Best Pizza Places in Matheran: Where to Go for a Proper Slice
Words by
Mihir Joshi
Best Pizza Places in Matheran: Where to Go for a Proper Slice
Matheran is not the first place you would expect serious pizza talk. It is a car-free hill station perched at 800 meters in the Western Ghats, famous for its toy train, red mud paths, horse trails, and viewpoints that fog up by 4 pm in the monsoon. But if you have ever climbed up to Panorama Point in the morning and worked up an actual appetite, you will know that a good cheese-covered flatbread is not just comfort food up here, it is survival food. This guide covers the best pizza places in Matheran, from the corner shops near Matheran Railway Station to the slightly unlikely spots inside heritage hotels where a wood-fired crust shows up without you even asking for it.
I have been coming to Matheran since the late 1990s, first with school groups from Pune and later on my own with a notebook and a bad knee that rules out all hiking beyond Louisa Point. Over the years I have eaten my way through every place that calls itself a pizza joint in this half-hour-walk-wide town. Some of these spots have been around longer than the Instagram era, others opened recently and are still figuring out their wood oven settings. What follows is not a list from a food aggregator app. It is a Matheran pizza guide written from my own stomach, my own receipts, and the occasional indigestion that follows three slices of overtopped Margherita after a long trek.
1. Hotel Panorama’s Rooftop Kitchen: Pizza with a Valley View
1 · Hotel Panorama (near Matheran Market)
I walked into Hotel Panorama on a Thursday evening in late October, walked past the reception and up the narrow staircase to the small rooftop section. The cook, who is called Pappu according to the staff (he later told me his name is actually Bharat), pulled out a base that looked suspiciously house-made, spread a bright orange tomato sauce, and went heavy on a local Amul-heavy cheese blend. The pizza arrived ten minutes later, slightly charred on the edges, on a steel plate with a wedge of lemon sliced too thick. It was ₹180 for a regular Margherita, ₹240 for what they loosely call “loaded”.
The kitchen is small and visible through a steel window. They rely heavily on pre-made bases and a convection oven, which means the crust will never be pizzeria-standard, but the altitude cools the slice faster than in Mumbai, and the combination of valley air, old railway-town energy, and pepperoni that tastes surprisingly good makes up for the technical flaws. This is one of those top pizza restaurants Matheran is slowly gaining a reputation for: nothing flashy, but reliably satisfying after a 3 km uphill walk from the station.
Local Insider Tip: Sit on the left side of the rooftop if possible, near the railing beyond the service door. You cannot see the full market from the entrance side anyway, but from that left corner the valley opens up dramatically just after 5 pm when the sun drops behind the opposite ridge. Order before the 6:30 pm weekend rush in November and December, because Bharat starts running out of loaded toppings by 7:15 pm.
Best time to go: Weekday evenings between 5 pm and 6:30 pm, especially in November through February when the air sits comfortably between 18–24 degrees Celsius and the monsoon dampness has fully dried out. Avoid late March through May unless you enjoy sweating into your cheese. The rooftop has very little cover from direct summer sun, and the metal chairs become radiators by 4 pm.
One thing tourists do not know: The staircase to the rooftop also leads to a narrow rear alley that shortcuts you onto the path toward Charlotte Lake. Most visitors follow the main road, which adds ten minutes to the walk. If you feel guilty about eating a full pizza and want to earn your walk back, take that back alley down to the lake trail instead.
The honest complaint: The AC in the ground-floor dining area barely works after mid-afternoon, and since the rooftop has no overhead coverage except a tin sheet, you are at the mercy of the elements. Bring a cap and water in summer, and a sweatshirt in December evenings.
2. Olympus Restaurant: The Reliable Market-Floor Option
2 · Olympus Restaurant (Matheran Bazaar area)
Olympus is not trying to be a pizzeria and does not advertise itself as one. It is a standard hill-station multi-cuisine restaurant with plastic chairs, laminated menus in Hindi and English, and a kitchen that will make anything from Chinese bhel to cheese pizza if you ask. I went on a Monday afternoon in February and ordered their cheese capsicum pizza, which came out reasonably well-browned and cut into six neat triangles. It was ₹160 for a small, ₹220 for a regular.
