How to Make Friends in Pune: Treks, Tekdis and Meetups

What social life in Pune is actually like

Pune is a city of arrivals: students, IT professionals and start-up people move here from all over India, often without knowing anyone. That makes it easier than it looks, because plenty of people around you are building a circle from scratch too. What Pune has in abundance is weekend structure: early-morning hill walks, Sunday treks to the forts, chess and board-game meetups in cafés, reading circles and speaking clubs. The trick is to pick a few of them on your side of the city and keep turning up.

Pick your side of the city first

Pune traffic decides your social life before you do. The west (Baner, Balewadi, Aundh, Wakad, Hinjawadi) is where a lot of IT newcomers live, the east (Koregaon Park, Kalyani Nagar, Viman Nagar) has a dense café and evening scene, and the old city around Shivajinagar, FC Road, Deccan and Kothrud is full of colleges, cheap food and history. A plan twenty minutes away happens every week. A plan across town at 7pm on a Friday gets cancelled, usually by the traffic and not by you.

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Use the tekdis: Pune's morning social club

Pune's hills (tekdi means hill in Marathi) are where the city meets before work. Vetal Tekdi, also called ARAI Hill, is the tallest at around 2,600 feet and stretches across Kothrud, Pashan and Aundh, with trails for beginners and regulars. Hanuman Tekdi behind Fergusson College is popular with students, and Taljai near Sahakarnagar has shaded forest paths. Walk the same trail at the same time three mornings in a row and you will start nodding at the same people. By week three, someone will suggest chai.

Visit My Pune Pulse: hill walks in Pune ↗

Join a weekend trek to the forts

Pune is surrounded by the ghats and forts of the Sahyadri hills, and a Sunday trek is one of the most common ways friendships start here. LBB lists forts like Sinhagad, Rajmachi, Torna and Visapur, and organised groups such as Treks and Trails run day and night treks you can join alone. Even the start-up network eChai runs early-morning treks to Sinhagad and Ghoradeshwar with networking afterwards. Two practical notes from their event pages: these are proper treks with muddy paths, and groups leave on time, so latecomers walk by themselves.

• Start with a shorter, popular fort before an overnight trek.
• Carry water, shoes with grip and a rain layer; trails get slippery after rain.
• The walk down and the breakfast after are where the real conversations happen. Do not skip breakfast.

Visit LBB: ways to meet people in Pune ↗Visit eChai Pune startup trek ↗

Chess, board games and quiz nights

If you prefer a table to a trail, Pune has a strong games scene. Pune Chess Hangouts meets every weekend in cafés across areas like Kothrud, Baner, Viman Nagar and Pimpri-Chinchwad; the meetups are free and you only pay for what you order. Pune Strategy Board Games has run weekday evening sessions and longer weekend ones, mostly in Baner and Aundh, and now posts its meetups on Instagram. Pub and café trivia nights also run on listing sites like District. Games are great for newcomers: the game does the talking until you are ready to.

Visit ChessBase India: Pune Chess Hangouts ↗Visit Pune Strategy Board Games ↗

Toastmasters and start-up meetups

Pune has many Toastmasters clubs, and they are one of the most structured ways to meet the same people every week. Toastmasters Club of Pune meets on Saturday afternoons at Fergusson College's Alumni Hall, and Toastmasters for Pune Entrepreneurs 2.0 meets on Friday evenings at the Bhau Institute near COEP. Toastmasters says most clubs let guests attend for free with no pressure to speak. If you work in tech or start-ups, eChai Pune holds regular socials and talks, many of them at Ideas to Impacts in Baner.

Visit Toastmasters Club of Pune ↗Visit Toastmasters for Pune Entrepreneurs 2.0 ↗How to start a conversation with a stranger →

Reading circles, heritage walks and culture

Pune's quieter communities are just as welcoming. Pune Reads is a silent reading group that meets on Saturday mornings at Kamala Nehru Park: bring a book and a mat, read for a couple of hours, then talk. It is free and needs no registration. Pune Heritage Walks takes groups through the old city's lanes and Peshwa-era history on weekend mornings, Sunset Cinema Club runs open-air screenings in Mundhwa, Meet By Fate hosts weekend strangers' meetups in different places around the city, and Mist LGBTQ Foundation runs talks, film screenings and meetups for the queer community.

Visit LBB: communities in Pune ↗

Turn one meetup into a weekly group plan

The groups above give you faces. A group plan turns them into friends. On Konnectors you can see hangouts near you, ask to join one and chat with the group before you meet, or create your own with a time and a place: a Sunday Vetal Tekdi walk and breakfast, a board-game evening in Baner, a filter coffee after Toastmasters. Keep it small and specific. Honestly, if your aim is serious chess or a weekly speech, the clubs themselves are the better choice; Konnectors is for the plans around them.

Konnectors vs Meetup →

First meetup safety

Meet in a busy café or a popular trail in daylight, tell a friend where you are going and arrange your own ride home. For treks, go with an organised group rather than alone with someone you just met. Konnectors shows an approximate distance only, never your exact location, you can block or report anyone instantly, and optional selfie verification confirms a profile before you meet. Women-only mode and women-only hangouts are there if you prefer them.

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Frequently asked questions