WaterfallSerious risk

Kune Falls

Western Ghats · Lonavala · Maharashtra

A three-tiered fall in the Lonavala–Khandala valley, hugely popular and prone to fatal accidents when crowds scramble off-trail.

Visit-safety grade
Serious

Manageable with care. The biggest factor is flash-flood exposure: Narrow catchment — rain kilometres upstream can arrive as a wall of water under a clear sky.

Flash-flood exposure24 pts
Narrow catchment — rain kilometres upstream can arrive as a wall of water under a clear sky.
Water & current12 pts
A plunge pool with real undertow — inviting, and deceptively strong beneath the surface.
Height & wet rock11 pts
A 200 m drop with algae-slick rock around the viewpoints and approach — the commonest cause of injury here.
Remoteness / rescue5 pts
A town and basic help are not far off.

The paradox of Indian waterfalls: flow and danger peak together. Most deaths here are monsoon drownings and people swept over the lip — not falls from a viewpoint. The best photograph and the deadliest current are the same water. Watch from marked points; never enter the stream.

Score 52/100, re-derived from the site’s real characteristics — never a marketing grade. A higher number is not “don’t go”; it is “go informed.”

Know before you go
  • fatal slips from wet cliff-edge selfie spots
  • sudden monsoon flash rise in the feeder stream
  • drownings where people bathe near the base
The safety code · waterfalls
  • Never enter the water above the lip, or step onto the smooth wet rock near the edge — being swept over is the commonest way people die at Indian waterfalls.
  • Watch from marked viewpoints only; moss-slick rock is far more slippery than it looks.
  • Check the whole upstream catchment's forecast — a clear sky here doesn't mean it isn't pouring above.
  • Peak monsoon flow is peak danger, not peak safety — admire the volume from well back.
When to go
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Prime windowShoulderOff-season
The essentials
Nearest town
Lonavala
Elevation
622 m
Drop
200 m
Visit
Short walk
Approach
≈0.4 km each way · 20 m climb
Season
Jul–Sep (peak flow); Oct–Nov (safer, fuller-but-calmer)
Permits
1 to arrange (Maharashtra)
How to reach
Starting point
Lonavala
Maharashtra
By air
  • Pune (PNQ)~59 km
  • Mumbai (BOM)~66 km
By rail
  • Lonavala~3 km
  • Karjat~20 km
By road

Drive to the roadhead Lonavala. From Lonavala (~3 km) shared taxis and state buses run the last leg to Kune Falls.

Distances are straight-line (as the crow flies), computed from the coordinates. Real road distance and driving time in the mountains are longer — confirm current road status and the last motorable point with your operator, especially in monsoon and winter.

Right now
22°, overcast· wind 17 km/h

Live from Open-Meteo at this spot, adjusted to 622 m. Mountain weather turns fast — treat this as a hint, not a promise.

Altitude & air
Low altitude
Elevation
622 m
Oxygen vs sea level
~93%
Est. SpO₂ (unacclimatised)
~97%
Air pressure
708 mmHg

No altitude effect for almost anyone.

Where it is
3D replay

See it in 3D

A Google-Earth-style flyby that drops in from orbit and traces the real approach trail up to Kune Falls(where it’s mapped in OpenStreetMap), over real satellite terrain — so you can read the climb and the lie of the land before you go.

More waterfalls
Serious
Jog Falls
Karnataka
Serious
Nohkalikai Falls
Meghalaya
High
Athirappilly Falls
Kerala

Coordinates, heights and depths are approximate, curated from public sources — good enough to plan and to gauge risk, not surveyed. The safety grade is a deterministic guide, not a guarantee; conditions change with weather, water level and crowds.