Bungalows

There are about two hundred bungalows on the hill. Iron roofing is becoming more common, as it can be maintained in good repair at a trifling expense. As a rule in the hot season all the houses are occupied. Of the materials used in building these houses the teak came from Bombay, Ratnagiri, Poona and Kanara, other timber from the neighboring districts, the lime from Wai in Satara, and the corrugated iron from Bombay. The properties on the hill are generally held on lease; in a few cases the Government rent has been redeemed. In most cases local house agents would furnish the amount of rent etc. per season to the would-be bungalow lessees. Now according to section 6(i) of the Land Requisition Act, 1948, landowners cannot let the whole or portion of their bungalows, for one month or a season to anybody without the prior sanction of the Collector of Satari, under whose jurisdiction Mahabaleshwar falls. A number of house agents have established themselves on the hill station since many decades. The exterior and interior of most bungalows are fairly good whilst some of the Bombay owners bungalows resemble in excellence, their Bombay residences. Besides there are fine small cottages situated amidst woody surroundings.

For those who want to escape from attending to chores of house keeping there are number of hotels at Mahabaleshwar which give vegetarian and non-vegetarian food with Indian or European or Chinese style. Most of those hotels have reputation for good food and service. The rate per person during the season is from Rs 400 to Rs.1000 approximately  including food, transport around per day. With the exception of the monsoons months - June to September - Mahabaleshwar is very satisfactorily habitable throughout the rest of the year. The peak season is April-May when, to escape the  sweltering heat of the plains, a large number of visitors come to the hill station. But even when the bungalows are occupied and almost all the hotels are packed to capacity one rarely finds a feeling of congestion (except perhaps in the bazaar) for the simple reason that Mahabaleshwar is very well laid out. This being a lucrative period of the year the prices of commodities, hotel rates, conveyance fares etc. are usually higher than what they are during the rest of the year.