A beautiful beach destination - Gokarna!

Kudle Beach

Gokarna was familiar for me as my father is from Manglore region and have visited the place as a child. But I never experienced its true beauty until in Feb 2018. A small pilgrimage town nestled on the western coastline of India about 2 hrs road trip to the south from Goa. It is also different due to the hills that come in the way of the coastline giving it a bumpy but beautiful topography. And to ensure that tourists thoroughly make most of the hilly region, beaches are well interconnected through hills than roads. Which means when you visit Gokarna you will need to trek to the most beaches through the hilly areas, this also gives you the pleasure of enjoying views of the ocean from the hills.

Gokarna literally means Cows Ear and this place has some significance in ancient Indian history. However, it has developed into beautiful beach destination where you can experience the hippie culture as well as rich Indian culture.

How to reach:  

Train: We were travelling from Mumbai, we boarded Matsyagandha train from Mumbai LTT (Lokmanya Tilak Terminus) at about 15:20 hrs which reached Gokarna Road early in the morning at 4:00hrs. We had pre-booked our hotel and since were about to reach at odd hours we had also taken the auto drivers contact details from the hotel reception in order to ensure that the transport is arranged. From Gokarna Road station to Kudle beach is about 13 kms and the auto guy charged us Rs.350.

Bus: There are multiple bus operators which will take you to Gokarna. The bus journey from Mumbai is about 15-17 hrs. All the buses going to Mangalore will take you to Gokarna. The bus will drop you at the Highway junction called Madnageri bus stop. The stop has a petrol pump and a few shops. Do not expect the stop to have many commercial outlets. However, there is an Auto rickshaw stand here where you will find at least a few autos standing willing to take you to the Gokarna City. Madnageri Bus stop to City is about 15 kms and they should charge you about Rs.350-400.

Just a note all the beaches or beach front huts needs some downhill walking hence I would suggest travel light and if possible carry haversack as this will be easier to climb up or down the hill. And in case your accommodation is on beach you will need to carry your bags and walk along the beach and then climb the hill to get on the road.

Transport: If you do not have your own vehicle the only local transport is auto rickshaws or taxis. Normally when I travel places I look to hire bicycle or mopped bike however this option was not readily available here. So, the best thing to do is to walk and if the distance is too much hire an auto rickshaw.

Accommodation:

We were staying at Gokarna International hotel which is on the Kudle beach. To reach this beach (as in case of every other beach in Gokarna) you will need to climb down the hill. This beach is really beautiful and it looks smaller but has quite a long shore and along the shore there are number of restaurants. Almost every restaurant has rooms available behind the restaurant area. Some of them are very cheap and comes with good sea view as well.

1.       Gundappa Café – Mob:7259240297

2.       Uma Sunrise (this place is 100 meters behind the beach front) - 9845558418

3.       Shanti Place (Tipi Guest House) – 7406195637,9620552257

4.       Kudle Ocean Front- this one seems like a bit expensive one.

5.       Gokarna International Hotel – we paid around Rs.3000 per night for a ac room. Here you can get Sea view rooms as well but there is no Air conditioning in these rooms. The prices are a bit on higher side as we had booked it through Makemytrip.com.

Gokarna International Hotel

Sea View from our room in Gokarna International Hotel

In case you go there directly and ask for room price in any of the hotels you may get it for cheap. However, I would recommend to book in advance if you are travelling over a long weekend or festive season. Other than those mentioned above, there are lot of good options. You may also try the famous Namaste café which is on Om Beach. Or there some good options on the Gokarna main beach we well. This beach is very long one and it experiences local crowd during weekends.

Normally for a beach destination I prefer a beach front hut, however there are many accommodation options which are quite away from the beach on the hill with a magnificent ocean view. You could opt for these as well.

Restaurants: Well I was not so impressed by the food here in Gokarna, but I believe it depends a lot on what you order. A few of the places we tried are given below:

1.       Arya Ayurvedic I would recommend a vegetarian restaurant in Kudle beach Arya Ayurvedic. This is more of a Ayurvedic care home or a Panchakarma Center where patients are treated and they are allowed to stay there to recover from their illness. It is not a tourist hotel. However, the restaurant is good and anyone can walk in. Although the restaurant gets closed by 22:00 hrs so no late-night meals please!

2.       Namste Café: This is located on the OM beach and generally is very crowded. The food here is good.

3.       Munchies – This is on Kudle beach and If possible please avoid this place, food was not good here.

King Fish fry - Lot of sea food options available in Gokarna

Things to do in Gokarna:

1.       Trekk: Honestly one thing you cannot avoid being in Gokarna is Trekking. And believe me you will gradually start enjoying because you will come across points during your trek from where you will have amazing view of the ocean from different angles you will love it! The trekking paths are marked and are easy to find. Some of them are the winding narrow paths around the hills. It’s truly funn!

You can take an Auto rickshaw ride from Main beach to Kudle beach or Om beach. However, to go to Paradise and other beaches you have no road ways you will need to walk or trek.

View from one of the Trekking paths

2.       Visit the Mahabaleshwar and Ganapathi Temple: Gokarna is considered a holy town and experiences lot of visitors from neighboring states to worship these Gods. These two temples are in the city close to the main Gokarna Beach.

3.       Shopping: There are lot of shops for shopping in the city which is close to the main Beach. You can shop for Copper utensils, Spices, Organic stuffs, Hippie stuff like clothes, shoes scarves, beaded jewellery, leather & cloth bags etc. Few shops offer good homemade pickles, papads, Ayurvedic churnas, Ayurvedic Personal care products etc.

4.       Swimming: Most beaches in Gokarna are safe for swimming. Since we were on Kudle beach we went to Swim in Kudle beach and it was lot of fun!

5.       Kayaking: There are vendors on Kudle beach from whom you can rent the Kayak and Go Kayaking in the ocean!

6.       Boating: There are vendors on Kudle as well as Om beach who take groups of about 10-15 for boating and if you are lucky you may spot Dolphins as well. We too got lucky and spotted a dolphin. We went boating on OM beach and they took us around too show the Paradise beach and Half-moon beach. They charged us Rs.300 per person.

Boating on Om beach

7.       Ayurvedic Kerala Massage: We had been to Shree Jayam Ayurvedic center which was in the premises of our hotel (Gokarna international Hotel). The prices were very reasonable. We paid Rs.1000 for a complete body massage. They offer lot of other good massages. Some of them could go on for days. It was really nice and rejuvenating experience.

Ayurvedic Massage Center in Gokarna International Hotel

8.       Lay on the beach at night watching the magnificent sky with millions of stars. Yes it is very safe to be on the beach at night in Kudle. We were two female travelers, but it didn’t stop us from laying on the beach at night gazing at stars till midnight.

1.       Visit Nearby towns like Murudeshwara -  Murudeshwara is a beautiful village and is famous for the Murudeshwara Temple which gas a gigantic Shiva statue in the middle of the ocean. This temple is surrounded by sea from three sides. The temple has a tall Gopuram(Temple entry gate) and has a lift service which takes you to the top floor of the Gopuram to enjoy the view from top. The temple charges Rs. 10 per person for the lift services.

Shiva statue view from the Gopuram

Coast of the Murudeshwara beach view from Gopuram

1.       Paragliding in Gokarna -  Although we didn’t try our hands at Paragliding, we saw couple of people paragliding over the hill on Kudle beach. Charges are Rs.2500 per person. So if you are the adventurous one this one is for you!