If someone asks me to name one holiday destination place in India, I love most, my answer will definitely be Gokarna. I have visited the place thrice already in one year and I am still in total awe of it. When I feel I am running too fast to pace up with life and need to slow down a li’l bit, I head to Gokarna. I love how time stays still there. I find the calmness of that place very irresistible. So it’s only fair that I start my blog post with my favourite place in India.
Travel from Bangalore
I travel to Gokarna in a bus. It’s an overnight journey from Bangalore to Gokarna, mostly by VRL or seabird bus services.
Gokarna, the place
Gokarna is a temple town and is referred to in a number of Hindu historical literature pieces. The main deity is Lord Mahabhaleshwara a form of Hindu GOD Shiva. Around the town lie a number of beaches and these serve as a major attraction for travellers. I will describe all the beaches below:
Om beach
The first two times I stayed at Om beach in Namaste Café. It’s a pretty decent café and very famous with tourists. Click here to read my review of Namaste Café. But off late, I noticed that Om beach is not as clean as it used to be. Perhaps, it’s becoming the most commercial beach of Gokarna, it’s being polluted because more and number of tourists are visiting the place. I am very sorry to write this, but I saw many Indians polluting the place than foreigners. Apart from Namaste, there are many other cafes where you can stay. You can get a café from Rs. 100-400.
Kudle Beach
I stayed at Kudle last time and absolutely loved the beach. It’s very clean, there is no litter in water and it has many good restaurants to eat. We stayed at Sea Rock café which had decent rooms for Rs. 400 per day. There is also one hotel at Kudle beach, you can opt for if you are looking for comfort.
Paradise Beach
I didn’t stay at Paradise beach, but went for a trance party in the night, which was good. The beach is clean, with very basic kinds of shacks available.
Half moon and Gokarna beaches
I don’t think so there are options to stay at these beaches. Gokarna beach leads to the Gokarna city; that’s the only reason I went to that beach. And I guess, there are no shacks in half-moon beaches but people (mostly itinerants) stay there beneath the sky. Some adventure, I tell you.
I liked:
The thing I love most about Gokarna is that there is noting to do. All I ever do there is, eat, swim in sea, sunbathe and eat again In the night, there are many foreigners who jam up at beaches and sing and play instruments (usually guitar and drums)
I also like the clean beaches of Gokarna. They are well-maintained and the water is quite clean, compared to the beaches of Goa.
I absolutely love the food, cafes serve in Gokarna. All the cafes dish up almost all the famous cuisines, be it Italian, Chinese, Israeli, Indian. And the chefs make it with such perfection. The food is quite cheap and super yummy! My favourites are: The Special breakfast in Namaste Café, Pasta in Old La Pizzeria, Nuttela Pancake in Sea Rock Café, Grilled fish in a café in Paradise, Cheese and Tomato sandwich in Sangam café. Absolutely delicious!
I didn’t like:
I love everything about Gokarna. Yeah, sometimes I feel the roads are not too good and the auto rickshaws charge you Rs. 100 for even the minimum distance. But I still can’t complaint. So now there is nothing I can think of which I don’t like about that place.
Things to do:
As I said, there is nothing much to do there. Just eat, swim, sunbathe and repeat. If you really want to do something more, then you can trek from one beach to another (I trekked from Om to Kudle and vice versa) You can also enjoy the boat rides from one beach to another. You can get an Ayurvedic massage done, which is not bad. I got a very good massage done by a Kerala woman in Dragon café at Kudle beach. Take a book if you like to read, just sit back and enjoy your book at the beach.
