Welcome to Swiss Country Resort

	Distances: Mumbai to Mahabaleshwar via Mahad is 220 kms Mumbai to Pune is 180 kms & further Pune to Mahabaleshwar is 120 kms. Panchgani to Mahabaleshwar is 20 kms.

	Area : Vast green plateau of about 150 sq. kms.

	Height : 4500 feet above sea level.

	Climate : Never too hot because of the heights. Never too cold because of the nearness to the Arabian sea. Duration of higher temperature is short.

	Seasons : October, Diwali & X'mas holidays & summer. Hotels are open round the year even during the rainy seasons. The jungle of Mahabaleshwar is thick & produces many commercial as well as medicinal trees & plants. The wild life is limited to foxes, jackals,& wild boars. Deer’s & bison’s are found in the Brahma aranya area. Panthers are rare. The famous bird in the Urdu poetry, Bulbul is found everywhere in the plateau. The weather of Mahabaleshwar & healthy & contains an ideal of 20% oxygen which is often augmented in foggy weather of late summers & early monsoon, when the plateau is covered by thick mist. The water contains a meager percentage of iron which helps to increase hemoglobin in the blood.

	Some Facinating Information : Mahabaleshwar was a jail for Chinese & Malay convicts from 1834 to 1864. The capacity of the jail was 120 prisoners. These prisoners introduced cultivation of red potatoes, strawberries & weaving of cane & bamboo baskets. Many of the prisoners stayed at Mahabaleshwar after they were released.
	Short History : Maharaja Pratapsinha of Satara (1818 to 1839) engineered a scheme to develop M'war as his health resort. Sir John Malcolum, the first governor to visit Mahabaleshwar in 1828, established M'war in 1829. Sir Charles Malet, the first resident in Pune durbar of the Peshwas in 1791 happens to be the first European to step on this plateau.