Visit Don Hill Station: A Good Friend for Saputara in Gujarat (2024)
Don Hill Station is in Dang, Gujarat. It is the second hill station in the area after the one at Saputara Hills. Tourists consider the Don Hill Station as one of the lesser-known, but best tourist locations in the Gujarat area.
The Don Hill Station Experience
The road to the Don Hill Station is scenic, and you will see greenery surrounding you on both sides. The road is clean and well built, so the journey to the Don Hill Station is an excellent drive for those who’d like to experience that. Don Hill is about 150 KM away from Surat. The distance between Don and Saputara is about 50 KM.
Reaching the top of the hill station is a simple trek and is simple enough if you have any experience trekking. There’s a small walking trail that takes you to the top of the hill station. Even when you are going up towards the top, you get a great view of the green hilly area. Like every hill area, the sky is clean and clear, so you get an excellent view. At the top of the hill station, there’s a sculpture of a bird. While you are coming down, if the weather is perfect, you will see a small water rivulet and a waterfall. The best time to visit Don Hill Station is during the monsoon season. That’s the time when the weather is pleasant, the surroundings bathe themselves in greenery, and you will be able to see the various waterfalls, rivulets all along the pathway.
Compared to the other hill stations in the Mumbai and Pune area, the Don Hill Station is a simple trek. However, keep in mind that there are no restaurants or hotels in the vicinity, so you should plan to carry food and beverage that you might need. All over your travel, you will see several houses scattered through the trail. Don Hill Station is one of the most beautiful locations in Gujarat. The cleanliness, the empty roads, and natural beauty is something that the urban crowds have never seen.
If you are planning to visit the Don Hill Station, keep in mind that there are no restaurants and no hotels nearby. The path to the Hill Station is through some villages, so there’s no option of the kind of food that one gets in the urban areas. Also, there’s no shelter on the path to the Hill Station, so plan to pack sunglasses, a cap, and everything else that you need to shield yourself from the sun.
Don has something for everyone. Trekkers and nature lovers regularly come here to witness the rich biodiversity. Cyclists and trekkers like to trek up to the caves and the hilltop. Also, nature photographers love to spend time here, capturing the clear skies, the rambling greenery. Because this area has a lot of grass and trees, it is also home to several birds, insects, and other forms of animal life.
You will be able to spend almost the whole of your morning and some of your afternoon time at the Don Hill Station. Because there’s no shelter, the most you can do is take some photographs of the valley below from the hilltop and marvel at the bird statue. Taking this trek during the harsh summer of Gujarat is not something that anyone would recommend. Also, while the trek is simple and doesn’t have a lot of steep climbs, make sure that you wear proper footwear and pants or trousers that cover your legs. Don, like every other place with natural greenery, is a haven for insects that bite. You never know which of the plants in the natural greenery are poisonous or will leave you with a slight bruise.
Places Near The Don Hill Station
There are other places near the Don Hill Station, like the Saputara, another hill station. However, you will need the whole weekend to visit both these places, as even Saputara is a hill station, and you will need a day to reach the top and return.
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The other places nearby are the Mahal Eco Campsite, the Mayadevi Waterfall, the Pandava Caves, and the Gira Waterfall. All these places are within one hour from Don Hill Station.
As previously mentioned, there are no staying options at the Don Hill Station, so you will have to make arrangements at Surat or Saputara, as is feasible for you. Saputara has several hotels, and so has Surat. At Saputara, you have places like the Strawberry Hills and Hotel Kansar Palace that offer their rooms for around 1500 per night. Then, you have other places like the Surti Cottage, which offer their rooms at about 1000 rupees per night. At Surat, you have places like the OYO Relax that offers its rooms for about 1000 rupees per night. Surat is a business and tourist hub and busier than Saputara, so there’s a chance that you will get rooms at cheaper rates there. However, Surat is about 150 KM away from Don, so you will have to travel farther.
How to Reach Don Hill Station?
To reach Don from either of the places, you will either have to take public transport or hire a private vehicle. Surat is well connected with other cities and towns in Gujarat. Surat Railway Station is an important port, and several routes connecting Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and other such cities run through. Also, Surat connects well via roadways, and you can either board a State bus or any of the private buses that ply from the places to Surat.