Visit to Kundapura, Udupi & Murudeshwara in Karnataka State, India

It's always a fun traveling in Karnataka State. Traveling around end monsoon is a very pleasant time. You can save a lot due to off season tariff in major hotels. The weather is cool and due to very moderate rains at times, makes the journey a worth experience.

You can reach Kundapura by rail, bus or by air. The train is ideal and it takes around 16 hours to reach. Take a 3 tier sleeper AC coach and give an option for a lower birth. You can see through the window during day time and have peaceful sleep at night. I did the same. I reached there at around 6-30 in the morning and took a local cab and requested him to take me to Hotel Sharon. This is a very ideal hotel and offers a very reasonable room tariff during off season. The hotel has 2 restaurants, one is pure vegetarian and another serves veg.and non vegetarian food. The hotel is located at a central place and is at very ideal location from which some famous places are not far away.

After having a good breakfast in a restaurant, I moved on to near by beach at Trasi. This beach is called as Turtle Bay Beach. The sea turtles comes to shore to lay their eggs during the nesting season. This beach is very vast and clean. Walking on the smooth sands is a real pleasure. Take a local guide with you and he will provide you all the important information. Then I took a auto rickshaw and requested the driver to take me to Marvanthe. This is a very nice journey. On one side you see a Sea Coast and another side is river. I took 2 rounds on this road I enjoyed this route very much. For lunch, I had a nice fish curry & rice. There are some good food joints in Kundapura which offers a very good food at a very reasonable rates. A real value for money.

Next day I visited Udupi which is 1 hour journey from Kundapura. This is a coastal town and having some beautiful temples and Mutts. The Lord Shri Krishna temple is very beautiful. It has a small lake which is very sacred as believed by the local people. The carving work inside the temple is an extra ordinary. You get so many wood or sandal carved articles here. Lord Ananteshwara temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu is near from this place. The famous Mutts are located near the temple. Chandramaulishwar temple or Shiva temple is also very beautiful. The meaning of Chandramaulishwara is Shiva bearing the Moon on his head. There are various famous Udupi restaurants nearby which are famous for South Indian food and best filter coffee. The famous Malpe beach is just 3-4 miles away from Udupi. It has very nice beach resort. This is a very scenic and peaceful place. The beach resort is just on the beach and very ideal to stay here for all beach lovers with lot of water sport facility.

My next destination was Murudeshwar in North Karnataka. It's around 2 hours journey from Udupi. The place Murudeshwara is very famous for its huge statue of Lord Shiva. This is the highest statue of Lord Shiva. The place is surrounded by beach at one side and hills on the other side of the temple. The beach is very vast and peaceful. This is a famous tourist spot. The beach resort here is very nice and serves very excellent food. You can spend 2-3 days here with a pleasure. The off season rates is a bonus. Here you get good sea shells and other variety of articles made from sea shells.

Please note : Drink only Mineral water every where. You get ample tender coconut water and don't miss this. There are few Aurvedic Massage Parlors which provides good massage with Aromatic Oils. It's a worth try.