It’s that time of the year. Your palms itch to book tickets, your backpack looks at you longingly, and your bank balance is nodding in glee.
Oh yes, it is the vacation time of the year!
I had been to Gokarna, Murudeshwar and Netrani island last weekend and when I posted a couple of pictures of one glorious sunset, I received some requests on giving ideas for places to visit, budget, etc. This pushed me to pen down my experience, the good and the bad, the expected and the unexpected and most importantly, the misconceptions that I had while planning my trip so that it may help someone in their planning. So here goes.
We wanted to visit the beautiful coastline of Karnataka as we had read a lot about it and so we filtered Gokarna and Murudeshwar (of course to do scuba at Netrani island).
Day 1:
We started the trip from Chennai to Mangalore by train (Mangalore mail which starts from Chennai at 8.20pm). It takes about 16 hrs, so yes, its a long travel. But the route from Kozhikode is very scenic as it is along the coastline. You get to see the sea as well as amazing backwaters and some “Oh wow” scenes such as these while on the train:
We reached Mangalore by the next afternoon and started to Gokarna by car.
Suggestion: If your plan also is to cover lot of places, rent a car through Zoom/Revv car if you have a group of 3 or more as you can save on traveling plus the convenience you get by leaving whichever time you would like to. Plus, on this side of the world, the good places are located at a slight distance from one another and so hiring a cab/auto at each place would be cumbersome.
We reached Gokarna by around 7pm. You get to see some wonderful beaches on the way. We stopped at one such beach and were wowed by the blueeee waters and the amazing locale:
The duration of the drive was about 4.5 – 5 hrs (including the stops we made). Be warned, the roads were not that great at some places during this December as the construction of the NH 66 is underway, but soon we can expect an excellent highway. As we neared Gokarna, the lack of good street lights, the sloping and very narrow roads turned out to be a bit scary. We were blessed to have someone who drove excellently, but make sure you complete your trip by nightfall. Also Google maps is quite inefficient in Gokarna as it shows quite distorted and longer routes. Better to ask the locals there about where to get to where you want to. It became much better during the day to navigate by ourselves.
We checked into Hostel Lit at Gokarna. It is a budget stay and the price ranges from about Rs. 2500+taxes for 2 people for 2 nights. The location of the place is pretty good as it is very near the bus stand and the main beach. But I would not recommend this place if you expect good hospitality (the property manager did not respond to some complaints that we had and so I would not recommend this place).
Assumption #1: Gokarna would have a lively night life.
Well, there was no night life as such, at least the days when we visited. The cafetaria at Hostel Lit was closed when we went so we had to fend for ourselves outside after we reached. The roads were sparsely lit and we had dinner at a small place near the hostel. So our suggestion here is to choose a place with a restaurant when you book a place to stay.
Day 2:
The next morning we started to Om Beach.
Assumption #2: The geographical terrain at all beach places are “plains”.
The terrain at Gokarna is an interesting combination of hills and plains. So each beach was at the end of a small hill and so you need to have a car/bike (you get them on rentals there) with you. Autos are also available but might end up costing more as going to each beach involves about 15-20 mins of traveling on hills and plains.
Om Beach is a beautiful, calm and serene beach. You can spend a good amount of time lazing there. You can have lunch at Namaste Cafe, overlooking the beach. The seats that we received were awesome and we had a decent lunch there. Suggestion would be to avoid the veg pasta and hashbrown potatoes.
Next we went ahead to Kudle Beach for the sunset. Kudle is also a very calm and beautiful beach with the most amazing sand. You can play some games on the beach and also catch the sunset. Unfortunately, that day since the sun hid behind the clouds, we weren’t lucky enough to view the sunset. But we did get to witness some amazing hues on the beach:
We could not visit Paradise Beach as we didn’t find the time. Do go for it if you can.
After this, we went for a walk, exploring the commercial streets of Gokarna. You can shop for nice beach wear and handicraft stuff there.
See the picture in the leftmost corner? Yup, those are smoking pipes with some Hindu Gods carved on them. Which takes me to Observation #3.
Observation #3: Gokarna is a place where two worlds co-exist. Peacefully.