The reason it appears in this list is consistency. Olympus has been serving pizza to visiting college groups and weekend families fromumbai for at least twelve years now, and they have dialed in a product that delivers what you expect. The base is thin-ish and a little oily, cheese coverage is generous, and they do not skimp on the processed jalapenos you secretly crave at this altitude after walking uphill for 40 minutes. This is one of the places that quietly anchors any conversation about where to eat pizza Matheran has grown up with.
Local Insider Tip: Ask for “extra crust” when you order. The kitchen pulls the pizza out slightly earlier, and the base ends up crisper in the center. This is not on the menu. Most tourists who read aggregator reviews order blindly and end up with a softer, steamier base.
Best time to go: Lunchtime, between noon and 2 pm on weekdays. The restaurant fills up by 1:30 pm on weekends and during summer holidays, when families from Dombivli, Kalyan, and Panvel flood the market area. If you arrive after 2 pm, there is often a wait for a table.
One thing tourists do not know: The kitchen closes for a mid-afternoon break from about 3 pm to 4:30 pm. If you arrive hungry after a long trek, do not be surprised to see the chairs still up on the tables and a “back in 30 minutes” hand-written sign.
The honest complaint: The washroom at the back of the restaurant shared with the rest of that building block is not well-maintained. Carry hand sanitizer if that matters to you.
3. Hotel Royal’s Garden Corner Slice Counter
3 · Hotel Royal (Paymaster Road)
Hotel Royal is a mid-range heritage-style property that most tourists walk past on their way to Panorama Point or the Paymaster Garden. I almost ignored it myself until a friend showed me the small garden-side slice window they operate during peak season. It is technically a room-service extension, but if you sit on the two wooden benches by the boundary wall and eat your slice while listening to the parakeets in the deodar trees, the experience beats most indoor seating in town.
The pizza is simple: Margherita at ₹140, onion-tomato-cheese at ₹170, and a spicy chicken version at ₹220 if you ask. The crust is biscuit-thin and baked in a small countertop oven visible through the window. You can watch them assemble the whole thing in about 90 seconds. It tastes like a smarter, more deliberate version of what you get from roadside stalls, probably because the kitchen also caters to hotel guests who may complain.
Local Insider Tip: Go on a Sunday morning between 10 am and 11 am. The slice counter opens at 9:30 am on weekends but most walkers are still at the viewpoints. You get the slice, you get the garden bench, and you get the peace that disappears once the market starts buzzing at noon.
Best time to go: Weekends from October to February, mornings especially. During monsoon (June to early September), the garden benches get damp and the deodar canopy drips for hours after it rains. The slice counter also shuts on heavy-rain days when Paymaster Road floods near the lower end.
One thing tourists do not know: Hotel Royal’s owner lives on the upper floor. He sometimes comes downstairs to the garden in the early evening, and if he is having a good day, he will tell you stories about Matheran in the 1970s when the toy train ran five times a day and the town had exactly two restaurants.
The honest complaint: The slice counter is seasonal and inconsistent. There were summers I visited and found it shut because the cook had gone back to his village. Do not make it your only dinner plan.
4. The Chowk Area’s Small Eatery Clusters
4 · Chowk area cluster of food stalls
The Matheran Chowk is not a single restaurant. It is a cluster of small food operations that share the same general area near the horse stand and the main market entrance. Over the past five years, at least three or four of them have started offering pizza alongside pav bhaji, misal, vada pav, and Chinese fried rice. The quality varies wildly depending on who is working the stove on a given day, but the cheapest pizzas in Matheran are found here, ranging from ₹100 to ₹200 depending on size and toppings.
I tested two stalls in January this year, ordering a basic cheese pizza from each. One came out with a surprisingly tangy tomato sauce and a crust that was more paratha than pizza base. The other was closer to the Olympus style: thin, slightly oily, and topped with a generous handful of shredded processed cheese. Neither was transcendent, and both delivered exactly the value you would expect at this price point. What they did deliver was accessibility: you order at 12:35 pm, you are eating by 12:50 pm, and you have not broken stride in your sightseeing schedule.
This is the practical answer for anyone looking for where to eat pizza Matheran offers on a budget and in the middle of a packed itinerary. The Chowk stalls will not win awards, but they will not slow you down either.
