Picturesque journey to Gokarna

Gokarna is a small temple town on the western coast of India in the Kumta taluk of Uttara Kannada district of the state of Karnataka. This beautiful place offers almost everything.  Be it mountains lover , close to beaches , nature lover or just in search of peace. I found Vibes of this place more attractive than any other coastal area of Maharashtra , Karnataka.

It was month-end of Feb, 2019  and i was ready for my solo trip to Gokarna from Pune. Its overnight nice journey from Pune / Mumbai / Banglore with easily available Volvo buses.
In this blog i will try to write down my experience along with generic information about stay / food in Gokarna.

 Just to cover all places in or near Gokarna we need atleast 4-5 days there. There are many small but beautiful beaches (well known for Hippies) , Caves , Waterfalls ,  Temples.

Bus from Pune dropped me at Gokarna Cross from where I took auto (around 200Rs.) to reach to city. Near to city bus stop I rented a scooty (Ganapati - 9036317219) for 500 Rs per day. The excitement of new city , that too in early morning , started taking over me. I could feel the silence there .

First day , I booked Sanskruti resort (very near to beaches), but their check in time was11 AM, so as planned I went to resort , freshened up and went straight to Kudle beach Cliff point. The view from this point is simply breathtaking.

Morning View from Kudle Cliff Top

A small trail along with this view leads to actual Kudle beach, This beach is not too big , but very clean. I could see people were there  for peace. Hippies were busy with their "stuffs" (which is easily available there). People doing Yoga , meditation , Kriyas creates those vibes for which this place is famous. There are few shacks which serve good food. (There are stay options with limited amenities and shared washrooms).

A view of Kudle Beach

Limited options for Vegetarians. :)

After spending some time there, i went back to my resort for check in.

Sanskruti Resort

It was time for a small trek. There is a famous beach named "Om" (because of its shape) and from OM beach there are two connected beaches name as "Half Moon Beach" and "Paradise". These are accessible only by trek or ferry from OM beach. But, I decided to trek and started around 4:30 PM from OM beach.

Dense trail towards Half Moon beach

I was Super excited

On the way i found this point 👇

Never ending sea

This place was amazing . I sat at the end of this point and ocean covered me from three directions. I looked down and sea waves were making me to sit here longer.

Not sure if camera is doing the justice, but this was the view which stopped me to go to Paradise beach

I wanted to be there forever. It was quite except roaring sound of waves. To my right, Sun was taking a dip into sea.

You see a small boat there ?? :)

Insane and Intense

To my surprise, i quit  the idea to go Paradise beach and just sat there, played my guitar for a while and happily returned back. Sometimes its good just not to go with the flow.
There is Namaste Cafe at OM beach which serves excellent food . This should must try if anyone going there.

Namaste Cafe

Chilly Paneer

It was a long day , but still refreshing. After a long walk on the beach i returned to resort for a good sleep.

Next day also started from Kudle Beach. White elephant cafe provides excellent food where you can sit and just relax seeing the sea.

White Elephant cafe

View Of Kudle beach from White elephant Cafe

After filling my tummy with some good food, it was time to go back to OM beach (distance between OM and Kudle beach is 2 KM) . Todays places were Half moon and Paradise beach.

A small trail starts from OM beach , and one can easily follow that trail to reach Half Moon beach. It takes 45 mins to reach there . Trek in itself is so beautiful and once i reached to Half Moon beach i was surprised to see almost no  crowd.

Beautiful trails

This is very small beach but beautiful and clean. After spending some time there , i took ferry to Paradise beach. This beach was pretty busy and i could see people with their tents.

It was very satisfied feeling at Paradise. After interacting with people doing different activities , I took return ferry to reach to OM beach again . Its take 15 minutes by ferry and provides you so many beautiful views.

Paradise Beach

Since i was back to OM beach ,so it was time for Namaste cafe again.  I spend some good hours their  with Paneer Chilly :).

Tempting

It was around 3 PM and it was time to see other part of Gokarna . Nirvana.

I had my tent with me so i planned to setup tent at Nirvana beach. To reach Nirvana beach from Gokarna city  , we have to take a ferry from Tadadi port.

Ferry ride give good chance to interact with locals.

(Google map is helpful here).
In the evening I reached to Nirvana beach and its name suggest , it was the least populated place i ever visited.

Colors Of Nirvana

Sunset at Nirvana

Best place to be in

There is Nirvana Nature resort also , where i  used washrooms and they take food order also. This resort is itself very quite. In there are few tree houses , some huts and very peaceful place. If someone is looking to get away from city , this is the place to be .

Nirvana Nature Resort

Very Quite

Nirvana is long stretched beach but don't expect anything here except peace. No shacks , no shops . Few locals doing their daily fishing. That's it .

After setting up tents , it was already dark and too dark to see. After getting some food from resort i went to the beach, relaxed and came back to my tent. Continuous  sound of waves were making me crazy.


Next day was for Yana caves. These are the mysterious caves sitting in middle of Sahaydaris .
Nirvana beach to Yana caves is a beautiful  1.45 hrs drive. The curvy roads, dense jungle , sound of waterfalls. All these were making me so happy as i was approaching to Caves. At the starting, I had to walk for few minutes and suddenly I found two gigantic rocks were standing in middle of nowhere.

Mysterious Yana caves 

First Glimpse

I had to remove my shoes as there is a temple inside that.I visited both the caves.

While returning from caves i went to Vibhooti waterfalls, which is on the way (Google maps helps here also). This fall create a natural pool and it was good time to go into that pool. It made me so refresh after long journey of Yana caves.

After all those beaches , mountains , caves , falls this was the day for Murudeshwar.
Its another 1.5 hrs good bike ride mostly on Highway. Murudeshwar is famous for having second highest statue of Lord Shiva. As i entered to the city , i could see some part of statue. It was huge. There is a small local beach also with some water sports. It took around 2 hrs to explore this place and to visit all the temples.

 This town is very sacred . That huge Shiva statue gives you goosebumps every-time you see .

It was time to return back to city. I handed over the rented scooty back and get to bus stop.
Took auto again from city to Gokarna cross (bus stop) . I never wanted to go back. I was remembering my five days of quietness and was wondering how small village can provide you everything you want . As i was approaching to stop , that piece , quietness was overtaken by pollution , horns , dust. The reality.