Saputara

Saputara is Gujarat's only hill station, a cool retreat in the Sahyadri range popular with visitors from across the state seeking relief from the plains' summer heat. A lake at the centre of town offers boating, and surrounding viewpoints and waterfalls give the area a genuinely scenic, forested character quite different from Gujarat's more famous desert and coastal landscapes.

The nearby Vansda National Park and several tribal Bhil and Gamit villages in the surrounding hills add further depth for visitors wanting to explore beyond the town itself, and Saputara's relatively modest scale keeps it considerably less crowded than hill stations in neighbouring states.

Developed as a hill station during the mid-20th century specifically to give Gujarat, a state otherwise lacking significant hill destinations, its own cool-climate retreat within relatively easy reach of the state's major cities.

About 165km from Surat, roughly 4 hours by road.