Places to visit in Sawantwadi

• Raghunath Market

Raghunath Market is regarded as a major handicraft centre of India. The market is around 150 years old and is an ideal place to buy the Konkani handicraft items. These items include silver and bronze wares, jewellery and Kolhapuri chappals. This market is also famous for the typical Konkani food items like Agul, Amala Juice and Kokum Sharbat.

• Sawantwadi Palace

Sawantwadi Palace, a heritage property of the Royal family of the region, is constructed using laterite stone. The palace was constructed by Khem Sawant III between 1755 and 1803 and was once a stronghold of the Bhosale Kings as well.

The palace has a wide collection of traditional lacquerware goods. The clay and wooden artefacts, ancient paintings and jewellery of the Sawantwadi Royal family can be seen inside the palace. Majority of the paintings belong to the 6th or the 7th century, portraying the lifestyle of the Royal family.

• Moti Talao

Moti Talao is a lake situated in front of the Sawantwadi Palace. The lake was named as Moti Talao after the royal family presented the workers with moti or pearls for constructing this large lake. Activities like boating and swimming can be enjoyed at this lake.

• Narendra Hills

Narendra hills is situated in Sawantwadi which comprises of land having a very diverse forest which is a good sunrise and sunset point.  The place also consists of the Narendra Van Udyan which is a garden atop and an ideal destination for picnics.

• Shilpgram

A very wonderful tourist place to visit where all beautiful sculptures are kept.

World Famous wooden Toys of Sawantwadi

Wooden toys of Chitrali: Speciality of Sawantwadi is wooden toys and Handicraft articles. They are manual and famous everywhere in the word. There is a demand from all parts of India and abroad. There is no doubt that this toys and handcraft article and excellent in quality but now it is difficult to make them and the hardwork craftsmen have to take to make them can be understood by visiting the place.

Chitrali is in Sawantwadi city so it’s easy to visit tourist have to visit this place. Sawantwadi is one of the proud heritage town of India which hold distinction of preserving it’s own rich tradition and handicraft. Sawantwadi specializes in wooden craft, its wooden toys, bamboo craft, pottery art, traditional art paintings and world famous carved Bison Horns. Handmade playing cards of Sawantwadi remember everyone about by gone area. These cards are made from circular pieces of paper on which intricate designs of Dashavtar (ten incarnations of lord Vishnu) are hand-painted. Each card pack contains 120 hand painted cards housed in an equally colourful box. History says that these cards arrived in Sawantwadi 350 years ago, when Bhosle, royal family of Goa settled hear after fleeing from Portuguese regime there. The Bhosle brought several artisians along with them who were versed in wood carving and paintings. These families survived mainly by supplying handicrafts items to the royal families. In 1961 there where 45 such families though six such families still live in Sawantwadi today.

Sawantwadi

Sawantwadi  is a taluka  in the Sindhudurg district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Sawantwadi has a municipal council, which is a local civic body. Sawantwadi was formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Sawantwadi, ruled by the Bhonsle royal clan of the Marathas.

Until 1850, Sawantwadi was known as Sunderwadi. The name Sawantwadi came into the practice because of the surname of the state's ruling family of Khem-sawants. The palace was earlier located on Narendra hill. Khemsawant III constructed the existing palace in late 18th century (1755–1803), and Moti-Talao (Talao-lake) was built in front in 1874.

Sawantwadi is known for its wooden toys and models thanks to an active woodcraft industry. It is also becoming a major tourist attraction.