The maharaja's 'new' palace, completed in 1881, was designed by Charles Mant, the architect who fashioned the Indo-Saracenic style of colonial architecture.

How to reach there:

The broad-gauge line connects Kolhapur via Miraj with Pune and Bombay.

Accomodations:

Shalini Palace Hotel.

Hotel Girish.

Hotel Maharaja.

What to see:

The palace contains the Shahaji Chhatrapati Museum - a weird and wonderful array of the old maharaja's possession including:

his clothes,

old hunt photos and

memorial silver spade used by the maharaja to 'turn the first sod of the Kolhapur State Railway' in 1888.

The gun and sword collection is comprehensive, and the ashtrays and coffee tables made from tigers' and elephants' feet, not to mention the lamp stands from ostrich legs, are unbelievably gross.