Udupi

Udupi- a lovely temple town situated in Coastal Karnataka, next to Mangalore.

Udupi is famous for Sri Krishna Temple and Udupi cuisine. It’s a peaceful town with activities revolving around the Krishna Temple. All Hindu festivals are celebrated grandly in Sri Krishna Mutt. Thus the mutt is full of activities all round the year. Thousands of pilgrims visit the temple to get blessings of Lord Krishna every day. We visited Udupi in January right after Rathotsavam or Car Festival. And the temple is full of pilgrims. One could find groups of Russians, Germans and other Europeans chanting, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare" and playing musical instruments in the temple streets of Udupi in the evenings. Such scenes are common during festival days and other auspicious days to Krishna.

Temple Gopuram

Sri Krishna Temple Tank

Temple Cars

Festival time!!!

The town has all the amenities required by guests. A tourist town since many decades, it has been developed to serve the needs of visitors. The hotels and restaurants’ staff  behave well with visitors. We felt welcome everywhere. Also it is a district headquarters and serves as home to some of India’s largest banks. So there were busy markets and shopping places around.

Golden Chariot

Lord Krishna in Gold Ratha

Manipal lies close to Udupi with lot of educational institutes and hospitals. Udupi railway station is located between Manipal and Udupi. Udupi is in the tail end of Konkan railway line that connects Mangalore with Mumbai. The rail routes through mountains, water falls, large tunnels, river bridges and runs parallel to the Arabian Sea.  

Manipal is developed with the large and diverse student population in mind. One can get to shop all the brands and eat at all international food chain outlets in Manipal. Manipal also has numerous restaurants serving Indian to American and provides decent night life. End point in Manipal behind KMC medical college is an excellent place to visit during sunset.

Manipal Endpoint

A scenic view from Manipal End point

Udupi has an excellent public transportation. Long distance buses to Kollur, Murudeswar, Mangalore, Sringeri etc., can be taken from Service Bus station. And the town bus stand located next to service station connects the city with all its suburbs like Malpe.

The town has a long coastline nearby and beautiful beaches in Malpe and Kaup. Of both, Malpe is famous among tourists. Malpe beach is around 10 km from Udupi and can be reached by town buses plying frequently. Kaup beach has a beautiful light house close by.

Malpe Beach

Dog, enjoying the morning breeze

Unlike other Indian beaches, the beaches in Karnataka are clean and maintained well and provide good ambience to the visitors.

The waves give good adventure..

One can take a boat ride to St Mary's Island during non-monsoon months and enjoy the rocky island full of coconut trees.

Perfect place for a morning walk!

Gandhiji Statue @ Malpe Beach

The famous Jain temple with large Bahubali statue is located in Karkala, an hour by road drive from Udupi. Journey to Udupi is incomplete without dining at Woodlands Restaurant or Mitra Samaj.

Mitra Samaj is located close to the temple in the car street and serves authentic Udupi cuisine.

Woodlands Restaurant serves south and north Indian dishes in addition to Udupi special dishes.

Woodlands, best place to taste Udupi cuisine

Coconut with coriander leaves chutney- a Malnad Cuisine

Yummy Idlis!

We chose to dine at Woodlands. And we were more than satisfied with the food and service. It’s an A/C restaurant located within a walk-able distance from the temple. The restaurant was filled with multi-cultural people with locals, Indian tourists and Foreigners experiencing the delicious food served.

Palak Soup

Banana Bun- a must try Udupi dish

We had Udupi bun (banana bun), idly,  butter naan, paneer butter masala, pasta and completed our course with a filter coffee. It was one of the best dining experience we had.

Pasta- a delight in Woodlands

Filter Coffee

There are numerous spiritual places like Kukke Subramanya Temple, Shringeri Sharadhamba Temple, Kollur Mookambiga Temple and Murudeshwar temple and greenic places like Madikeri (Coorg) that are located in a close proximity to Udupi.

With happy memories of Sri Krishna darshan, beach adventures and Woodlands dinner, we completed our Udupi visit. and we head to Mangalore, just 90 minutes by bus through Kaup.