Local Insider Tip: The stall nearest the horse-stand wall tends to have a slightly better-quality oven and more consistent cheese. Walk past the first stall you see and check for the one with the larger tawa setup behind the counter. They tend to rotate their dough stock faster because of higher turnover.
Best time to go: Lunchtime, noon to 2 pm on any day outside peak summer. The area gets brutally hot from April through early June, with no shade except the temporary awnings that some stall owners rig up with bedsheets and bamboo poles.
One thing tourists do not know: The goat track behind the Chowk leads eventually to the One Tree Hill Point trail. If you are eating pizza in the middle of the day, note that sunset from One Tree Hill Point is under an hour away in winter. Finish your meal by 4:30 pm, stash any leftover in the paper wrap most stalls use, and walk up with it. Pizza at sunset tastes like a reward.
5. Regency Hotel’s Dining Room Pizza Option
5 · Regency Hotel (near M.G. Road)
Regency has been around long enough that my parents stayed there in the early 2000s. Back then, their dining room served thalis, rum punch, and an optimistic version of mixed fruit pizza that was more sweet flatbread than pizza. Things have improved considerably. The current dining room offers actual pizza in the traditional sense: baked cheese on a recognizable base with standard toppings. Their margherita is ₹200, their chicken tikka pizza ₹280, and they stay open until about 9:30 pm on most evenings.
The kitchen is proper. They run a ducted exhaust that actually keeps the dining room from getting smoky, the ceramic plates arrive hot, and there is a genuine attempt at consistency that you can taste. The crust has some belly to it, not just a cracker, and the cheese blend includes a small amount of actual mozzarella mixed with the unavoidable Amul block cheese that dominates most menus in this town. I would put this in the top pizza restaurants Matheran list specifically because of the kitchen setup. It is not fast-casual. It is a sit-down experience.
Local Insider Tip: Request a table near the windows on the side facing the MG Road. The evening breeze comes through after 4 pm and the room stays comfortable without fans. Avoid the center tables near the kitchen door in summer because the heat radiating off the wall is noticeable by 1 pm.
Best time to go: Early dinner, between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm in the October to February window. Weekday lunches are quieter and cheaper in overall bill value because certain combo items drop by ₹20–₹40 during weekday promotions.
One thing tourists do not know: The property is on a small internal road that most auto-rickshaws (the ones that operate from the base of the hill at Dasturi Naka) cannot reach directly. You have to walk about 200 meters from the main road, but this also means the dining room is quieter than the market-adjacent spots.
The honest complaint: On weekends during Christmas and New Year week (typically December 24 to January 2), the dining room is fully packed and service slows to a crawl. You are looking at a 30 to 40 minute wait for food if you arrive after 7:30 pm. Book ahead if you can.
6. The Pancake House: Pancakes First, But Also Pizza
6 · The Pancake House (toward Louisa Point end of the market)
The Pancake House is primarily a pancake and waffle operation, and if you come here for pizza alone, you are missing the point. But on my last visit in December 2024, I watched a group of four college kids from Pune demolish a large pepperoni pizza that the kitchen produced with surprising confidence. It was ₹190 for a regular, ₹260 for large, and it came on a proper round wooden board with a dipping sauce.
The explanation is simple: when a town as small as Matheran cannot justify having a dedicated pizzeria on every block, restaurants that already have an oven and a kitchen trained in dough and cheese will start making pizza when demand exists. The Pancake House uses a similar thin base for their pizza as their crepes, just thicker and crispier, with a slightly sweet note in the crust that some people appreciate and others find odd. The cheese and toppings are standard and functional.
This is not a destination pizza stop. It is a pleasant backup option if you are walking toward Louisa Point, Charlotte Lake, or Echo Point and find yourself suddenly hungry. Its inclusion in this Matheran pizza guide is about coverage and convenience, not grandeur.
Local Insider Tip: Order a side of their Nutella banana pancake if you sit down for pizza in the evening. The kitchen does not close between items, and arriving with a sweet after the savory somehow better calibrates the sugar crash you get from long hill walks.
