I and hubby had been planning to go to Gokarna since October. We had even booked our tickets and accommodation. But as luck would have it, we couldn't materialize our plans as something urgent came up and we had to ditch the trip at the last minute. However, we finally got a chance to make our much eluded Gokarna trip in January this year.
Getting there
Distance between Bangalore and Gokarna is about 480-500 kilometers. The buses ply regularly on this route and we decided to take one such overnight bus. It was a sleeper bus which meant that we had a nice and comfortable ride to Gokarna and we were quite fresh on reaching there next morning.
Staying in Gokarna
Once the bus dropped us to Gokarna stop, it was pretty easy to find an auto rickshaw to drop us at Om Beach. We were planning to stay at “Namaste Café” situated right on the Om Beach as we had heard a lot about this place. It had a reputation of being inexpensive and comfortable. Oh boy! it did live up to its reputation. Another plus point of staying in Namaste Café was its proximity to the Om beach.
Prancing around
Gokarna is a place you would instantly fall in love with. It is so laid back, nice and cozy that many foreigners come and stay there for months at a stretch. And the best part about the beaches in Gokarna is the huge line up of cafes. If you ask me what exactly to do in Gokarna, I would simply suggest this: Eat, Sleep, Drink and be merry! And that’s exactly what we did in our short stay of 2 days over there. Oh yes, we did find time for beach hopping as well.
So the first day, we explored Om Beach and then took a boat to Paradise Beach. It was a short, nice ride which lasted about 15 minutes. Paradise beach was much cleaner as compared to Om Beach and we had nice time frolicking in the water.
Getting there
Distance between Bangalore and Gokarna is about 480-500 kilometers. The buses ply regularly on this route and we decided to take one such overnight bus. It was a sleeper bus which meant that we had a nice and comfortable ride to Gokarna and we were quite fresh on reaching there next morning.
Staying in Gokarna
Once the bus dropped us to Gokarna stop, it was pretty easy to find an auto rickshaw to drop us at Om Beach. We were planning to stay at “Namaste Café” situated right on the Om Beach as we had heard a lot about this place. It had a reputation of being inexpensive and comfortable. Oh boy! it did live up to its reputation. Another plus point of staying in Namaste Café was its proximity to the Om beach.
Prancing around
Gokarna is a place you would instantly fall in love with. It is so laid back, nice and cozy that many foreigners come and stay there for months at a stretch. And the best part about the beaches in Gokarna is the huge line up of cafes. If you ask me what exactly to do in Gokarna, I would simply suggest this: Eat, Sleep, Drink and be merry! And that’s exactly what we did in our short stay of 2 days over there. Oh yes, we did find time for beach hopping as well.
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| Om Beach |
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| Enroute to Kudle beach |
The next day we were debating whether or not to go to Kudle beach. In the end, our curiosity took the better of us and we trekked to Kudle beach. We were so glad we did that. Kudle beach turned out to be one of the best beaches of Gokarna. It took an immense amount of self-control not to jump in the inviting waters as we had already checked out from our hotel room and were planning to go to the bus stop directly from there. So we did the next best thing. We went to a beach café and sat there for a few hours, watching the waves wash the shore, ordering something to eat and drink every now and then, and even laze a little on the nice comfy mattresses laid there.
When there was still some time left for our bus to depart, we returned to Gokarna town and visited a couple of temples before boarding the bus. Also, in true tourist style, I picked up a couple of things from the shops that displayed a variety of stuff specifically meant for the tourist brigade (No locals usually buy those things which the tourist does)
Every good thing has to come to an end. Sigh! Our Gokarna trip was no exception. We returned back with heaps of laundry and loads of memories!
