Gokarna

Date arrived: 1st February 2024

Date Departed: 4th February 2024

Favourite sight: Beaches

Average Cost: £29.68 PPPD

Gokarna is a small beach resort in Karnataka state, with a bit of a spiritual vibe due to loads of temples and pilgrims.

1st February 2024

Our trip to Gokarna was quite intense, with an 06:00 train from Coimbatore that reached Mangalaru shortly after 13:00, followed by a quick lunch and then a further train, slated to arrive at 6PM. Unfortunately the second train ran very late, so it was almost 9 by th time we reached Gokarna Road train station. 

From here it was a half hour tuk-tuk ride into the town itself, and then a 20 minute scramble through narrow passages of houses and palm trees to reach the accommodation. This was one scenario where we would simply not have managed without a GPS map!

To top it all, when we got to the accommodation there was nobody there! We called them, and were told which room to use, and that we would sort out paperwork etc in the morning. The room key was under the mat, so we let ourselves in and promptly collapsed after 15 hours of travelling, having had nothing to eat all afternoon. I must admit to being a little grumpy at this point!

2nd February

We woke up quite late, and managed to find somebody at the accommodation to turn on some hot water for us. After a brief shower, we made our way down to the magnificent Gokarna beach, where we headed to the nearest beach-front restaurant to get some breakfast. This was really good, and we would ultimately be back here on the next two mornings as well.

We managed to find our host and sorted out the paperwork and payment for our accommodation, at which point we were free to enjoy the day. We started with a quick visit to town to find an ATM, before, setting out south along the main Gokarna beach, with a view to explore some of the other beaches that lay in that direction.

Reaching the southern end of Gokarna beach, we crossed the headland via a flight of steps past a temple and then made our way down the other side to Kudle beach. Where Gokarna Beach is long - some 6KM - and runs North to South, Kudle beach is at right angles to it, and much much shorter. We didn't find this out straight away however, as we were disracted by a very promising looking lunch stop!

After kunch at Kudle beach, we continued along that lovely strip of sand. As we were walking we had a sad moment, as we saw a giant turtle washed up on the beach. It looked to be wrapped in cord - possibly from fishing nets - and unfortunately didn't look to be alive. Some locals were removing the cords as we passed - but it was quite distressing to see.

At the end of the beach we clambered over the intervening stretch of land to reach the more volcanic, and interestingly shaped Om beach. The beach is a double curve, with a rocky headland sticking out in roughly the middle, somewhat in the shape of the hindu letter Om. We enjoyed a nice chill on the headland  known as Parvati rocks - before we headed back once again to retrace our steps.

Clockwise: Volcanic rocks of Om beach; construction work witnessed on the way back; sun getting low over Gokarna beach

When we got back to the accommodation, we bumped into an English couple - David and Karen - who ironically we had seen when getting off the train late last night. At that point they had been plannign to investigate a GoPro camera that David had managed to drop out of the train window at the last station, in the hope of getting it back - but they confirmed this morning that they had been unlucky. We also realiseed that they were staying in the room next door to us, which was quite a co-incidence!

At this point I realised that the camera David had lost was almost identical the GoPro I had been carrying round for 4 months, almost entirely unused. He was saying he needed to try and source a replacement, so I asked if he wanted mine. He was over the moon about this idea, so a s quick "backup and wipe" operation later we made a transaction we were both happy with, and David was back to carrying a camera on a stick.

We went for dinner with David and Karen - who were a month into their Indian trip and had barely seen any other Brits - and were glad of the company. We visited a French restaurant just up the beach (on our recommendation /research) and ended up having a really nice night, talking about India and blighty, and enjoying a few beers as well.

3rd February

Today was a pretty simple day really. We woke up, went for breakfast, and then explored the other way up Gokarna beach. We returned and went back to the French restaurant for lunch, where we had good food, and then went back to rest out the afternoon sun in our room for  bit.

I helped David and Karen set up accounts with Indian Railways, allowing them to buy tickets online, and then we all went out to dinner again - this time to a local restaurant of their recommendation. We did spend a few minutes watching the sun going down from Gokarna Beach, which was pretty stunning.

4th February

After a third breakfast at the little beach eatery, we headed inland through the maze of cocouts and buildings to  wait for the taxi we had booked as the next stage of our journey. We'd struggled to get train tickets from Gokarna Road - itself a 15KM tuk-tuk ride from the town - so had booked from the next station along, Karwar. Unfortunately this meant we had a 64KM / 90 minute cab ride, which was a bit of an error.

We got to Karwar in plenty of time for the train though. This day's travel ended up being quite bitty, as we took a train from Karwar to Madgaon, then had to wait almost two hours for the Mumbai train - which we were getting all of 1 stop, to the small town of Thilak. 

From Thilak we were met by a taxi driver to take us the last 15KM to our home for the next few days, Olaulim Backyards.