Korlai Lighthouse

Korlai Lighthouse is an operational navigational aid situated on the slopes of Korlai Hill within the historic 16th-century Portuguese Korlai Fort in Raigad district, Maharashtra. Built in 1955 and automated with modern radar equipment, it stands amidst a maintained garden compound accessible via the fort's southern gate. The site offers panoramic views of the Arabian Sea and Kundalika River creek, combining maritime heritage with colonial fortification ruins.

Visitors can expect to see a white cylindrical lighthouse tower surrounded by a neatly landscaped garden containing displayed cannons. Access requires a trek of approximately 2 km through rugged grassland from Korlai village or climbing about 100 steps from the road. The site provides views of the Arabian Sea, Revdanda backwaters, and the dilapidated Portuguese fort ruins. A caretaker may provide information about the lighthouse's automated radar system which transmits data to coastal guards.

The lighthouse stands on Korlai Hill where the Portuguese occupied the coastline in the 15th century and built a beacon column supporting a stone sphere on the fort wall. The modern lighthouse tower was constructed in 1955 as part of India's first phase of lighthouse development. It initially used DA gas light until electrical equipment was installed in 1960, with subsequent upgrades in 1998, 1999, and 2003 replacing optical systems with revolving GRB-48-II equipment.

The surrounding Korlai village is home to speakers of Kristi, a unique Portuguese Creole dialect that preserves linguistic remnants of the Portuguese occupation period. The lighthouse and fort complex represent centuries of maritime navigation history along the Konkan coast.