilpa (+91-9892584332). We made a phone booking and then paid directly after our stay. 

Phones do not work at the homestay, but you can drive about two kilometers to make any urgent calls. There is a landline for any other needs.

Video Review:

Here is a video review of my stay at Rustic Holidays. I also have a Travel channel and you must subscribe to it for more videos and travel stories :)