You might know that this town has some notable temples which is thronged by devotees. This is also a town where people go to for the amazing beaches, with some “high” expectations (quite literally). So don’t be surprised (like we were) to see tourists and college students, roaming with some blissful looks on their faces. đŸ˜› It was very interesting to see devout people with poonal and panchagajam walking on the same streets as tourists who are there just to chill. Quite a sight. And probably something to learn from, as both worlds co-exist. Peace.
We had dinner on the street side shops there. P.S: Do not expect good filter coffee and good sambhar there (tired Tamilan alert! đŸ˜› ), which brings me to assumption #4.
Assumption #4: Gokarna has good Indian and continental food.
While this is not a complete misconception, the truth is you need to kind of do some trial and errors to identify places with good food. Almost all places serve good parottas but for all other dishes, it is sort of average until you find a good place. We finally found a small street side restaurant that served delicious Puris and Mangalore Buns on the day we left.
Day 3:
The next day we started to Mirjan Fort, which is about 30 mins from Gokarna. The fort offers some excellent views and you can spend some good time exploring it. We were surprised at how hot the weather was in December, so carry sunglasses and hats and have lots of liquids. There are small refreshment shops outside the fort that sells lemon soda and the like.
Next, we proceeded to Yana caves, which was about 1.5 hours from Mirjan. Take the route via Sirsi and the roads and the drive is very pleasant. It is again a drive up the hill, but the path is blessed with dense trees on either sides of the road:
Once we reached the base of the caves, it is about 30 mins of trekking to reach the actual Caves. It is a bit steep so have your water and hats ready. There are some small streams on the side of the path of the trek which are beautiful to see and you can spend some there, enjoying the cool water.
There are 2 caves here – The Mohini Shikara and the Bhairaveshwara Shikara. We got to explore the inside of the Bhairaveshwara Shikara.
There is a small refreshments shop outside the caves which again offers lemon soda, watermelon, etc. The only thing that dampened the feeling of achievement of having hiked till the caves was seeing the trash being strewn around the caves (plastic bottles, chips and chocolate covers, etc). Wonder when we will learn.
We made our way down the hill and then started to Kumta beach to try our luck at watching the sunset at least on Day 3. And we were lucky! :
We reached Murudeshwar by night and checked into our homestay – Prabhu homestay. It is also a neat budget stay, about 2-3 mins from the temple and the beach. The host is extremely hospitable and they charge about Rs. 2,250 for 2 people for 2 nights. The rooms were neat and decent for the price.
Day 4: Scuba diving at Netrani!
This was the day we were all awaiting with excitement as well as fear. It was the first time scuba diving for all of us. We went through “West Coast Adventures”. They charged us Rs. 5,000 per head and we were under water for about 30 mins.
We assembled at the beach by 8am and took a ferry to the island. The duration of the ride to the island is about 1 hour and 15 mins and we were taught all that we needed to know and do scuba diving during the boat ride. I cannot emphasize enough how good the divers from West coast were. A couple of us panicked a lot at the prospect of going underwater but they were patient enough to deal with our fear and calmed us down and took us underwater. And boy, were we glad they convinced us! The waters at Netrani were quite clear and we had good visibility. We managed to see a lot of different varieties of fish and it was such an awesome experience. Do not miss doing this if you are going to Murudeshwar as this was absolutely the highlight of the entire trip.
Scuba diving at Netrani is almost a full day activity as you would have to wait for others to finish their dives. You can do snorkeling or just enjoy the waters there as you wait. The divers at West Coast had also equipped the boat with good amount of snacks for all (Cakes, Fruits, water bottles, etc).
Once we returned to the shore, we took some rest and then managed to catch the mighty Murudeshwara temple at night. And that brought us to the end of Day 4.
The next day, we drove down to Mangalore airport and were back home by mid day.
It was a well deserved break for all of us and I am already missing it. Do take a break from your work schedule and travel to the west coast!
After all, even the Dalai Lama has said:
Anything and Everything 
Greetings Anything and Everything! Please see if this is relevant for you.
Greetings Anything and Everything! Please see if this is relevant for you. This is Devesh, marketing team representative from Roots Travel App. At Roots, we are enabling experiential travelling for a Modern Day Tourist.