Best time to go: Late mornings or late afternoons. The shop is busiest between 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm, with families queuing for pancake orders. Arrive at 10:30 am or 4 pm for a calmer experience.
One thing tourists do not know: The covered terrace at the back of the seating area is the better spot in monsoon. The front opens out to the road but gets splashed by passing horses and dogs. The back terrace is quieter and drier.
7. Alishaan’s Takeaway Window
7 · Alishaan Restaurant and Bar (market area)
Alishaan has been operating for several years near the market, and its rear-facing takeaway window is where I have pecked away at slices more times than I can count. It is not formally advertised. You walk up to the window, look at the chalk board menu that changes halfway between Hindi and English, and order. The pizza here (margherita ₹170, loaded ₹230, chicken seekh ₹270) is cooked in a medium-sized deck oven that you can almost see through the side ventilation gap. The result is a softer base than Olympus, with an almost kachori-like chew in the center that some visitors love and others find frustrating.
I called this an “almost-pizza” experiment the first time I tried it in 2019. Three years later, they have visibly improved. The proportion of cheese to base is better, the sauce has stopped tasting straight from a ketchup bottle, and they have started putting actual olives on the Mediterranean version instead of just calling a cheese pizza “Mediterranean” like they used to. That kind of incremental improvement is what makes a place worth revisiting in a town like Matheran.
Local Insider Tip: Order the chicken seekh version if you are comfortable with Mughlai flavors. It merges well with the slightly dense base, and the yogurt marinade on the seekh cuts the richness of the cheese in a way that the vegetarian toppings do not.
Best time to go: Evenings after 5 pm when you have already walked enough to burn off at least two slices’ worth of calories. Avoid weekday lunch if you are impatient, because the takeaway window is shared with so Chinese and Punjabi orders and can take 15 to 15+ minutes.
One thing tourists do not know: The same kitchen supplies pizza slices to a couple of smaller vendors inside the horse-stand area during weekends. If you see pizza in a part of town where you would not expect it, chances are it originated here.
8. Local Homestays and Their Occasional Pizza Menus
8 · Various homestays off Masjid Road and near Garbat Road
Matheran does not have Zomato or Swiggy delivery. It barely has autos that move on anything other than hooves. So when you book a homestay, you sometimes discover that the owner’s cook, or the owner herself, makes pizza in a humble kitchen for guests. I have had unexpectedly good pizza at two different homestay-style properties, both small, both booked through word of mouth rather than big property sites.
At one property near the Masjid Road cluster, the cook made a paneer tikka pizza that cost me an extra ₹250 (on top of the stay package of around ₹1200–₹1600 per night for a mid-range property). The crust was hand-thrown, uneven, with a slightly puffed edge and that tell-tale char from being baked in a clay tandoor converted for Western-ish purposes. At another property near Garbat Road, I had a similarly satisfying margherita on a weekend morning, cooked in a regular home oven by the owner’s teenage daughter, who described her efforts as “just an experiment, aunty,” while charging me ₹180 for the whole pie.
You cannot easily plan these meals. They exist because Matheran is a small town with a strong homestay culture, and when visitors say “anything with cheese and bread”, some dynamic operators interpret that as pizza. It is an unlisted subsection of where to eat pizza Matheran manages to serve anyway.
Local Insider Tip: When booking a homestay, ask first whether the kitchen can cook pizza or at least grilled sandwiches. Many operators will accommodate, some will quote a kitchen fee of ₹100–₹200 per dish, and at least one or two will genuinely surprise you.
Best time to go: Anytime outside peak monsoon when the roads are soggy and some homestays reduce their services.
One thing tourists do not know: Masjid Road is one of the quieter walking routes in town. If you book a homestay there, you get relative silence at night, but the nearest organized food options are a 10 to 12 minute walk toward the main market. Plan accordingly: either eat at the homestay or carry packaged snacks.
When to Go (and What to Know) for Your Pizza Quest
Matheran’s pizza story is fundamentally shaped by accessibility. The toy train from Neral is subject to weather delays and crowding, especially on Saturdays and Sundays between October and March. Driving up to Dasturi Naka and then walking (or taking a horse) the remaining 3 km means that every ingredient, every cheese block, every bottle of tomato sauce has to be physically carried or transported uphill. That is why pizza in Matheran costs 20 to 40 percent more than comparable versions in Neral or Karjat. You are paying for logistics, not just taste.
