You can take a tourist bus Volvo from Mumbai, departing from Dadar East, Sion or Vashi. The ride will take you 6 hours and will cost around Rs 500. An ordinary AC bus will cost Rs 200. The Volvo bus from Pune is currently operated by two private companies Neeta and Konduskar, and they charge approx Rs 250 each way. The Govt. Express bus from swargate starting 5.45AM and every hour with a moderate price of 120/- per individual.
Mahabaleshwar is also accessible by road from Mumbai, about 247 km. It takes about 4 to 5 hours by car if taking a route via Panvel through Mahad and Poladpur.
After the opening up of the Mumbai -Pune expressway and the highway onwards from Pune to Satara, this is the much better and preferred option to drive down from Mumbai.The distance via this route about 40 kms more but you reach much faster. You have to get off this highway at a place called Sirur and then travel via Wai and Panchgani to Mahabaleshwar.The road is less winding than the other one via Poladpur but more easy as far as driving is concerned.
You can also reach Satara by train from Mumbai/Banglore. Mahabaleshwar is 47 km from Satara and takes little more than one hour from there.
Try to arrive here in the morning because most of the hotels have a check-in time of 9AM. If you arrive later you may have to wait until another room becomes vacant.
A must see is a water well in the heart of market in the compound of the Library which is almost 150 years old. It still provides water to locals and is some 100 feet deep.
You can get latest timetable for buses for Mahabaleshwar [here]
