Posted by Shivam Singh
on 12th Sept, 2020
Visited in August 2019
With its pristine beaches and breathtaking landscapes, located around 150 Kms south of Goa, Gokarna is a small temple town on the western coast of India in Karnataka.
This place is well-connected by road. Around 500 Kms and 9 hours drive from Bangalore, you can plan a weekend trip for this place.
I prefer travelling during monsoons (although risky but everything looks so fresh and green) and visited this beautiful place in mid-August, 2019 when much of the Karnataka unfortunately was devastated by floods.
I was on a trip to Bangalore during that time from New Delhi and visited few more cities (Ooty, Mysore, Chikmagalur), accompanied by my wife & kid. A cousin brother from Bangalore also joined us with his wife, to Gokarna.
During this trip to Karnataka, I visited all types of places: Hill-station (Ooty & Coonoor), Jungle Safari & Stay (Mudumalai), Heritage (Mysore), Coffee Plantation Stay (Chikmagalur), Sea-beach (Gokarna) and finally IT City famous for night life (Bangalore).
Trip Details
I have already covered Ooty in another blog. Here, let me take you to our magnificent journey of Gokarna with a stay-over in coffee town Chikmagalur.
Day 1:
* We were in Mysore and had to reach Chikmagalur by 2 PM. From there, we planned to continue our journey towards Gokarna along with my cousin brother (who was arriving from Bangalore)
* GPS was showing distance of 170 Kms and 4 hours of travel time. We got ready, had our breakfast and left around 9 AM in our pre-booked taxi. We read some bad rains and flooding in Chikmagalur and on top of that the WhatsApp forwards were making us nervous. We were praying for no surprises on the way.
* Fortunately all went well and we reached by 1 PM, and soon my brother also arrived there with his wife from Bangalore in his BMW
* Meeting point was decided as a 4 star hotel “The Serai”, where we planned for lunch before starting our further journey to Gokarna together in his car, same day. There was no plan to stay in Chikmagalur as few sight-seeing options were closed due to floods
* The Serai hotel premises was huge and extremely beautiful, spent some time there after lunch & then did final settlement with my taxi driver and shifted our luggage to brother’s car. It took us 20-30 minutes to adjust the luggage (as we were having the entire 7 day trip’s luggage & were carrying a baby-pram as well). It was already 03:00 PM by now, we started our journey to Gokarna.
* The road passing through Western Ghats and the weather was extremely pleasant. Lush green, windy and you can literally smell the coffee in the air (Chikmagalur is the coffee town of Karnataka)
* We were just 10-15 Km out of the main city, when an idea popped up in our mind “Why not spend a night in a Homestay in the middle of coffee plantations.” We looked at each other, sensed that all are thinking the same and we all happily agreed to our own idea 🙂
* Now the tough part was to find a good homestay there, as the place was unknown and we were not in the city anymore. Taking help from advertising boards & some locals, after 45 minutes of search we finalized one in INR 5000 for 2 cottages including evening snacks, dinner and breakfast
* In Chikmagalur, I will recommend to stay in a homestay situated around coffee plantations, a little away from main city. You can find such homestays after crossing the city while moving towards Mangalore/Gokarna
* After check-in, within few minutes we came out to visit and explore the nearby coffee plantation. All of us had been to Tea plantations multiple times before but this was first experience with coffee plants. Touching and smelling the half-grown and fully-grown coffee seeds was an experience in its own
* Later, found a small hilly terrain to enjoy the evening. The road was the only thing not having the shade of green and the number of photos we clicked was next to infinity. Came back to our cottage within 2 hours as it was getting darker. Enjoyed evening snacks followed by south-Indian small buffet dinner. By the end of the day we were highly satisfied with the experience and kept on appreciating our decision to stay here throughout. It was like a wish getting fulfilled.
Day 2:
* Next morning it was time to leave. One night stay is more than enough in such homestays, otherwise you’ll be bored, unless you are a hard-core forest lover
* We all got ready, had breakfast and checked-out at around 08:00 AM. Started towards Gokarna which was around 300 Kms from Chikmagalur. Route to Gokarna is very scenic and will take you via Mangalore, Udupi and Murudeshwar
* As soon as we reached sea-side road of Mangalore, WOW was the first word which we said. Check google for images as we didn’t stopped there, simply enjoyed from the car. Sea beach on one side and river on the other side of the road. Around 1 PM, we reached Udupi and were hungry now. Stopped at one of the random restaurants enroute for lunch.
* Finally reached our pre-booked resort (Kudle Beach View Resort & Spa) in Gokarna at 04:00 PM. Please note that very few resorts/hotels have direct access to the beach, for others you have to walk downhill a bit as they are situated at a height but that is manageable. You get a very nice view of the sea as compensation
* Today, we simply relaxed and enjoyed resort’s facilities (swimming pool etc), followed by dinner
Gokarna is less crowdy than Goa, and famous among foreigners for Yoga and Meditation. Almost all hotels/resorts have a separate section for the same.
You should book your hotel in advance on long weekends as the price dramatically shoots up during those times. We booked ours in INR 6000 per room per night with no inclusions near Kudle Beach (due to late booking).