Autos in Matheran are not motorized. There are “rear-loaded” carriers for luggage hauled by people, and various horse-and-cart arrangements for the old, injured, or very tired. If you are navigating between pizza spots on foot, remember that distances seem shorter on Google Maps than they feel on the ground, because many of these roads curve up and down steep slopes. Give yourself 15 to 20 minutes to cover what looks like 800 meters on screen.
The best overall window for eating pizza in Matheran is late October through mid-February. The weather stays cool enough during the day (average highs around 25–27 degrees Celsius in November to December, dropping to around 15–18 by January evenings) that you can stand eating on a rooftop without either sweating or shivering. Avoid the summer months (March through June) unless your idea of fun is eating hot cheese in 38 degrees with mosquitoes as co-diners. The monsoon (June through September) is atmospheric and beautiful but often disrupts operating hours for half the establishments in town.
If you are visiting from Mumbai, the drive from Panvel takes about 2.5 to 3 hours depending on traffic, and from Pune about 4 to 5 hours on a clear day. Auto-rickshaw rates from Neral station to Dasturi Naka hover around ₹200–₹300 on shared basis for visitors going uphill, while luggage carriers charge by bag, typically ₹50–₹100 per load. Once inside, everything is on foot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Matheran expensive to visit? Give a realistic daily budget in ₹ for mid-tier travelers covering accommodation, food, and local transport.**
A realistic mid-tier daily budget for Matheran is around ₹1,500–₹2,500 per person. That includes a basic homestay or mid-range hotel room (₹800–₹1,500 per night), two to three meals (₹200–₹500 total if you stick to local restaurants and street stalls), and minimal local transport since most of the town is walkable. Horse rides for sightseeing routes can add ₹200–₹400 per ride, and the Neral-Matheran Toy Train ticket costs around ₹70–₹140 one-way depending on class.
What is the one must-try local dish or street food that Matheran is genuinely famous for, and where is the best place to eat it?
Matheran is known for its chikki (peanut brittle), sold at multiple stalls near Matheran Railway Station and the market area. The best versions come from small operations that make batches daily; look for stalls in the Bazaar area where the chikki is broken by hand rather than mechanically cut. Expect to pay around ₹30–₹60 for a small packet. While pizza is a recent addition to the local menu, chikki remains the town’s real food signature.
Are there dress code requirements for visiting temples, mosques, gurudwaras, or heritage monuments in Matheran, and are entry restrictions common for non-Hindus?
Matheran has several small temples and a mosque, but formal dress codes and entry restrictions are generally lenient. It is advisable to dress modestly (no shorts above the knee, no sleeveless tops) when visiting any religious site as a matter of respect. There are no widely reported restrictions for non-Hindus or non-Muslims at Matheran’s places of worship, but photographs inside inner sanctums are not permitted. Heritage structures like the Matheran Railway Station may have photography-only policies.
How easy is it to find pure vegetarian or Jain food options in Matheran, and are most restaurants clearly marked as veg or non-veg?
Pure vegetarian food is easily available across the town. The vast majority of restaurants in Matheran are vegetarian or primarily vegetarian, with chicken or egg options listed separately on the menu if available. Many places display a “veg” or “non-veg” sign at the entrance, and some only serve vegetarian food entirely. Jain food is not as explicitly marked, but most standard vegetarian thalis, rice dishes, and snacks are already onion-and-garlic free by default, and restaurant staff can generally modify simple dishes on request by saying “no onion, no garlic”.
Is tap water safe to drink in Matheran, or should travelers rely on sealed bottled water, and is filtered water readily available at dhabas and restaurants?
Travelers should not drink unsealed tap water in Matheran. Sealed branded bottled water (typically ₹20–₹30 for a 1-liter bottle) is widely available at shops near the market and at most hotels. Some restaurants and dhabas do offer filtered or RO water in dispensers or jugs for free or for an extra ₹10–₹20, but availability is not consistent, especially at the smallest stalls. For safety and planning simplicity, carry a personal bottle and buy branded sealed water from known shops.
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