Road Trip to Gokarna and Chikmagalur — A Travelogue

8 min readFeb 5

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

The long weekend of January End was approaching, so I and some of my college friends decided to explore the beaches and hills of Karnataka. This journey is about the 1900 KMs travelled.

Backstory

We have been planning to make some trips forever, and finally drilled down on this and decided to go through some lovely hills and beaches in Karnataka.

Gokarna ~> (or mini goa) I am sure every one of us has heard many stories about Gokarna, the paradise for travellers.

Chikmagalur ~> The Coffee Land of Karnataka and famous for its serene environment, lush green forests and tall mountains.

P.S. — I grabbed some Red Bulls for the journey. Tough to find out there. 🍀

Day 1

Starting a journey on a high that’s the motivation. And here I am, hosting a house party before I leave. The plan was to get everyone in the evening and have a nice time. But what’s a great party if it doesn’t start late, got some broken glasses and a little puking. Luckily, all elements eventually found their place in the night and that’s one of the greatest nights the place has lived.

Captured this a few minutes before we left 😛.

These are the fun adventurers joining the journey, flying out from different corners of the country. Starting from the left, Chaitanya (Hyderabad), That’s me (Bengaluru), Ankit (Hyderabad), Navdeep (Delhi) and Arvind (Mumbai).

The road takes ~12 hours to reach Gokarna.
We got an independent home in Gokarna near Agnya Beach, Nice Stay, close to the beach, just a 2 minutes walk.

Sunset

One of the best sunset viewpoints, Om Beach, takes the shape of an ‘Om’. The beach offers a breathtaking view of the sunset in the shape of two crescents joined together to form an Om.

There are many cafes and places to hang out across om beach after sunset.

Night Walks around Beach

The One Where Dogs Chased

Three of us were going back to homestay around midnight after a walk down the beach. We had a bag with some beers in it. Everything was closed down and dark in the street and filled with dogs. Soon, a few dogs started chasing us. Suddenly, there are 6–7 dogs who have circled us around. Frightened, we somehow reached our homestay but saw another scene here.
So, Earlier, we had put our shoes outside our room under a basket. When we reached, all the shoes and socks were lying on the street. Soon we realized the dogs had somehow moved the basket and were trying to destroy the shoes, and now, the primary goal was to make the dogs flee and recover back the shoes and later see what situation they were in 😅.
We tried throwing some stuff near the dogs to make them run away, FAILED. Luckily, the property owner visited and helped us make the dogs flee.
We went to the street, recovered the shoes, and put them inside the rooms now. There was damage to the shoes, but luckily everything was alright now.

Ended the night with a few Red bulls.

Day 2

Agnya beach

Agnya beach is a peaceful and beautiful beach. There are lots of hostels, cafes and resto-bars along the beach. At Night, you can find people hanging around, and bonfires lit up.

Yana caves

A challenging 40 minutes trek up the hill will take you to the Lord Shiva cave temple, situated at the gateway of Bhairaveshwara Shikhara, with water constantly dripping over the sculpture.
Legends say the loose black earth and flames all around the rocky area are said to be the remnants of the demon Bhasmasura.

Mirjan fort

The origin of the fort has not one but many different versions. According to the most popular version, the fort was constructed by Chennai Bhairavi Devi, the Queen of Geroppa, also known as the ‘Queen of Pepper.’
Situated ~20 Km from main town, a good place to visit.
The Fort is surrounded by beautiful nature on all sides, with river flowing on one of them. It’s situated ~20 KM outside Gokarna.

Main Beach

One of the famous beaches in Gokarna, situated just near Mahabaleshwara Temple. This is a very crowdy beach; you have to walk a bit to find peace and good places to eat. There are fun water sports activities on the beach too.

Day 3

That’s it from Gokarna Diaries from now, and I will return here soon for sure.

We are going to hit Murudeshwara on the way to Chikmagalur. Gokarna to Murudeshwara takes around 2 hours drive while the way forward to Chikmagalur is around 5 hours.

Murudeshwara

Murudeshwara temple is a holy and very famous place to visit. There is always a lot of crowds here. The Temple Gopuram (entrance tower) and the Shiva Statue are magnificent.

You can also go Scuba Diving from here. Netrani Islands are near Murudeshwar, where you can catch some excellent action.

The Temple opens in two timings: 3:00 AM — 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM — 8:00 PM.
We hung around in the market ( one of us buying earrings meanwhile ), then went up to Bhukailasha caves at the top which tell the stories of the temple's origins. And finally, at 3 PM, we did prayers at the temple.

After prayers, we went back on the road to head towards Chikmagalur.

Some Stories

Whenever you get a bunch of people, I have been doing an activity recently where everyone shares a unique or remarkable experience that no one in the room knows about. You can try this at home too.
We went on with the stories-sharing part for an hour or two.

Chikmagalur Arrival

We arrived at Chikmagalur around 10:30 PM, and after taking little rest, we went out for dinner. Places there mostly have fully non-veg cuisines. You will have to hunt a little more if searching for some vegetarian options. Also, Shops start closing early, and almost everything gets shut down by 10–11 PM. So, be sure to have your dinner early.

Day 4

We reached here last night only and had to leave the next day. We needed to utilise this one day completely. We planned to wake early and see an early sunrise from the highest peak of Karnataka.

Sunrise at Mullayanagiri

Mullayanagiri is the highest peak in Karnataka. It’s part of Baba Budangiri Hills of Chikmagalur taluk and rises 6,330 feet. It derives its name from a summit tomb dedicated to Mulappa Swamy, a holy man who’s said to have meditated in caves nearby. The same caves are inhabited by bats and can be explored.
You must leave Chikmagalur town by 6 AM to catch the sunrise.

Z point

Jhari falls

One of the most popular tourist places in Chikmagalur, Jhari waterfalls is also known as buttermilk falls, courtesy of its appearance. To reach Jhari Falls, you must take a 4 km ride down via Jeep. The way down is very rough, and between forests, so walking is not an option at all.

Ayyanakere Lake

NightLife

You can find various resto-bars across Chikmagalur; We went to a Pub Take 5. The Crowd is nice with mostly travellers and tourists around here. Go here at least one night, grab some drinks and have fun during your stay.

Day 5

Final day are we going to head back to Bengaluru now. We checked out from the hotel at 10 to visit the Coffee museum and then return back. Grabbed some final Red bull and there we go.

Coffee Museum

If you are a coffee buff, visiting Coffee Museum Chikmagalur is a must. This striking museum will take you on a historical tour of coffee plantations in South India. While visiting here, you can learn the art of coffee making and its various aspects. Run by the Coffee Board of India, this spot is one of the most-visited places by tourists. The intriguing process of harvesting, drying, roasting and grinding the coffee beans will surely let you enjoy your time here.

Headed directly onto Bengaluru from here.

Back to Bengaluru

Bengaluru welcomed us with its traffic, entered the city at 3, and took 2.5 hours to travel these 30 KMs.
Thanks to these two superb dramebaaz for their hospitality.

Onto the Next Time

Well, Travelling somewhere after a very long time was a very refreshing and fantastic experience. Away from the daily hustles, somewhere you can enjoy yourself and feel refreshed.
You often forget what you love or want to do in the middle of your daily hustles, even though this doesn’t feel much bad or a big problem at that time. But weeks and months down the line, when we look back, we see some passions or things you love just getting procrastinated.

Have set a goal aside for me this year (’23 🤞) to have six different exciting trips throughout the year. Really looking forward to doing this and having some fantastic experiences.

What are your thoughts on travelling or something you are trying to achieve this year? Add a response or drop a message below to me. 😉