Day 3:
* Next morning, after breakfast we planned to cover 2-3 beaches. Left hotel at 10:00 AM, there was a small path next to it leading to the Kudle beach. Since it rained whole night, the road to the sea was half filled with water and almost in ruins (few drawbacks during monsoons).
* Altough I must say, sea beaches should be avoided during monsoon season (hill-stations are ok), as you will not be able to enjoy the beaches to the fullest.
* Anyways, since I was carrying my 18 months old daughter, had to walk carefully. It was adventurous. Finally at the beach, the very first view was disastrous. It seemed like the sea waves has thrown all the garbage back on the beach.
* But thank God after moving 250 metres ahead on the beach, we found some relaxing surroundings and beautiful view
* Had not-so-bad and not-so-good super costly sandwich & juices at the beach side cafe. Sea tides were very rough and were reaching some of the cafes in full force. We spent around 90 minutes at the beach
* Then our next destination was Om Beach (which is in a shape of hindi word Om when viewed from top).
There is a walk-able path from Kudle Beach to Om Beach which takes around 30 minutes. Trek if you can, since you can get the beautiful view of the sea from cliff, enroute. Lot of people prefer this trek.
Otherwise, take auto to whom we paid INR 150 for 4 people (since we were carrying a baby and the trek was slippery).
* We had to trek uphill on a beautiful path to get to auto-stand and later again go downhill after getting down from auto to reach Om Beach
* The view was magnificent. This beach was far more crowded than Kudle beach, as it is more popular among tourists. You can enjoy the banana boat, surfing, jet skiing etc. on a calm day
* Although you cannot identify the word Om from the beach itself but you can imagine how it will look from top (we did went to the top next day)
* There were lot of rocks scattered here and there on the beach which makes it a good spot for photography
* Just where downhill stairs end, there was a spot where you can sit and relax on the rocks. We spent 30 minutes on the rocks. This beach was good for photography and we took full advantage of that. The beach offers a breathtaking view of the sunset.
* The long stretch of white sandy beach adjoining the rocky terrain is excellent and appealing to the eyes. Lie down beneath any tree and enjoy the wind, snacks and waves.
* After spending few hours at the OM beach, we decided to go back to hotel as it was very hot during afternoon. We trekked uphill and took auto again in INR 150 to reach our hotel.
* There are several other beaches in Gokarna (Paradise Beach, Half Moon Beach, Gokarna Beach) but all same. We decided to spend evening time in swimming pool followed by dinner.
Day 4:
* Next morning, after having breakfast, we checked-out from hotel at 09:00 AM, as we had to drive all the way to Bangalore which is approx 500 Kms and the road is not very wide. Also, we planned to visit Jog Falls with a slight deviation from our route (100 Kms from Gokarna, India’s 2nd highest plunge waterfall after the Nohkalikai Falls in Meghalaya). So, expected time to reach Bangalore was around 11 hours.
* But first, we wanted to see the Om sign of the Om Beach for which we had to go high on the adjoining rocky terrain. After searching for 10-15 minutes, we found one spot from where the sign was not very clear but understandable
* Again after 10 minutes of clicking pics and selfies, we started driving. Looking outside here and there, we noticed one empty patch of land which was looking beautiful with the sea in background.
* Before we could decide anything, suddenly my cousin who was driving the car, turned and drove the car on that land (bit of off-roading experience). It was muddy patch, we hesitated after covering 50-60 mtrs as the car was slipping and we were unaware of the place and God knows what will come next. It looked scary as well but then we thought, “let’s experience this”: Jo hoga dekha jaega
* Fortunately all went well. It was one of the most impressive spot for photography
* After spending around 30 minutes, we finally left Gokarna and reached Jog Falls at 1 PM
* There are two sides of the fall opposite to each other. Remember to stop at the 2nd spot while driving from Gokarna to Bangalore. First spot has no good view of the waterfall and is not much commercialized.
* At the 2nd spot, the Tourism Department has built steps from the viewpoint to the bottom of the hill where the waterfall can be seen at the opposite side. There are approximately 1400 steps built to reach the bottom of the hill.
* We stopped and experienced from both the spots. The heavy flow of waterfall is only when the Dam gates are open. Still it looked beautiful with foggy view.
* After spending little over an hour there, we left for Bangalore as we still had to cover 400 Kms. Finally after passing through several scenic viewpoints mid-way, capturing the images in our eyes and mind, we reached Bangalore around 11:30 PM, which marked the end of our trip
© All Rights Reserved
2 Comments
Suvidha · September 14, 2020 at 11:59 am
Chikmagalur it is…. I am sure from reading your heart felt experience with fine details and my love for coffee definitely gonna take me there sometime soon. And I must say the way you mention useful information amidst your dream like discription of the place while keeping it short and to the point really amazing to read and feel the soul of the place before even reaching there for real.
Shivam Singh · September 15, 2020 at 2:07 am
Thank you Suvidha… 🙂
Definitely a worth visiting place..Combine Coorg with it for double fun..